RPA Is Perfectly Positioned to Transform the Auto Sales Industry

When a customer wants to buy a car and applies for an automobile loan, they choose the vehicle they want, put in the application, and hand over all their financial documentation. