Customer Financing

[pam]

We want to start offering finance options to our customers. Can anyone recommend some companies that you use? I've heard good things about One Road Lending. GE Capital is now Synchrony and they have horrible reviews. Appreciate your help! Thanks, Pam

[gandgautorepair]

We signed up for Synchrony through CarQuest Technet. It works fine for us. Not a big volume, but it does work for a few customers, and it allows us to say we have that option and use it occasionally.

[spencersauto]

We use synchrony as well and I've never had any issues.  When someone asks about paying us out this is always what I use to supply them with an option.

[ScottSpec]

We have 2 options for our customers. We are a Bosch Authorized service center and a NAPA Authorized service center. We offer CFNA from Bosch and Synchrony thru NAPA. Here is what I have found. Most of the customers that have applied have been denied. Customers with good credit have credit cards and just use them. I have spent hours submitting applications online and decided it is not worth my time. Now, I just email the customer the link and tell them they have to apply online. This also helps you avoid that always uncomfortable situation of tell the customer that they have been denied.

Scott 

[kars]

https://snapfinance.com/

I just got set up with these guys. No real credit check (they do not do a hard pull on their credit report, good if they do not want an inquiry). You need to have a checking account and at least $1000 a month income. They claim about an 80% approval rate. 12 month loan with 100 days same as cash. $39 application fee if approved. The down side is up to 98% interest if you don't pay it off in 100 days. They also take 4% of the ticket. Basically you need to make sure your customer can pay it off in 100 days and they make arrangements with Snap to do so.  It's just another option available.

[Marksas]

We use Synchrony and have for years. We don't get significant request, maybe 1-4 a month. It about the same if not just a tad higher than our normal credit card transaction fee which averages about 1.9%. It does allows us to do some larger repairs all at once. The application process is simple and straight forward and we do occasionally have a customer that gets declined credit. 

 

[Guest]

We've been trying Synchrony. So far it's helped.

[3PuttFever]

Synchrony is good but they need a high enough credit score to qualify. I direct them to Acima for financing if their credit is suspect. It reads like a lease plan, think furniture/bed financing but for automotive services. Customer takes care of the application, it gets loaded into your portal, and you process everything through them. There are a couple of tricky nuances to the process but they're great to work with when you need help.

[AlohaAutoLasVegas]

If my customers can't afford their vehicle repairs why would I recommend or offer an financing program with a financing company??...Honestly,,if the vehicle owner dosent have the cash or a major credit card,..how are you helping them?...your just  putting them in more debt...the only people making money on financing is the Financial Company...Would you be happy collecting a $1500.00 repair on 1995 Ford Taurus??..and then something else goes wrong??...and if it's a newer used vehicle they should purchase an extended warranty and finance it to the vehicles purchase price..repair "financing" is another name for "loan sharking""....we shop owners need to "Put Our Selfs In Their Shoes".. And ask our selfs "Is repairing that vehicle really worth it??" ..with all the pressures of PROFIT we tend to forget  the PEOPLE...

[ScottSpec]

6 hours ago, AlohaAutoLasVegas said:

If my customers can't afford their vehicle repairs why would I recommend or offer an financing program with a financing company??...Honestly,,if the vehicle owner dosent have the cash or a major credit card,..how are you helping them?...your just  putting them in more debt...the only people making money on financing is the Financial Company...Would you be happy collecting a $1500.00 repair on 1995 Ford Taurus??..and then something else goes wrong??...and if it's a newer used vehicle they should purchase an extended warranty and finance it to the vehicles purchase price..repair "financing" is another name for "loan sharking""....we shop owners need to "Put Our Selfs In Their Shoes".. And ask our selfs "Is repairing that vehicle really worth it??" ..with all the pressures of PROFIT we tend to forget  the PEOPLE...

Aloha,

A lot of what you say makes sense, but I think you may be missing part of the picture. First, I gave up on offering customer financing. The people who needed financing never got it because they had no money or credit. Back to your point. Seeing a customer put $1500 into a vehicle of questionable value and or reliability may seem like an illogical thing to do, and it may seem like a shop is putting profit over people. However, that person most likely needs transportation. They need to get to work, transport the kids, get the groceries. If they don't have the $1500, or struggle coming up with $1500 for repairs, it's highly unlikely that they will be able to secure the funds to purchase another vehicle, or they probably would have already. So by doing what you think is moral or ethical, you may actually be doing more harm than good. 

This does not mean you take the money blindly or take advantage of the customer. I believe you have an obligation to disclose as much as you can to the customer, and communicate your recommendations. You don't have to do the job if you don't feel right about it, but I think it is important to let the customer decide what is best for themselves. 

Scott       

[pam]

@AlohaAutoLasVegas Aloha, You've got a bit of an accusing tone there. We are probably one of the few shops in our area who will let our customers know if we don't feel the car is worth putting money into. If it needs a lot and the car isn't worth it, we tell them to take the money they would have put into the repairs and use it towards a newer vehicle. Our customers who use the financing option are just in a temporary tight spot. They need their vehicle for work or whatever so the repair has to be done. If 6 months at no interest helps them through, then what's wrong with that?

[ScottSpec]

21 minutes ago, pam said:

@AlohaAutoLasVegas Aloha, You've got a bit of an accusing tone there. We are probably one of the few shops in our area who will let our customers know if we don't feel the car is worth putting money into. If it needs a lot and the car isn't worth it, we tell them to take the money they would have put into the repairs and use it towards a newer vehicle. Our customers who use the financing option are just in a temporary tight spot. They need their vehicle for work or whatever so the repair has to be done. If 6 months at no interest helps them through, then what's wrong with that?

