Ready to Charge, from F&I Showroom.
Auto finance sources reveal that they, too, are focused on the customer experience, and say they are ready for what’s expected to be another great year for auto sales.
The auto finance community arrived in San Francisco in January charged up about a year in which new-vehicle sales could match the third highest total in auto retailing history, according to the National Automobile Dealers Association (NADA). They maintained that origination strategies remain unaffected by the current regulatory climate and scoffed at media claims of a forming bubble in the subprime auto finance arena.
The week started on Jan. 20 with the American Financial Services Association (AFSA)’s two-and-a-half-day Vehicle Finance Conference, which fed into J.D. Power and Associates’ one-day Automotive Summit and concluded with the 98th annual NADA Convention & Expo. Even when shown metrics that could indicate a return of the volume race that preceded the 2008 financial crisis, the message from finance execs — and even market analysts — was the same.
“There’s a lot of press on that,” said Tim Russi, president of automotive finance for Ally Financial. “I don’t see it as an issue, and I can’t find a colleague who does.”
