Past Emerging 8 honoree TurboPass is continuing to add its client portfolio, especially finance companies that specialize in non-prime financing.
With more than 2,000 current dealership users now with the ability to pull reports as part of the underwriting and verification process, five more finance companies now are accepting TurboPass reports from their dealer networks, including:
— United Auto Credit, headquartered in Irvine, Calif.
— Lobel Financial, headquartered in Anaheim, Calif.
— Veros Credit, headquartered in Santa Ana, Calif.
— Western Funding, headquartered in Las Vegas
— Local Finance, LLC, headquartered in Miami
This group joins other providers leveraging TurboPass cloud-based solutions tailored for dealerships, banks and finance companies across North America. Early adopters of TurboPass’ tools to verify banking details, income and other information included Westlake Financial, Turner Acceptance, Automotive Credit Corp., and First Help Financial.
“What these companies have in common, besides now accepting TurboPass reports as a way to speed up funding and help avoid fraud and losses for both the dealer and the lender is that they have been leaders for many years, in helping non-prime customers get back on their feet with needed transportation” TurboPass co-founder and chief executive officer Mike Jarman said in a news release.
“In addition, these companies are innovators that understand the importance of using new digital tools, and they know how to best serve their dealer clients as well as their borrowers,” Jarman continued.
The news release also contained an anecdote about the effectiveness of TurboPass’ solutions from AJ Giblin, who is general manager at Honda of Jefferson City in Missouri’s capital.
“One of the toughest stips in the industry is (proof of income) for self-employed customers,” Giblin said in an email to the company. “Bank statements take a long time to get, are tough to discern and are interpreted differently from bank to bank. Many dealerships don’t or won’t even go down this road due to the difficulty.
“Westlake is using TurboPass right in their backend tool,” Giblin continued. “Once I signed up with them, I immediately did two deals that probably would have gone to a different bank, certainly would have taken an additional two to three days to sign and may never have happened because time kills deals.
TurboPass co-founder and chief operating officer Ken Jarman reiterated by TurboPass’ successes begin at the store level.
“Our dealer users are the ones that have been most effective at encouraging the auto lending community to utilize TurboPass reports because they see the benefits up close,” Ken Jarman said.
Mike Jarman added, “The feedback from AJ at Honda of Jefferson City is the type of feedback that we love to hear and is the driving force behind the growth we have experienced from both the dealer and lender side and why we are so very excited about the future.”
For more information about the company’s solutions, go to www.turbopassreport.com.
To borrow a term from one of its promotional campaigns, auto-finance underwriting is getting a boost via a new collaboration involving Experian and defi SOLUTIONS.
The firms recently announced that defi SOLUTIONS has teamed with Experian to bring Experian’s Premier Attributes to auto-finance companies. As part of the collaboration, provider using defi SOLUTIONS’ loan origination systems will have access to more than 2,000 credit attributes, including more than 100 that are specific to the automotive industry.
Clients can optionally access Experian’s Attribute Management Studio, which can provide the ability to define, code and manage attributes in-house.
Using these attributes, the fintech firms say that finance companies can develop a more complete understanding of an individual’s credit behavior, improve predictability and make smarter underwriting decisions.
Delivered through Experian’s Attribute Toolbox, Premier Attributes can enable finance companies to make more informed credit decisions across the entire customer life cycle — opening the door for growth, reduced risk and improved customer loyalty.
Experian added that its tool also can aggregate the freshest credit data available, potentially providing a significant performance lift over decisioning models built using other credit attributes.
“Experian’s focus on the delivery of high-caliber, relevant data meshes perfectly with the now and future of defi SOLUTIONS,” defi SOLUTIONS chief strategy officer Charles Sutherland said in a news release.
“We plan to continue working to not only increase the volume of information available to lenders, but also to develop services that further improve efficiency by enabling the lender to decide at what point the data is introduced into their decisions,” Sutherland continued.
Robert Boxberger, Experian’s president of decision analytics, added, “We are committed to providing lenders of all sizes with quality data-driven insights to more accurately predict credit risk and make sound lending decisions quickly — and that’s never been more evident than within the automotive industry.