Pam,

Thanks for letting me know how the post came across. I did not mean to sound accusing, and I'm sorry if it came across that way. it sounds like Aloha runs reputable shop they care about their customers. I just want to point out that sometimes what we think is best for the customer, may not always be what is best for them. This is something it took me a while in business to understand. At a seminar a few years ago, I heard a story from a shop owner. An elderly woman came to him with an old car that probably had little or no value. The car needed several thousand dollars of work. Doing what he thought was the right thing, he told the women to get rid of the car, and use the money to buy another. The women started crying. She then went on to tell the shop owner that this was the last car her husband bought for her before died, and it was very upsetting to be told to get rid of the car, and she didn't care how much it would cost to fix the car. I don't know if the story is true or not, but I think it does a good job of demonstrating that what appears illogical and or worthless to us, may have a completely different value or meaning to the customer.

I do want to reiterate what I said in my earlier post that this does not mean we take money blindly, or take advantage of customers. We have an obligation to disclose as much as we can to the customer, and to answer all their questions honestly. We don't have to do work if we don't feel right about it, but I think we need to be careful when it comes to deciding what is best for other people, because we don't fully know their situation.

Scott     

[ScottSpec]

7 minutes ago, ScottSpec said:

Pam,

Thanks for letting me know how the post came across. I did not mean to sound accusing, and I'm sorry if it came across that way. it sounds like Aloha runs reputable shop they care about their customers. I just want to point out that sometimes what we think is best for the customer, may not always be what is best for them. This is something it took me a while in business to understand. At a seminar a few years ago, I heard a story from a shop owner. An elderly woman came to him with an old car that probably had little or no value. The car needed several thousand dollars of work. Doing what he thought was the right thing, he told the women to get rid of the car, and use the money to buy another. The women started crying. She then went on to tell the shop owner that this was the last car her husband bought for her before died, and it was very upsetting to be told to get rid of the car, and she didn't care how much it would cost to fix the car. I don't know if the story is true or not, but I think it does a good job of demonstrating that what appears illogical and or worthless to us, may have a completely different value or meaning to the customer.

I do want to reiterate what I said in my earlier post that this does not mean we take money blindly, or take advantage of customers. We have an obligation to disclose as much as we can to the customer, and to answer all their questions honestly. We don't have to do work if we don't feel right about it, but I think we need to be careful when it comes to deciding what is best for other people, because we don't fully know their situation.

Scott     

Pam,

After writing and posting my response to your post, I realized that it was Aloha's post you were commenting about, not mine. 

Scott 

[pam]

@ScottSpecScott, you did not sound rude at all, Aloha did. We have cases of sentimentality with cars too and it's sad but we still present the facts. Honestly, of all the customers I've had apply for financing, only 1 has qualified so far. It was an elderly lady (good customer) who just needed a few months to spread out the payments.  It wasn't even a large repair. There have been times that we did flat out refuse because we were afraid of the liability issues.

[3PuttFever]

@pam Pam, don't allow HighHorseAloha to bother you. Customer's brought cars to us for repairing an issue. If they can't afford it they can make the determination to not fix, finance, or replace the vehicle. Too many contextual issues don't get discussed here. This is a general forum. 

[willydmax]

I haven't been a member here long but am enjoying the different discussions. I don't know if what I'm about to say fits but I was impressed with the idea. I was at Vision last month and took a management class and the instructor owns her own shop in Vermont. They offer their customers a kind of VIP program that I found interesting. The customer can choose an amount per month to put away, for example $100 toward future repairs at the shop. They give the shop their credit card info and every month she charges x amount and keeps it in a separate account and then applies it as they have repairs. If they sign up for it she gives them a 5% discount. I thought it was a pretty cool idea. One of her customers has several kids and the family has 5 vehicles so she has her charge her card for $500 each month. I guess you could say she is being a kind of bank for them. You could say it's financing but with a different twist. As a shop owner one thing that I notice about people is very few if any, put money away for repairs.

[ScottSpec]

20 minutes ago, willydmax said:

I haven't been a member here long but am enjoying the different discussions. I don't know if what I'm about to say fits but I was impressed with the idea. I was at Vision last month and took a management class and the instructor owns her own shop in Vermont. They offer their customers a kind of VIP program that I found interesting. The customer can choose an amount per month to put away, for example $100 toward future repairs at the shop. They give the shop their credit card info and every month she charges x amount and keeps it in a separate account and then applies it as they have repairs. If they sign up for it she gives them a 5% discount. I thought it was a pretty cool idea. One of her customers has several kids and the family has 5 vehicles so she has her charge her card for $500 each month. I guess you could say she is being a kind of bank for them. You could say it's financing but with a different twist. As a shop owner one thing that I notice about people is very few if any, put money away for repairs.

If you can get customers on board, it sounds like a great way to build loyalty.

Scott

[AlohaAutoLasVegas]

"Highhorsealoha" I'll take it as a compliment....😂😂😂..and using an "accusing tone" ?....I never singled out anyone...I expressed my opinion on the subject of third party repair financing and my opinion on using them.A few people on this tread said that their customers did not get approved financing for their vehicles repair.... Now What??..would you personally  finance them?.......I'll never do third party repair financing,that's my choice...and I wish the best for those who are willing to do it...and if you think this is rude and accusing too bad it is what it is..😎