NORTH HILLS, N.Y. -

Dealertrack now has a closer relationship with two captive finance companies.

On Monday, Dealertrack announced the expansion of its partnership with Hyundai Motor Finance and Kia Motors Finance making Dealertrack Contracting available in 39 states, including Texas, California, New York, Florida and Arizona.

Dealertrack’s proprietary contracting offering can enable Hyundai and Kia dealerships to more accurately submit automotive contracts electronically to their captives in real-time, resulting in funding as fast as same day.

Dealertrack Contracting, which is expected to roll out across all 50 states by the end of October, is designed to eliminate the cost and hassle of the traditional and mistake-prone approach with the use of electronic validations, mobile signing and immediate delivery of funding packages.

Dealertrack believes this milestone announcement underscores the scaled growth of electronic contracting usage by captive finance companies, with Hyundai Motor Finance’s and Kia Motors Finance’s enrollment rate nearing 35 percent across the manufacturer’s more than 1,600 dealers nationwide.

“Our relationship with Hyundai Motor Finance and Kia Motors Finance is strengthened by our contracting expansion that helps lenders and dealers efficiently conduct business while meeting car shoppers’ rising expectations for a better car buying experience,” said Cheryl Miller, vice president and general manager for Dealertrack’s F&I dealer and lender solutions.

“Consumers want a fluid, digitally-driven dealership experience, and Dealertrack Contracting provides Hyundai and Kia dealers the ability to deliver that experience to their customers,” Miller continued.

One of Hyundai Capital’s pilot dealers who has reached a high utilization rate shortly after enrollment with Dealertrack Contracting stated it’s all about efficiencies.

“Electronic contracting comes with plenty of benefits like same-day funding, reduction of paperwork and verifying all data upfront. Funding through electronic contracts is as fast as one hour, which helps us save time,” said Mike Lahham, general manager of Kia Downtown Los Angeles.

“Electronic contracting has definitely benefited our store by making it easy for us to minimize mistakes as the system verifies all data before signing the contract. From a profitability point of view, it increases our bottom line by having a faster cash flow in our system as well,” Lahham added.

Dealertrack Contracting can replace the traditional approach of paper contracting that relies upon both fax machines and mail. The solution also can mitigate manual data entry and calculations, paper contracts with “wet” signatures and reduces documents needed to mail to lenders.

As a result, Dealertrack contends the technology can cut expenses, enhance contract accuracy and the customer experience, reduce the amount of time it takes to submit a contract and get funding the same day in most cases.

Dealertrack and Hyundai Capital America’s relationship began in 2003 when Hyundai Motor Finance and Kia Motors adopted Dealertrack’s Credit Applications tool. Now, with the expanded partnership to further streamline F&I processes and contracting efficiency with Dealertrack Contracting, Hyundai retailers can electronically rate, remit and submit aftermarket products to Hyundai Motor America and the final contract to Hyundai Motor Finance.

The companies say the result is a simplified deal flow process, streamlined application process, less paper and faster funding.

“Our goal was to launch electronic contracting in all fifty states and to enroll 25 percent of our dealers by the end of 2018. We have achieved that goal three months early,” said Eckart Klumpp, senior vice president of sales and marketing at Hyundai Capital America.

“Dealer and customer satisfaction continue to be top of mind for us. Dealertrack’s electronic contracting allows us to efficiently service our dealers and provide them with same-day funding,” Klumpp continued.

“This is a rewarding initiative and HCA will continue to invest in capabilities to further drive our dealer adoption of electronic contracting and enhance the overall customer vehicle purchase journey,” he went on to say.