“Our Premier Attributes help open the door for lenders to assess risk with decision strategies and credit scores that ultimately improve their bottom line,” Boxberger went on to say.
For more information about defi SOLUTIONS, visit https://defisolutions.com. To learn more about Experian’s Premier Attributes, visit https://www.experian.com/decision-analytics/premier-attributes.html.
TurboPass is continuing to prove why it was among this year’s Emerging 8 honorees previously highlighted in Auto Fin Journal as one of the newest industry firms that aims to improve specific aspects of the automotive industry through technology.
After already landing relationships with Automotive Credit Corp. and Turner Acceptance, this week TurboPass announced that Westlake Financial is the latest auto-finance provider to accept TurboPass verified stips.
Using TurboPass, dealers send a text to their customers at the point of sale or during their shopping process to validate the customers down payment ability in seconds, saving valuable time in the vehicle buying and closing process. A unique TurboPass code is generated for each customer, allowing dealers to easily view, print and submit the customer’s stips alongside their deal package.
Two Westlake executives explained through a news release why they are leveraging TurboPass’ technology that is designed to eliminate the hassle and risk associated with traditional document-based verification of income, employment and residence, providing trusted direct (bank and credit union) source data that can fulfill finance companies’ need for copies of PDF bank statements, proof of income, proof of employment and proof of residence.
“TurboPass helps dealers collect income, validate identity, employment, and proof of residence data, streamlining the stip clearing process,” Westlake Financial senior vice president of originations Kyle Dietrich said. “This will ultimately help us process deals faster and minimize incidents of errors and fraud.”
Westlake Financial senior vice president of sales Mark Vazquez added, “Westlake is always looking to improve the funding process for our dealers. After piloting TurboPass with a few dealers, we are confident that it facilitates faster funding time while reducing risk for our dealers.”
TurboPass chief executive officer and co-founder Mike Jarman shared why it was “an exciting day for the team at TurboPass” when Westlake chose to move forward with using his company’s platform.
“Westlake has done so much for our industry, dealers and car buyers, in particular,” Jarman said. “Their commitment to use TurboPass as their exclusive source for digital stip collecting and their advocacy of the solution with all of their dealers, is a continuation of Westlake’s market leadership and dedication to leading innovation for the benefit of the industry’s dealers and borrowers.”
For more details about the companies, go to www.westlakefinancial.com and turbopassreport.com.
In the competitive and evolving world of auto finance, TransUnion and IHS Markit acknowledged that finance companies require the ability to conduct powerful statistical queries to gain a more comprehensive understanding of the market.
On Monday, TransUnion and IHS Markit announced the launch of the Catalyst for Insight – Credit Module; a solution they believe can address this need and will help finance companies optimize their growth and risk management strategies.
The tool is a collaboration between TransUnion and IHS Markit and provides customers with on-demand access to more than five years of depersonalized credit data. The Catalyst for Insight – Credit Module can offer depersonalized credit data, including credit tier, loan terms and monthly payment, among other attributes, with anonymized new- and used-vehicle registration data of more than 270 million vehicles in the U.S. market.
The company highlighted the user-friendly interface can offer powerful visualizations that allow customers to run internal analyses and create custom reports to make faster and more informed decisions.
“Auto lenders need to evaluate more than depersonalized credit data when setting business strategies,” said Satyan Merchant, senior vice president and automotive business leader at TransUnion.
“The blend of TransUnion’s statistical depersonalized credit data with anonymized vehicle registration and selling dealer data from IHS Markit allows auto lenders to monitor market share and establish and track sales strategies by territory, evaluate underwriting and pricing strategies, define attractive new territories to support their growth aspirations and adapt to dealers’ evolving needs,” Merchant continued in a news release.
The companies insisted that finance companies traditionally have had access to a limited scope of data or a narrow set of pre-defined reports. They contend the breadth and depth of the Catalyst for Insight – Credit Module’s data sources positions the solution as one of the leading market intelligence tools in the auto industry.
TransUnion and IHS Markit noted the integration of supplemental sources offers enhanced data coverage for attributes such as vehicle type, contract details, loan-to-value and selling dealer information. Proprietary VIN decoding software from IHS Markit can provide an estimated 2% to 5% lift in accuracy over state-supplied data.
