Auto Trader acquires AutoConvert, a message from our CEO Nathan Coe
I committed in my communication last week to maintaining the open channels we’ve built over the last few difficult months, sharing data and insight and our unique perspective on consumers and our industry. I’m sure you didn’t expect another message from me quite so soon, however this week we have acquired AutoConvert, a leading finance, insurance and compliance software platform.
I wanted to let you know directly and to explain why I believe it’s more important than ever that we progress with our plans to support retailers to save time and money in their businesses, and to do this in areas beyond advertising.
We launched our Dealer Finance advertising proposition in 2018 and since then have focused on understanding how to support you to make the finance sales and transaction process more efficient. Your input throughout has been invaluable and highlighted the challenges of running finance from multiple systems, with different processes that often require manual intervention, which is time consuming and costly. By consolidating lender systems and processes into one platform and enabling automation, retailers could save costs and gain key insights, enabling them to improve finance conversions and sales.
AutoConvert’s technology platform delivers this. We have been impressed by the improvements in finance performance it enables, which is why we felt it made sense to bring the business into the Auto Trader Group. We will work with the existing AutoConvert team and plan to invest further in their technology.
Paul Livsey, AutoConvert’s Co-founder, commented:
“We recognised the need, in the automotive industry, for one system which would combine finance and insurance with a modern automated CRM and process management solution. We felt a combined solution would alleviate the need to re-key information and automate tasks, resulting in a reduction in user errors, time savings, improved conversion, and better consumer outcomes.
“We wouldn’t be in the position we are in today without the continuous feedback from our customers, as this has enabled us to develop the platform quickly – an approach we are committed to continuing. We have an extremely exciting development roadmap ahead and an amazing team to execute it, only now we’ll also have the exciting support of Auto Trader, who will enable us to bring these plans to life much quicker than we had planned.“
Stoneacre, a current customer of AutoConvert, said recently:
"In Q1 we are 36.6% up on year-on-year digital sales, which is largely attributed to the automation, rules and credit search facility within the AutoConvert software" - Mark Zavagno, Head of Digital at Stoneacre.
We welcome your feedback and will continue to share updates and news as we progress. Your Account Manager is happy to capture any questions you have and feed this into our product teams so that we remain focused on delivering solutions that meet your needs.
If you are interested in hearing more about the AutoConvert proposition, you can arrange an online demo here or give the sales team a call on 0161 850 7330.
Thank you for your continued support.
Very best wishes,
Nathan Coe