Canadian auto dealers are placing greater value on lenders that actively help close deals as affordability pressures continue reshaping the retail market, according to the 2026 Canada Dealer Financing Satisfaction Study released by JD Power.
The study found dealers increasingly view finance providers as collaborative partners rather than transactional lenders, particularly as rising negative equity and affordability concerns complicate vehicle financing.
“In a market where affordability pressure, negative equity and customer fragility are on the rise, dealers are expecting lenders to work the deal with them, not necessarily to take more risk blindly,” said Patrick Roosenberg, Senior Director of Auto Finance Lending Intelligence at JD Power.
According to the study, nearly two-thirds of dealers working with the top-ranked captive lender said they “definitely will” increase business with that lender over the next 12 months. More than half of dealers working with the highest-ranked non-captive prime lender said the same.
The report also found speed has become a critical expectation across dealership financing operations. Roughly 65 per cent of dealers expect funding staff to respond to questions or issues within 30 minutes or less, while 70 per cent expect similar response times from credit staff.
Ford Credit ranked highest in the captive lender segment for the third consecutive year with a score of 859 on a 1,000-point scale. Hyundai Motor Finance ranked second, followed by Kia Finance.
TD Auto Finance ranked highest in both the non-captive prime and non-prime segments. The study marked TD Auto Finance’s ninth consecutive top ranking in the non-prime category.
JD Power said the study was based on 6,953 evaluations from new-vehicle dealerships across Canada collected between January and March 2026.