Officials added the simple point-and-click interface and superior customization features can offer flexibility for ad hoc and interactive queries. As a result, customers can instantly pull detailed market intelligence reports and turn those insights into action.
“The powerful analytic capabilities of this solution offer lenders the information they need to better understand the market and make more informed decisions. As a result, they can set effective business strategies to mitigate risk and identify growth and revenue opportunities,” said Joe LaFeir, senior vice president of automotive at IHS Markit.
For more information on the Catalyst for Insight – Credit Module, visit www.transunion.com/product/catalyst-for-insight-credit-module.
In an effort to bring together vehicle shoppers, dealerships and finance companies, truPayments announced that it has become a participant in the CDK Global Partner Program.
As a member of one of the largest third-party partner programs in the industry, truPayments and its tru Shop-by-Payment are now part of a marketplace of applications and integrations that CDK Global, a leading enabler of end-to-end automotive commerce, developed to help automotive dealers succeed.
“Joining the CDK Global Partner Program will give CDK dealers easy access to the tru Shop-by-Payment product,” truPayments chief executive officer Tarry Shebesta said in a news release.
Shebesta explained tru Shop-by-Payment is designed to provide a unique one-to-one personalized shopping experience, which can connect the right personalized inventory and financing options to each customer based on their unique preferences and profile (including real credit). Shebesta insisted shoppers will discover vehicles they didn’t know they could afford or a payment they didn’t know they could get.
By transforming and personalizing the shopping experience, tru Shop-by-Payment can engage, surprise and delight customers — accelerating their movement through the shopping and buying processes. The company went on to stress tru Shop-by-Payment can enhance dealer CSI scores, online reviews, sales volume and front and back-end gross.
“We’re very pleased to introduce truPayments as the newest member of the CDK Global Partner Program,” CDK Data Services vice president and general manager Howard Gardner said.
“truPayments is a welcome addition to our vibrant program, which provides dealers with a range of partner choices and the assurance that their programs can be seamlessly integrated with our applications,” Gardner continued.
Gardner added the CDK Global Partner Program provides its partners with access to a diverse CDK ecosystem through the ability to integrate with a range of CDK applications and CDK dealer websites.
With credit unions collectively having an immense piece of the auto finance market, institutions are looking to retain that share and even gather a bit more by leveraging technology.
CU Direct chief revenue officer Phil DuPree joined Nick for this episode recorded during NADA Show 2019 where they discussed how credit unions and dealerships are working together.
The full episode can be found below.
Download and subscribe to the Auto Remarketing Podcast on iTunes or on Google Play.
You can also listen to the latest episode in the window below.
Catch the latest episodes on the Auto Remarketing Podcast homepage and on our Soundcloud page.
Please complete our audience survey; we appreciate your feedback.
Dealers probably know this sequence all too well. A walkaround and test drive of a vehicle both went well, and the financing process advanced to the point where the potential buyer sees what the monthly payment could be.
Then customers recoil, become frustrated and perhaps even leave the showroom, turning into a dreaded “be back.”
With that scenario in mind, Cox Automotive’s Rates & Incentives Group (CAR&I) released a new whitepaper on Friday, pinpointing a lack of transparency and accuracy in the pricing and payment negotiation process as a main cause of friction between dealers and consumers that can derail a deal.
With vehicle prices and interest rates rising and consumer affordability declining, CAR&I emphasized dealers can’t allow any details to slip through the cracks. It’s why the Cox Automotive division generating the whitepaper titled, “Optimizing Rebates & Incentives for Consumer Digital Retailing Experience.”
According to the 2018 KBB.com Incentives Survey, only 24 percent of shoppers are fully aware and researched all incentives. Historically, Cox Automotive acknowledged transparency into consumer incentives has varied. Changing customer expectations and shopping behaviors now make full transparency required, according to CAR&I.
Today, more automotive dealer service providers (DSPs) are moving the process of applying incentives from a dealer practice to a consumer-centric experience through digital retailing tools. With these new tools, customers can confidently research and price a specific vehicle with the incentives and conditional offers applied — all without entering a dealership.
