700Credit, a leading provider of credit, compliance, prescreen and consumer pre-qualification solutions for the automotive industry, announced today that its prescreen solution is now accessible directly from Contact Management, the Reynolds and Reynolds customer relationship management (CRM) tool for automotive retailers.
The prescreen solution enables dealership personnel to prescreen the customer’s credit profile to gain immediate insight into the details of their current auto loans – including interest rate, payment terms, credit score, and equity position. By knowing this information earlier in the sales cycle, dealers can increase the speed and accuracy of identifying payment options and potential vehicles so they can begin to work with the customer on the right deal, right away.
With this new integration, dealership personnel can now securely and speedily obtain a customer’s credit profile directly within Contact Management – using only the customer’s name and address. This progressive soft-pull process does not require the customer’s Social Security Number or date of birth, and will have no negative impact on their credit score.
“By providing critical credit information to the dealer up front in the sales process, customers experience a smoother and more seamless sales process. They can be aligned with both a vehicle and payment that best fits their situation, rather than creating a frustrating and potentially embarrassing situation where you have the consumer set their sights on a specific vehicle, only to find out in the finance office that their credit profile or payment options make the transaction unrealistic,” said Ken Hill, Managing Director of 700Credit.
“As vehicle sales have continued to rise, dealers have faced increased pressure to meet consumers’ expectations for a consistent, rewarding experience with the dealership,” said Jon Strawsburg, vice president of Product Planning at Reynolds and Reynolds. “Contact Management helps dealers meet those consumer expectations efficiently and effectively. The added integration for this prescreen solution is one more dimension of working with the consumer to deliver a smoother and more satisfying sales process that can help improve the experience with the dealership – and the efficiency of how dealership personnel work with consumers.