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Cox Automotive owns Dealertrack and has a minority stake in F&I Express.
Dealertrack and F&I Express have partnered to offer Dealertrack’s dealership clients connections with more than 130 F&I product providers, the companies said last week.
Through the Dealertrack eMenu and the Dealertrack Aftermarket Network, dealers will be able to access product rates, generate contracts and forward contracts to the providers. Brian Reed, CEO of F&I Express, expects the integration to be complete in the fourth quarter of this year or the first quarter of 2017.
Going forward, F&I Express will handle integrations for F&I providers Dealertrack adds to its network. F&I Express currently has a network of more than 120 F&I product providers. Dealertrack has a network of about 35 providers, some of which are already on the F&I Express network.
“So by adding the F&I Express network, clearly the F&I Express-Dealertrack network is the widest in the industry,” Reed told Automotive News.
Cox Automotive owns Dealertrack and has a minority stake in F&I Express, but Reed said Dealertrack and F&I Express are separate from an operations standpoint and will remain that way.
‘Aligned vision’
“Our aligned vision to provide powerful, innovative solutions to dealers to enhance workflow is a primary reason why we feel so strongly about our partnership with Cox Automotive, and expanding our relationship with Dealertrack is an important aspect of that,” Reed said in a statement.
The collaboration gives Dealertrack’s dealership clients “access to a larger number of F&I providers that will enable various processes to those dealerships including enabling digital retailing. With access to the F&I Express network, they will be able to provide most products to most dealers,” Reed told Automotive News.
Reed’s goal is to have all F&I providers on the F&I Express network. If that happens, all F&I products will be able to be digitally retailed.
Refund service
Dealertrack and F&I Express also will partner to offer F&I Express’ Express Recoveries Solution, a product that provides lenders and consumers a refund on the unused portion of their F&I product contracts. That product will be available through Dealertrack on Oct. 1.
When lenders finance a product and the vehicle is repossessed, they have to apply for cancellation with the provider, Reed said. After that happens, the refund for the unused portion of the product would go back to the customer’s account, via Express Recoveries Solution.
Moreover, in eight states, if a lender receives a payoff on an account that has GAP, that lender is required to make sure the refund gets to the consumer.
Part of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s lender exam looks at the process lenders have for getting customers rebates and the time it takes for customers to receive them, Reed said.
Better organized
Express Recoveries Solution streamlines the process for the lenders so they can be better organized in how they submit cancellations to the provider and dealer.
“A lot of processes today are paper intensive. Just like on the front end where we have connected dealers with F&I providers, we are connecting dealers with lenders and providers. Instead of the lenders’ process where there are a lot of forms to send to providers and dealers to get rebates, in the future that will be 100 percent electronic,” Reed said.
F&I Express also is launching a product called Express Rebate, which will allow dealers to view cancellation quotes in real time. A pilot with a large, unnamed dealership group will begin Nov. 1.
Dealertrack, F&I Express team up
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