But CAR&I stressed the success of the deal, however, relies on the accuracy of a dealer’s data within the DSP application.
Utilizing a methodology developed by CAR&I, this new whitepaper analyzes the accuracy of the data used to calculate pricing and payment information presented through DSP tools. In the study, CAR&I compared APRs, cash and conditional incentives through these various tools for seven new vehicles in the East Coast and West Coast markets.
The analysis looked at data from three competitive incentive providers, including CAR&I.
The study found significant variations across the three providers, ranging from $0 to $6,750 in pricing for the same vehicle, resulting in monthly payment fluctuations up to $122 per month for 60 months. The analysis also showed that both unnamed vendors incorrectly applied incentives for two vehicles, resulting in $500 to $750 in overstated incentives applied incorrectly costing dealers valuable margin.
CAR&I emphasized these disparities have wide-ranging consequences for dealers, including a loss of credibility in pricing as well as a loss on deals and profit. Paper authors said it’s not just that consumers might walk away from one purchase. It can affect repeat purchases and referrals, too. Pricing information must be perfect for digital retailing to build trust and transparency, and to improve the customer experience. This also means making accurate pricing available online.
“If DSP application incentive tools aren’t spot-on, the pricing information given to consumers is also inaccurate. If incentive and rebate data isn’t accurate, the whole deal can be sunk,” said Brad Korner, general manager for CAR&I. “Dealers in this hyper-competitive auto retail landscape can’t afford to have less-than-perfect pricing data. That can result in unhappy consumers and lost business.”
CAR&I pointed out that rebates and incentives also continue to play a major role in generating demand and sales for many brands.
Approximately 94 percent of new vehicles sold have a financial incentive applied to the transaction (purchase, finance or lease) which requires accuracy for dealers presenting pricing and payments to their online shoppers, according to Cox Automotive.
CAR&I went on to stress that sharing full coverage of all OEM incentives, and allowing consumers to see what they qualify for, builds trust in the process. It also provides necessary information to inform the buying journey.
The full whitepaper on “Optimizing Rebates & Incentives for Consumer Digital Retailing Experience” is available here.
GM Financial is enhancing its efforts to ensure the individuals signing contracts with the captive are in fact who they say they are.
This week, GM Financial announced its collaboration with Spring Labs as part of its Spring Founding Industry Partners (SFIP) Program, which is geared to drive improved data management standards to help address critical auto finance industry issues like identity verification and synthetic identity fraud.
The SFIP program brings together financial institutions, data furnishers and technology partners to collaborate on research, development and implementation of Spring Protocol, the company’s blockchain technology network, prior to its public launch. Ultimately, this network is designed to transform how information and data are shared globally.
“As the captive finance arm for General Motors and one of the world’s largest auto finance providers, we are continually innovating and evolving our fraud prevention and detection capabilities to better serve and protect our customers and dealers,” said Mike Kanarios, chief strategy officer at GM Financial.
“Today’s announcement underscores our commitment and investment to advance these efforts, and we are pleased to collaborate with Spring Labs as a member of the SFIP program,” Kanarios continued.
Spring Labs chief executive officer Adam Jiwan added, “We are excited to partner with GM Financial to create solutions on our developing network to address vexing economic problems such as identity fraud.
“We look forward to announcing additional significant partnerships in due course,” Jiwan went on to say.
Editor’s note: More details about what’s happening at GM Financial will be showcased in an upcoming episode of the Auto Remarketing Podcast, featuring Kyle Birch, who is the company’s executive vice president and chief executive officer for North America. Previous episodes are available here.
During the Vehicle Finance Conference hosted by the American Financial Services Association this past January in San Francisco, Nick had the opportunity again to sit down with Kyle Birch, executive vice president and chief operating officer for North America at GM Financial.
The wide-ranging conversation covered not only how GM Financial performed in 2018, but also how the captive is leveraging both people and technology to be successful.
The podcast discussion can be found below.
Download and subscribe to the Auto Remarketing Podcast on iTunes or on Google Play.
