FARMINGTON HILLS, Mich. -

The days of needing a black-ink pen to finalize auto financing documents appear to be dwindling.

RouteOne announced this week that it has successfully processed what the company claims is the automotive finance industry’s first remotely captured, electronic customer signature on an indirect finance contract. RouteOne insisted this advancement further enables dealers and finance sources to deliver on the demands of convenience and flexibility in the continuously evolving, consumer-driven, vehicle purchasing and leasing environment.

The first remotely executed contract was booked with Toyota Financial Services.

“Consumer expectations are justifiably higher than ever. This exciting technology is an important step in allowing us to make financing even more convenient for customers while maintaining data security,” said Pete Carey, group vice president of sales, marketing and product development at Toyota Financial Services.

RouteOne’s Remote eSign technology enables dealers to grant electronic access to a “signable” finance contract package to a customer, including credit application and all RouteOne generated ancillary documents. Customers may choose to remotely eSign the documents and provide them to the dealer for completion of the contract eSigning ceremony and consummation process. Or the consumer may simply choose to review the document package in advance to improve efficiency at delivery. This promotes an optimal customer and dealer experience.

RouteOne Remote eSign was designed with security as its utmost priority. When a dealer chooses to enable Remote eSign, this invokes a two-step authentication process that generates a secure URL link to the virtual “signing room.” The signing room requires a PIN each time the customer enters and presents the documents to the customer to “sign what they see.”

“As a technology company, RouteOne is continuously evolving so we can deliver tools to our customers that solve their market challenges,” RouteOne chief executive officer Justin Oesterle said. “Remote eSign technology is an integral element of the fully online transaction that consumers are demanding of the auto finance industry. It also creates a new market opportunity for dealers to expand and increase sales by offering a more efficient means of executing contract packages.”

Dealers or finance sources interested in optimizing their F&I experience by implementing eContracting can contact RouteOne at (866) 768-8301 or www.routeone.com.

Auto Trakk now available on platform

In other company news, RouteOne recently announced that Auto Trakk is now an available finance source for dealers utilizing the RouteOne credit application platform. Auto Trakk is a leading automobile leasing company specializing in leasing to customers with moderate to severe credit issues.

RouteOne’s core credit application system is complementary to dealers and streamlines the credit application process with a single point of entry to a network of 1,400 finance sources, and 150 dealership service providers. RouteOne has an open integration strategy to encourage broad industry utilization of their platform and to provide a complete workflow to dealers and finance sources.

Auto Trakk currently does business with dealers in Delaware, Florida, Indiana, Kentucky, Maryland, Michigan, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina and Virginia. They offer multiple lease options to customers with moderate to severe credit problems who have had problems obtaining credit for a vehicle.

“As an open integration platform, we strive to build a diverse network and connect our dealers with a wide variety of partners to meet each and every unique business model,” RouteOne chief operating officer Brad Rogers said. “We are pleased to welcome Auto Trakk to our credit application platform, as they offer automobile lease options to meet the needs of dealers servicing customers with credit challenges.”

Auto Trakk chief executive officer Merril Davis added, “It’s all about making it easier for dealers to do business with us. RouteOne is a proven platform and key strategic partner.”