Mercedes-Benz Financial Services (MBFS) has developed the My MBFS account management application for smartphones and tablets to be used from the driver’s seat.
The app allows drivers of 2013-model Mercedes-Benzes to make loan payments, receive payoff quotes and obtain account information. MBFS customers are also able to access account information through the mobile version of the website of the manufacturer’s captive finance partner (www.mbfs.com) and subscription to mbrace2, Mercedes-Benz’s connectivity app, will integrate internet access with the car’s dashboard.
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Since 2009, MBFS has received more than $150m (£98m) in payments through mobile channels. Currently, the finance company reports more than a fifth of its customers manage their account in someway on mobile devices and more than 1,000 customers either make payments or access information every day.
Moving figures
Similarly, Car Loan 4U, the car finance broker which specialises in online originations, launched its CoDriver app in April this year to keep customers posted on motoring administration tasks, including finance via the company’s Finance Countdown Calculator.
Although Mercedes-Benz began using an iPad app to demonstrate the B-Class and C-Class last year a facility for finance was not included. By contrast, Nissan launched a range of web marketing tools in September 2012 with an eye on harnessing smartphone technology, citing statistics which showed a fifth of all online searches were now made by mobile phones and tablets.
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By GlobalDataJamie Dixon, sales director at GForces – the company which is managing much of Nissan’s public-facing technological change – took the opportunity at the Finance & Leasing Association Used Car Seminar in 2012 to underline the importance to car finance brokers and lenders of embracing mobile know-how. According to Dixon, 94% of all consumers visit a website to research a purchase and 71% of all consumers use mobile technology to conduct research.
richard.brown@timetric.com
