Regional Acceptance Corp. (RAC), a subsidiary of BB&T Corp. specializing in the subprime space, is the most recent lender to outsource their title transfer process to Dealertrack Accelerated Title, the companies announced this week.
“We have several lenders on the product right now and several that have signed up that we are in the process of implementing,” Todd Hutto, vice president of Dealertrack, told Auto Finance News.
Namely, Chase Auto, Capital One, and Nissan Motor Acceptance are lenders currently working with Dealertrack’s title transfer product, which entered the marketplace in 2015 and debuted at the National Automobile Dealers Association in 2016.
The product creates cost savings by releasing titles to dealers by utilizing a banking innovation called automated clearing house (ACH), which electronically sends funds from one account to another similarily to direct deposit and payroll.
“Anything that [lenders] can do to streamline the process,” Hutto said, noting lenders are keeping an eye out on rising interest rates and what the potential tariff threat will impact captives.
The traditional method of title transfer requires calling for quotes, handwriting checks, mailing overnight and then waiting on title delivery. With the Accelerated Title system, lenders are reducing operating costs and “increasing cash flow because funds are available sooner than what would happen,” Hutto said.
Other benefits that come with the accelerated title product is that it reduces the number of days a dealer waits for a title to 4-6 days compared with 12-18 days. Dealertrack also notes that vehicles are nearly two times more likely to sell on the first pass through an auction lane when they have titles. Finally, it reduces fraud as it can provide dealers with title visibility to ensure the validity of the trade before the deal is finalized.
Dealertrack has over 53 million titles under its control, Hutto said.
