With lenders constantly on the lookout for increased and stronger dealer relationships, tools that update in real time are gaining popularity, said Scott Hendriks, product consultant at Fiserv Automotive Solutions.
“A big part of the dealer service side for lenders is the field staff that make the dealer visits and go in and do some level of education to the dealer around what the lenders are looking for in terms of credit profiles and histories,” Hendriks told Auto Finance News. “What we’re seeing now is that these guys are all carrying tablets and smartphones, [and] the lenders are saying, ‘Is there a way we can provide real-time information to these guys while they’re in the field?’”
Previously, lenders would rely on information from data warehouses that would be faxed to the dealership ahead of a visit, often from days before, Hendriks said, but that is no longer good enough in the digital age. Customer-relationship management tools empower lenders to update people in the field with real-time information just prior to — or even during — a visit.
“They’d be able to have that up-to-the-minute [data] as they walk into the dealership and say, not only, ‘What did you send me last week?’ but, ‘I got these three apps this morning, where are they going?’” Hendriks said. “It gives the ability to get much closer to the credit transaction and to be able to capture those deals while they’re still live at the dealership, instead of after the fact.”