You can also listen to the latest episode in the window below.
Catch the latest episodes on the Auto Remarketing Podcast homepage and on our Soundcloud page.
Please complete our audience survey; we appreciate your feedback.
The finance industry is responding to the need for consumer protection for owners of vehicles fueled by battery power.
AmTrust Financial Services, a leading specialty commercial property and casualty insurer, together with Endurance Dealer Services, a provider of extended vehicle protection, recently announced APEX EV, a vehicle service contract (VSC) exclusively for electric vehicles that covers propulsion batteries.
The new offering is expected to launch during the first half of this year.
The companies highlighted the VSC is designed specifically for the unique attributes of electric vehicles. This extended warranty includes parts and labor as well as propulsion battery coverage — which is often not included in traditional VSCs — but a key component for electric vehicles as the battery is critical to the functionality of the vehicle.
The contract covers virtually all U.S. electric car models such as Honda Fit EV, Chevrolet Bolt, Nissan Leaf, BMW i3, Ford Focus Electric, Volkswagen e-Golf and others, with the exception of Tesla models and hybrid vehicles.
“As electric vehicles continue to gain popularity, we saw an opportunity to develop a specialized extended warranty that is a first for the automotive industry,” said Bruce Saulnier, president of AmTrust Specialty Risk.
“AmTrust is committed to innovation and offering niche products where we can add significant value,” Saulnier continued. “This new contract is a great example of how we are working with exceptional partners like Endurance to pioneer new offerings, and we’re excited to be the first insurer to underwrite an electric car VSC that covers batteries.”
APEX EV will be available for purchase from dealers who are part of the Endurance network.
Aaron Segal, managing director of Endurance Dealer Services said, “Through our relationships with 3,500 new- and used-car dealers, we have seen firsthand the clear and growing need for an extended warranty for electric cars.
“Dealers within our network will now be able to offer this comprehensive coverage and purchasers will be afforded protection they can count on,” Segal added.
Agents and dealers interested can find out more information about Endurance at www.enduranceds.com.
Alignment with PCMI
In other company news, AmTrust Financial Services also signed an agreement with Policy Claim Management International (PCMI), a leading provider of integrated software solutions for the administration of F&I products, service contracts, and extended warranties. Through the agreement, AmTrust will implement PCMI’s Policy Claim and Reporting Solutions (PCRS) – Reinsurance Module in an effort to provide AmTrust clients with an easy to use, robust reporting solution for their reinsurance businesses.
The company highlighted the online solution will allow access to information and reports, which will be generated much faster than the methods currently used. A few highlights of the PCRS platform include:
• Improved cession statements with the ability to display detailed valuable information
• Drill down capability to obtain underlying contract and claim detail
• Dashboards and experience/performance reports with analytical data to evaluate profitability and identify key risk factors
• Online access to information available 24/7 with a secure website portal
• Secure access to trust account information and activity
• Storage for reinsurance agreements and other pertinent documents in one location
• Support for all types of reinsurance structures including non-controlled foreign corporations (NCFCs)
“Most automobile dealers have reinsurance programs, which they view as significant profit centers for their businesses. This technology supports these important reinsurance programs by providing dealers with a comprehensive tool that will let them see the results of their reinsurance business, as well as providing relevant information that will help manage and maximize profitability,” said Jackie Banks, vice president of reinsurance for AmTrust’s Specialty Risk Division.
“The compilation and calculation of information can often take time and at AmTrust we are continually looking for ways to use technology to improve processes and ultimately risk management,” Banks continued. “We look forward to leveraging PCMI’s integrated software solution to provide a quicker and improved process for reinsurance.”
PCMI president and chief executive officer Mark Nagelvoort added, “Dealers today expect to have immediate and transparent access to key financial data from their providers. AmTrust’s adoption of our PCRS platform highlights their commitment to supporting dealers. PCRS allows dealers to monitor their portfolios and track key performance information to maximize their profitability.
“We look forward to expanding our relationship with AmTrust,” Nagelvoort went on to say.
To find out more information about AmTrust’s automotive products and programs, visit https://amtrustfinancial.com/warranty/automotive-warranty.
