Using Finance to Drive Deals as Lockdown Eases

James Tew, CEO, iVendi. Image: Ginger Pixie Photography

Dealers are finally starting to reopen their businesses on a widespread basis. The world in which they are doing so is much changed and the models of trading they are adopting – with widespread use of a combination of online motor retail and click-and-collect – are quite different.

However, one thing is unchanged: finance drives deals.

That is why, when the crisis hit, we decided to support our direct dealer customer base by providing them with our new TRANSACT product free of charge.

TRANSACT is designed to develop online consumer interest in a specific vehicle through to a final transaction while managing the complexities of the sales process. Crucially, at this time, there is the option to do this entirely online, in the showroom, or blending the two.

Our research shows that 69% of used car sales don’t happen at the advertised price because buying a vehicle is really a series of very human micro-negotiations. TRANSACT is the first product of its kind to recognise this, enabling deals to be created online in the same way as face-to-face conversations – for example, providing flexibility over price and allowing the inclusion of value-added products.

Where TRANSACT drives the deal through finance is that it also allows dealers to build and send a prospective digital proposal to consumers remotely with multiple finance products from multiple lenders, underlining the affordability of the vehicle, and including product information videos to guide the buyer through the process. From there, the consumer can self-serve the entire process of completing the finance element of the transaction.

We are already seeing signs that TRANSACT is helping some dealers begin to pioneer a new way of interacting with consumers that is highly effective in delivering business. In the new normal, as the motor industry searches for new ways to meet the needs of car buyers, it could be a very valuable development.