Soft check and soft search options for online motor finance could make it more accessible and attractive to used car buyers, iVendi has revealed.

Chief exective James Tew said that offering potential customers the option to make a “soft search” was crucial to ensuring that the potential of online motor finance was optimised and ethical.

This follows a story reported by AM in September 2017, in which the iVendi boss claimed that the credit score harm caused by online finance checks was 'bordering on unethical'. 

“An increasing number of customers are becoming better informed about how a hard search can potentially damage their credit rating, especially if they make a number of applications in a short period of time,“ said Tew.

“Yet very few motor finance providers provide the opportunity to make a soft search online. This is both counterproductive and also, in our view, is simply not fair on the customer, who is often just going through the process of looking for the best deal.

“Fundamentally, the act of making a number of applications in a short period of time should not make it more difficult and potentially more expensive to access motor finance in the future unless there is good evidence that the applicant is a poor risk.

“There are various different technological solutions to providing a soft search online and our research suggests that dealers and finance providers shouldn’t waste time in adopting them.”