White Paper from eLEND Solutions with Huntington Beach Chrysler Dodge Jeep Ram examines how a simple driver’s license swipe, and a new process can set financing pre-qualification in motion, reduce transaction times and increase closing ratios

Foothill Ranch, CA – August 4, 2016 – The time it takes to complete a purchase transaction in the dealership can be shorted by sixty minutes with the simple swipe of a driver’s license and specific process improvements, according to a new study released today by eLEND Solutions. The study entitled “A 60 Second Process Change Decreases Transaction Time By Over 60 Minutes” conducted with California-based Huntington Beach Chrysler Dodge Jeep Ram, proves that, in addition to streamlining the transaction time, triggering financing pre-qualification at the start of the sales process can increase likelihood to purchase by 56%.

“We knew the only way to cut the time customers spent in the dealership was to start Sales and Finance at the same time,” said Pete Shaver, Managing Partner of HB Chrysler Dodge Jeep Ram. “To us, this meant the minute the customer enters the showroom. We decided to empower our sales team with the ability to combine the driver’s license test-drive scan with a consumer consent soft pull credit application. The results really speak for themselves.”

“Saving time during the car sales transaction has become a kind of holy grail in the auto industry. Both dealers and consumers alike want to shorten a process that is documented as being notoriously long, unwieldy and exhausting – often lasting up to four hours,” said Pete MacInnis, CEO of eLEND Solutions. In fact, a recent Cox Automotive study, said that less than 1% of consumers like the sales process as it is today – with the time spent in the finance department being the biggest issue; while 88% of dealers say significant opportunities exist to improve the sales and finance process in their store.

In the six-month study, HB Chrysler Dodge Jeep Ram’s sales team was required to get a quick driver’s license swipe from consumers and invite them to opt-in for a pre-qualification soft pull credit app – with no SSN required and no impact on their credit score.

Key results included:

• Closing ratios up by 150% from 18-25% to 45%
• Average transaction time went from 3-4 hours to just 2-3 hours
• Gross profit per car sold increased $300+
• Savings of $200-275 per car sold in variable labor and miscellaneous costs
• CSI scores increased 4 points

Not only did HB Chrysler Dodge Jeep Ram report record closing ratios, increased gross profits and shorter than ever transaction times, they also discovered that consumers welcomed this new process – especially because there was no SSN requirement or obligation to purchase. Over 50% of customers opted in for the one-click, soft credit pull and most had better than average credit scores – signaling a “ready-to-buy” buyer.

“Creating a connection between the traditionally silo’d sales and finance departments also helped solve the issue of data disconnects and bottlenecks in the finance department by capturing and de-duping all customer details in the CRM – whether from new walk-in customers or those already in the system,” continued Shaver. “Another improvement was the flagging up of potential fraudulent IDs prior to a test drive – an issue every dealer needs to get to grips with.”

ID Drive is able to authenticate every version of every driver’s license for all 50 states, Canada and Mexico. ID Drive is also able to append validated address and phone information to the lead record, and automatically convert a driver license scan into a consumer consented pre-qualification application.

“HB Chrysler Dodge Jeep Ram’s commitment to, and its sales team 100% compliance of, this new procedure helped cement their success. The results really speak for themselves - proving the case for connecting the sales and financing processes and beginning F&I as early as possible in the selling process,” concluded MacInnis.

To read the full white paper, click here.

ID Drive’s pre-qualification function works hand-in-hand with eLEND’s CreditPlus, a tool that instantly pre-qualifies customers based on dealer-defined credit criteria, giving car buyers direct, upfront access to dealership financing sources and real near-final terms from multiple lenders, all of which are controlled by the auto dealer.

About eLEND Solutions
eLEND Solutions is a privately held technology company whose patented platform offers integrated credit, identification and finance solutions that enable a connected buying experience for consumers and a streamlined sales and finance workflow for dealers and lenders that reduces the time to complete a vehicle purchase transaction by hours.  For more information, visit www.elendsolutions.com.

Contact: 
Media Relations 
Melanie Webber, mWEBB Communications, (424) 603-4340, melanie@mwebbcom.com 
Crystal Hartwell, mWEBB Communications, (714) 987-1016, crystal@mwebbcom.com