ALPHERA sees significant growth in uptake of digital car finance platforms

ALPHERA Financial Services has seen a significant growth in the number of customers using its digital and online platforms to sign and manage their motor finance agreements. Between January and September this year, ALPHERA has seen a 75% year-on-year growth in user numbers for its MyFinance platform. MyFinance gives ALPHERA customers the ability to ‘self-serve’ and manage their finance agreement online. More than a quarter of ALPHERA’s UK customers are managing their finance agreements online.

The finance provider has also seen a 67% monthly increase in the number of finance applications successfully completed using its e-Retail platform since March. This has been driven by a 50% increase in the number of ALPHERA partners signed up to the platform, with a 72% growth in written volume in September.

Spencer Halil, director at ALPHERA commented: “We have seen major growth in the number of people completing their finance applications digitally and managing their agreement online this year. Covid-19 has accelerated trends that were already happening, thanks to long-term changes in consumer behaviour. Increasingly, we expect finance customers to become more comfortable signing and ‘self-serving’ online.”

ALPHERA introduces new functionality to MyFinance platform

The MyFinance platform was launched by ALPHERA in 2018, and enables car-buyers to manage their finance agreement digitally. Instead of spending unnecessary time on the phone, customers can use MyFinance to ‘self-serve’, with the ability to update their address and contact details, change their bank details, payment dates and marketing preferences, and access all documents relating to their agreement. Customers can also use MyFinance to request and pay an online settlement.

Following the coronavirus lockdown period in the UK, ALPHERA has subsequently added a range of new functionalities to the platform. These include a payment ledger, the ability for customers to express their end of contract intentions, a settlement payment facility, as well as a contract mileage calculator. Furthermore, the updated platform also provides easy access to ALPHERA’s coronavirus updates and online payment deferral request form, boosting clarity for customers in need.

e-Retail platform helps ensure compliant finance sales remotely

ALPHERA’s e-Retail platform, available to all ALPHERA partner businesses free of charge, enables customers to build their desired finance package and make a decision about a finance agreement in their own time. The platform also allows dealers to evidence a fully compliant finance sale, as the customer is in complete control of the process and has full transparency of the finance options available to them. The platform has helped ALPHERA’s dealer partners increase the volume of completed motor finance applications made online, and increase finance penetration by making the process easier to navigate for customers.

The availability of the e-Retail platform has proven to be especially beneficial to ALPHERA partners during the Covid-19 pandemic, enabling remote finance applications during lockdown. With social distancing, some customers may be anxious about visiting showrooms; ALPHERA’s e-Retail platform means buyers needn’t visit the dealership to negotiate a finance agreement, and can complete the process remotely.