After years of focusing on the haste of decisioning and funding to dealers, lenders have largely met those expectations on speed and should refocus on communication and relationships, according to the results of J.D. Power and Associates’ 2017 U.S. Dealer Financing Satisfaction Study.
“As everyone rushed to be fast, they lost track of [the fact that] it’s still a day-to-day, voice-to-voice, person-to-person relationship that drives satisfaction,” James Houston, senior director of auto finance at J.D. Power, told AFN. “Everybody is on par now [in speed], but what was lost in the last three to four years of quickly transacting was the underlying theme that it’s always been about relationships.”
Several lenders stood out as top in their category for dealer satisfaction amid some methodology changes to the long-running survey. Mercedes-Benz Financial Services topped the captive luxury category, Mini Financial Services snagged top honors in the captive mass-market category, and TD Auto Finance was ranked No. 1 among non-captives.
There wasn’t anything in the past year that drastically changed in TD Auto’s operations, but Chief Executive and President Andrew Stuart said the company’s human approach to the dealership relationship is what drove the ranking.
The Toronto-based lender eliminated its voicemail service in underwriting shops a few years ago so that dealers are always getting another person on the phone. TD also makes sure it is open on Sundays and that agents are available at all times in each of the markets it serves, he said.
“All those things help us to deliver customer experience that is very dealer-centric,” Stuart told Auto Finance News. “We also make sure that from a field operations point of view, our folks are listening to dealers and providing feedback.”
This year’s study asked some different questions than it has in the past — which makes it unfair to compare to previous years — but the main difference is that the credit desk relationship was broken out more acutely from the sales desk relationship, JD Power’s Houston said.
“We pulled that piece out that says, ‘On a daily basis, I speak to someone at the credit desk two, three, four times a day,’” he said. “You will see that in numbers that some dealers talk to lenders at the credit desk more than they talk to the sales reps.”
Check out the full rankings below and their scores out of 1,000 possible points.
Captive Luxury:
Mercedes-Benz Financial Services: 972
BMW Financial Services: 955
Infiniti Financial Services: 953
Captive Luxury Average: 930
Audi Financial Services: 926
Land Rover Financial Group: 896
Jaguar Financial Group: 894
Volvo Car Financial Services: 890
Captive Mass Market
MINI Financial Services: 954
Volkswagen Credit: 916
Ford Credit: 887
Subaru Motors Finance: 886
Nissan Motor Acceptance: 886
Mazda Capital Services: 877
Toyota Financial Services: 872
Captive Mass Market Average: 855
Honda Financial Services: 836
General Motors Financial: 811
Hyundai Motor Finance: 798
Kia Motors Finance: 775
Chrysler Capital: 770
Non-Captive:
TD Auto Finance: 912
Citizens One Auto Finance: 909
Chase Automotive Finance: 906
Huntington National Bank: 906
BB&T: 888
Fifth Third Bank: 884
PNC Bank: 882
BMO Harris Bank: 880
Bank of America: 872
Ally Financial: 870
M&T Bank: 870
Non-Captive Average: 867
US Bank: 853
SunTrust Bank: 853
Capital One Auto Finance: 847
Wells Fargo Dealer Services: 828
Bank of the West: 781
Santander Auto Finance: 744
Floorplanning:
Mercedes-Benz Financial Services: 986
TD Auto Finance: 982
Huntington National Bank: 970
Volkswagen Credit: 970
Ford Credit: 969
BMW Financial Services: 969
Audi Financial Services: 957
Chase Automotive Finance 957
Nissan Motor Acceptance: 943
Floorplanning Average: 940
Ally Financial: 939
Bank of America: 933
Hyundai Motor Finance: 919
General Motors Financial: 914
Kia Motors Finance: 899
Chrysler Capital: 849