Advertisement feature: Half of all motor finance applications will occur online by end of 2022

Advertisement feature from iVendi

An important milestone is likely to be passed this year, says Rob Severs, senior vice president of products and insight at iVendi, with the majority of motor finance applications among its dealer user base occurring online.

A key milestone for the development of motor finance is set to be passed by the end of 2022 – with more than half of applications across iVendi’s vehicle retailer user base regularly taking place online.

According to our forecast, 45% of applications will be made by customers digitally and remotely for the whole 12 month period, rather than in the showroom as part of a traditional sales process. This represents a rise from 35% in 2021, 30% in 2020 and 22% in 2019, so is very much indicative of an acceleration in the trend. The obvious question is, why are we seeing this marked increase? And the answer lies in a number of converging factors.

The first is probably the most obvious. The pandemic has made a relatively large section of the car buying public more comfortable about online processes. While the overwhelming majority will combine elements of a showroom and digital journey, there has probably been a permanent shift towards the latter.

Secondly, dealers have moved to meet that need. Many have upgraded their online presence substantially over the last two years and the motor finance journey they are offering digitally is simply better and easier to use, hence more consumers are opting to adopt it.

Lastly, the technology on offer has continued to improve at a rate that is much better than incremental. The online journeys now offered by easily-accessible products such as iVendi’s Connected Retail concept are more effective, and easier to adopt for dealers and to use for car buyers, plus are better integrated into the whole purchasing process.

Driven by these factors and more, we expect the swing towards online applications to continue not just this year but to easily exceed 50% for the whole of 2023. While we believe there will always be a place for showroom-based applications, increasing numbers of car buyers will choose the digital option.

The iVendi Connected Retail range

ENGAGE is designed to help consumers find the right vehicle by rewriting the rules for online car, van and motorcycle search using the natural language adopted by the majority of vehicle buyers.

CONVERT facilitates the process of transforming initial online consumer interest in a vehicle into a sale through a range of essential features.

TRANSACT develops online consumer interest in a specific vehicle through to a final transaction while managing the complexities of the sales process and includes iVendi’s innovative Digital Deal.

About iVendi

Founded in 2009, iVendi is the market leader in connected motor retail technology, creating digital products that help customers to buy vehicles more easily and dealers to sell them more efficiently, both online and in the showroom. The company’s technology interacts with around five million consumers every month and thousands of motor retailers, manufacturers and finance providers.