COVID Changes – Digital Auto Lending Infected

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COVID-19 pandemic has simultaneously strained day-to-day operations and pushed more transactions than ever to digital, according to the J.D. Power, which released the 2020 U.S. Dealer Financing Satisfaction Study.

“The pandemic has severely disrupted dealer-lender communication, with many dealers reporting that lenders were delayed or not available when they needed them, or not able to assist in a timely manner,” said Patrick Roosenberg, director of automotive finance intelligence at J.D. Power. This of course begs the question of there’s another solution – such as borrowers dealing directly digitally with lenders, which will eliminate a lucrative profit center at dealerships.

Study Rankings

Captive – Mass Market Segment

• Volkswagen Credit ranks highest in overall dealer satisfaction with a score of 939 (on a 1,000-point scale),
• followed by Subaru Motors Finance (934) and
• Honda Financial Services (902).

National Banking

• TD Auto Finance ranks highest in overall dealer satisfaction with a score of 931,
• followed by Ally Financial (922) and
• Chase Automotive Finance (872).

Regional Banking

• Citizens One Auto Finance ranks highest in overall dealer satisfaction with a score of 954,
• followed by Huntington National Bank (910) and
• Fifth Third Bank (879).

Sub-Prime

• Ally Financial ranks highest in overall dealer satisfaction with a score of 913,
• followed by Chase Automotive Finance (878) and
• Capital One Auto Finance (820).

Lease

• Audi Financial Services ranks highest in overall dealer satisfaction with a score of 970,
• followed by Subaru Motors Finance (946) and
• Volkswagen Credit (941).

The 2020 U.S. Dealer Financing Satisfaction Study is based on responses from 3,960 auto dealer financial professionals. The study, which was fielded in August-September 2020, measures auto dealer satisfaction in six segments of lenders: captive luxury–prime;^1* captive mass market–prime; lease; non-captive national–prime; non-captive regional–prime; and non-captive sub-prime.

1* The captive luxury segment did not meet requirements to be award eligible.