How Lenders Can Take Advantage of the Car-Tech Trend
I was reading a Facebook status update from a friend of mine over the weekend, and she was talking about a used car she and her husband had just purchased. It was a 2007 SUV, and they were quite happy with it, but she was befuddled by all the buttons that were in the vehicle. She was afraid to touch most of them because she did not know what they did.
There has been such a rush during the past few years to jam as much technology into cars as possible. Cars now come equipped with Bluetooth and USB adapters, and even the ability to read your Facebook status updates to you. Ford just announced that it now can equip vehicles with the music streaming service from Spotify.
When the Spotify app is connected and running, if a friend sends a track, album, artist or playlist to your inbox, the car will read it aloud.
Meanwhile, General Motors announced that by 2015, most of its vehicles will come equipped with 4G LTE, turning the cars into Wi-Fi hotspots and vastly increasing the technology options available to the manufacturer and the vehicles’ owners.
The increasing technology resources that are being installed into new cars and trucks presents a wealth of opportunities for carmakers and for consumers. But what about for lenders? While neither Ford nor GM touted any benefits related to their financial services arms, there are bound to be things that lenders can do to capitalize on the car-technology trend.
While the manufacturers appear driven to use technology to improve the experience of drivers and passengers, the opportunity for lenders to improve their relationships with consumers should be as important. Certainly the lines of communication between customers and financial institutions can benefit from the updated technology being installed in new vehicles. Loan and lease payments can also be made more seamlessly if cars are being outfitted with internet connections. Buy-here, pay-here dealerships can expand beyond starter-interrupt devices and GPS tracking when looking to make sure their customers do not miss payments.
As cars become hotspots and infotainment delivery mechanisms, all financial institutions, not just auto lenders, should be reaching out to manufacturers for discussions about how banks can get in on this revolution. If people are going to be more accessible in their cars, then financial institutions should be able to access them as well.
There ought to be a button for that, somewhere.
I was reading a Facebook status update from a friend of mine over the weekend, and she was talking about a used car she and her husband had just purchased. It was a 2007 SUV, and they were quite happy with it, but she was befuddled by all the buttons that were in the vehicle. She was afraid to touch most of them because she did not know what they did.
There has been such a rush during the past few years to jam as much technology into cars as possible. Cars now come equipped with Bluetooth and USB adapters, and even the ability to read your Facebook status updates to you. Ford just announced that it now can equip vehicles with the music streaming service from Spotify.
When the Spotify app is connected and running, if a friend sends a track, album, artist or playlist to your inbox, the car will read it aloud.
Meanwhile, General Motors announced that by 2015, most of its vehicles will come equipped with 4G LTE, turning the cars into Wi-Fi hotspots and vastly increasing the technology options available to the manufacturer and the vehicles’ owners.
The increasing technology resources that are being installed into new cars and trucks presents a wealth of opportunities for carmakers and for consumers. But what about for lenders? While neither Ford nor GM touted any benefits related to their financial services arms, there are bound to be things that lenders can do to capitalize on the car-technology trend.
While the manufacturers appear driven to use technology to improve the experience of drivers and passengers, the opportunity for lenders to improve their relationships with consumers should be as important. Certainly the lines of communication between customers and financial institutions can benefit from the updated technology being installed in new vehicles. Loan and lease payments can also be made more seamlessly if cars are being outfitted with internet connections. Buy-here, pay-here dealerships can expand beyond starter-interrupt devices and GPS tracking when looking to make sure their customers do not miss payments.
As cars become hotspots and infotainment delivery mechanisms, all financial institutions, not just auto lenders, should be reaching out to manufacturers for discussions about how banks can get in on this revolution. If people are going to be more accessible in their cars, then financial institutions should be able to access them as well.
There ought to be a button for that, somewhere.
