Michael Collins, Vice-President and GM DealerTrack Canada.
Getting fast online approvals takes the pain out of paperwork
The faster and more efficiently deals can move through the F&I office, the happier it is for everybody: dealers, lenders, service providers — and especially customers.
Mississauga, Ont.-based DealerTrack says it carefully studies the real world processes that auto dealers use to process credit applications and aftermarket contracts for products like insurance and warranties, and it then designs online systems to automate and simplify them.
The company’s software as a service (Sass) model lets dealers tap into real-time on demand data using a web browser to help run their operations in areas like vehicle sales, the service department, parts and inventory invoicing, general ledger and accounting and customer relationship management (CRM) systems.
“People describe us as a technology company,” says Michael Collins, Vice-President and General Manager of DealerTrack Canadian Operations in an interview with Canadian auto dealer. “But we really see ourselves as workflow solution providers. If we get the workflow right, we know that dealers will use this.”
Collins was also the co-founder and COO of Curomax Corporation prior to its sale to DealerTrack, so has a long history in this industry.
On demand credit applications
DealerTrack is perhaps best known for providing on-demand credit application processing solutions via its DealerTrack network that connects dealers to Canada’s major financial institutions, credit unions and other strategic industry partners.
While the company has been providing Canadian auto dealers with a wide range of dealer DMS and related services for years, it is now introducing its newest service: the DealerTrack Aftermarket Network.
That service helps dealers connect with providers that sell products such as insurance, service contracts, appearance protection and anti-theft to name a few. The company says this system will deliver free access to accurate pricing information in real-time.
Workflow solution for the business office
“This is a solution that is focused towards business offices. It is a workflow solution,” says Collins.
He says this new service offers a similar approach to a problem that the company (and its predecessors) solved about a decade ago. “We really solved the finance workflow for the business manager in the business office by web-enabling and allowing them to connect to their lenders in real time using the Internet. Prior to that dealers were using fax machines,” says Collins. “It was a horribly inefficient process. What we did with the Internet was that we made that happen in real time.”
Instead of taking several hours to process, in many cases the credit decision is now rendered back to the dealers in less than a minute.
“The aftermarket network is really tackling the other problem dealers have to this day which is insurance and warranties,” says Collins.
To buy these products, dealers are still using disconnected systems like binders or calculators to try to figure out premiums or how much something like a two-year extended warranty might cost to that consumer, says Collins.
“The Aftermarket Network does exactly what the financing network does. It connects business managers to a host of insurance and warranty companies,” says Collins.
The system will allow the dealer to go out into the Aftermarket Network in real time and, based on certain parameters, seek out the relevant pricing information and then deliver that back to their credit application. They can gain fast access to the exact premium for the exact structure of the deal they’ve just pulled together. “When they go to generate the bank loan contracts, the extended warranty certificate or credit insurance certificate will be right there beside it,” says Collins.
Dealers choose suppliers
The system still allows dealers to set it up using their preferred vendors, but the Aftermarket Network does all the complex math and calculations. “The dealer always has the choice of who they want to do business with,” says Collins. “We have taken all of that complexity and put it behind a very easy workflow solution.”
The system takes the waiting out of the process, and also can reduce the chance for errors using manual processes. “They don’t have to wait for anybody or anything,” says Collins. “They have perfectly calculated premiums inserted into the middle of a loan contract and all the documentation they need to fulfill, all delivered off of a plain paper printer.”
So how will this new service change the day-to-day job of someone working in the F&I offices right now?
“Each deal will stay in the business office for a lot shorter amount of time,” says Collins. “They can do more in the same eight-hour day as they are doing today, with less workarounds, error handling and revising quotes.”
Free for dealers
DealerTrack is also motivated to make the service work for dealers because otherwise they don’t get paid. “There is no charge for this service,” says Collins. It’s free for the dealer, and lenders or service providers only pay a fee if there’s a deal reached.
“Because we only get paid on successful deals, we had a lot of focus and time and attention on making sure that workflow solution is one that a dealer would actually use. Because if it isn’t one they would use — we starve,” says Collins.
Collins says that over time, the Aftermarket Network will include more warranty and insurance companies. “We will begin to add those warranty and insurance companies pretty quickly once we launch,” says Collins, adding the company hopes to eventually have the majority of the major providers offered within the system. “There has to be breadth of product, and depth of choice.”
A change is in the air
Collins says with any new process, a portion of the dealer population will embrace it, others will take some convincing, and others just will drag their heels and resist change. “The same thing happened on the financing network,” says Collins. “Here we are 10 years later. Do you know any dealers that still fax credit apps to lenders?”
To get the workflow right the company spends lots of time studying the real-world operations and processes dealers actually use, then builds its workflow solutions to match or improve those operations using their online tools and technology.
“There is no one process,” says Collins, adding that it varies from dealership to dealership. “You have to make sure that the process you are going to put online is complimentary and in fact improves what they are doing in their current operation. If you are doing well, they will use it,” he says.
If the speed or accuracy of the information is so profoundly better than what you had before, you will be willing to adapt to the new tools, he says.
Mobile makes a move
In terms of other things in the works, Collins says he expects dealers will be making a big move away from their desktops into mobile apps for smartphones and tablets. “We think mobile is absolutely the future and we think more and more will get done that way and less and less on desktops,” says Collins, adding that DealerTrack plans to unveil a mobile app later this year.
“Business is amazing,” says Collins. “We are really happy with the progress we are making. It’s exciting times for DealerTrack.”
DealerTrack Canada is located in Mississauga, Ont., and has more than 100 employees across the country.
