TechSpotlight: Chase Auto Adds Tech to Bolster Dealer, Customer Experience

In the competitive world of auto finance, every lender looks for a competitive edge. Chase Auto Finance, for one, expects that advantage to come in the form of a well-crafted customer experience.

“We’ve done a lot of great things over the last year, but there’s more to come,” said Marc Sheinbaum, Chase Auto’s former chief executive, in a Feb. 15 interview. “We are definitely trying to define what the Chase experience is, whether you open up a credit card, a mortgage, or an auto loan. It doesn’t matter what channel you go through, but that you come to recognize the Chase experience.”

Already, Garden City, N.Y.-based Chase Auto (www.chase.com) has invested in mobile technology, online capabilities, and in its service centers, “so that’s an important part of the future strategy that we have,” he said.

The biggest change the lender has made in recent months was to speed the title-release process. Historically, the process was “a point of annoyance” for a lot of dealers, and a point of annoyance for a lot of consumers, and it created a lot of complaints,” Sheinbaum said.

Ultimately, Chase Auto was able to shave days off the process. “We used to have a standard of seven days or six days ― and we heard from dealers that we weren’t the only ones who had that standard ― but time is money for them, and we got it down to a one-to-two-day turnaround time,” he said.

As for what specific investments Chase made: “That’s the secret sauce,” Sheinbaum said.

Looking ahead, digital technology will take center stage. “There’s no question that the digital side is the critical side that dealers are looking at, consumers are looking at, and we’re looking at,” he said. “So investing in technology to make it easier to do business with us is going to be something that is going to be front and center for our future.”

―Marcie Belles

Published in the March 2013 issue of Auto Finance News TechSpotlight, through the generous support of FIS.