What Customers Want
AFN: What new things are dealers or consumers asking for, and what changes are you making in response?
Andrew Stuart, president and chief executive of TD Auto Finance U.S.: If I had to say something that is looming and going to take off eventually, I would say e-contracting — making it easier for customers before they come into the dealership, perhaps be already approved, to be able to complete the transaction quicker — with less perceived customer hassle. So as we think about our product offering, we think about things like how can we continue to grow the amount of e-contract we’re doing with our customers, how can we leverage digital channels and make it easier for them to do business.
Paul Wible, senior executive vice president at Bank of the West: For consumers, we see a growing demand for more information about their loan being available online, and while we’re delighted when customers call us, many people want to be able to get their own questions answered, at their own pace, and we see our online capabilities and self-service options as key to serving them.
Chuck Jones, head of dealer financial services for SunTrust: We’re going to look at trying to increase the usage of e-contracting. We have that capability, but one of the things in the market that’s talked about is greater acceptance. If you look at the total number of people [dealers] using it, it’s still very low, so we wanted to push that to get them to use that [e-contracting], so we can fund them faster.
