Many moons ago (well, it was March, but doesn’t that feel like forever?) we were chatting with an auto finance CEO and he said something we’re still thinking about:

“By the time the issue comes to the surface, you already have the book of business you have. So you have to think a little bit ahead to be able to overcome the challenges that come up.”

Auto finance teams are in a good position to think ahead right now.

That’s because we know a few things about the future:

• Interest rates may not be going up, but they’re not dropping significantly any time soon
• Which means payments are going to stay high on both existing and new originations
• Which means servicing costs will remain high
• And delinquencies and defaults are going to continue

But we also know:

• Supply of both new and used hadn’t quite recovered
• And the continuing UAW strike is poised to disrupt supply even more
• Which means pricing isn’t going to fall
• Which means those payments aren’t going to fall
• Which means servicing costs will remain high
• And delinquencies and defaults are going to continue

You don’t have to be a conspiracy theorist to see where this is heading.

3 ways to get ahead

1. Staff up

Yeah, the labor market hasn’t been great news lately either, but we’ve seen good results from teams willing to lean into new ideas about who to hire, how to train, and how to compensate employees.

2. Use solutions to maximize the staff you have‍

You’ve probably had some painful experiences trying to find technology to support your team.

Good news. Generative AI actually works for all the things you wanted your old tools to do.

So you can maximize agent efficiency with automated notes, reduce risk while saving costs and time with streamlined QA and compliance audits, and reduce new agent ramp time by 50%.

3. Use solutions to improve effectiveness

Part of maximizing the staff you have is making sure every move they make counts. 

• You want to make sure every borrower communication hits - the right message, the right time, the right channel.
• You want to reduce cost to service by understanding the top reasons for customer outreach and setting up self-service options for those needs.
• You want to block delinquencies and repossessions by spotting patterns and triggering preventative actions in accounts long before things get dire.

All the information you need to make those things possible is hiding in plain sight - right in the customer conversations you have every day.

That CEO we mentioned earlier? He had another thought that’s stuck with us:

“The only way to stay ahead in the game is to adopt and assimilate whatever technology you can find.”

We don’t know what’s going to happen with the UAW strike, but we do know it’s going to affect your auto finance team, so you need to start planning now.

‍Let’s get you going.

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