Luxury-Brand Lender Pushes Launch of Mobile App Back to 2019

Premier Financial Services, an exotic, luxury, and vintage vehicle leasing provider, is pushing back the launch of its mobile app for dealers to next year, according to Mitch Katz, the company chief executive. Katz told AFN in January that the app would launch in 2018.

The mobile app, once available, will allow dealers in the showroom to put together quotes for customers right from their smartphones. “Within the industry, [dealers] are on their phones all the time,” Katz said. Once the app becomes available, “if they’re speaking with a client in the showroom, they [won’t] have to sit down at a desktop and create a quote, they can just pull out their phones, plug in a few parameters and hit a button.” Dealers also will be able to email information to customers when they leave the showroom.

Separately, an outward-facing feature of the app will give customers the ability to request information on their current leases, such as payoffs and copies of documents, and allow them to ask for quotes on a new lease.

Premier Financial is working with an outside developer to create the app, Katz said, although he declined to name the company.

Katz said the reason the app wasn’t ready this year is because the company was so focused on its growth. Premier Financial Services saw a 22% year-over-year increase in leased units this year, according to Katz, who said back in January that the company was planning for 10% growth. Resources shifted to support and train sales managers as volume increased, Katz said.