Focus on the Fundamentals and Move Beyond Transactional

Dealer satisfaction is up for the industry since 2020, however, the 2021 J.D. Power Dealer Financing Satisfaction study finds that 25% of dealers indicate they are receiving a less than desirable experience. This is particularly important because dealers tend to send more contracts to their lenders who provide a highly satisfying experience. While lenders can’t be everything to every dealer, striving to provide the highest levels of service to their dealer partners creates the opportunity to capture more business. 

• 51% of dealers that gave their retail lending partners overall satisfaction ratings above 900 say they will “definitely increase business” with their lender in the next 12 months
• 10% of dealers that gave their retail lending partners overall satisfaction ratings below 800 say they will “definitely increase business” with their lender in the next 12 months
• One out of five (21%) dealers with high satisfaction (900 pts+) sent more than 100 contracts to a retail lending partner within the past 6 months while only 13% dealers with low satisfaction (< 800 pts.) sent more than 100 contracts to a retail lending partner, so as satisfaction declines, the percent of dealers sending more than 100 contracts to a lender within the past 6 months also declines.
• Captive and non-captive Lenders that received more than 100 contracts from a dealer in the last 6 months were rated significantly higher on the Relationship factor than those receiving 100 or less contracts in the same time period. Relationships create incremental opportunities by moving beyond transactional.

1 of 3 areas of focus to move beyond transactional: Sales Rep Relationship                   

• Sales Rep relationship – Dealer satisfaction with the sales rep relationship is significant between the aforementioned groups, 912 vs. 858, and there are significant gaps in performance when comparing sales rep KPI met %’s and attribute scores. While each delta in KPI’s and attributes scores are significant, these are just a few examples:

• • 1 of 4 Sales Rep KPIs - Sales representative “Exceeds expectations for explaining current retail/lease programs” – 54% vs. 41% 

• • 2 of 8 Sales Rep Attributes - “Timely Notification of program changes and updates” – 9.17 vs. 8.61 and “Knowledge of current programs” – 9.21 vs.  8.68

Lenders, both captive and non-captive, that deliver a best-in-class experience to their dealers by moving beyond transactional not only generate the highest levels of dealer satisfaction but are in the best position to grow share in a difficult and highly competitive market.

In a market constricted by supply challenges and increased demand, critical intelligence on the current auto finance market and competitive landscape is more important than ever. Dealer feedback provides a starting point to design and launch initiatives that capture greater-dealer satisfaction, and opportunities to increase contract volume while reducing the cost to serve.

In 2021, nearly 3000 franchise dealers participated in the J.D. Power Dealer Financing Satisfaction study, resulting in 13,681 lender evaluations on their dealer-lender experiences. And, on September 16^th, J.D. Power will publish the results of the J.D. Power 2021 U.S. Dealer Financing Satisfaction Study^SM. 

This year’s study provides powerful insight into a challenging and highly-competitive market in multiple segments and factors that provide lender-performance evaluations and best in class comparison:

• Captive Luxury – Prime
• Captive Mass Market – Prime
• Lease
• Non-Captive National – Prime
• Non-Captive Regional – Prime
• Non-Captive – Sub-Prime

Learn more when J.D. Power publishes the results of the 2021 U.S. Dealer Financing Satisfaction Study on September 16, 2021.

A study subscription provides access to the insights and tools needed to gain a comprehensive, in-depth understanding of how your firm may be performing and to identify key areas needing improvement. Subscribers gain access to results on September 16, 2021. Key findings and rankings will be released in a press release on September 23, 2021. Read the 2020 press release here.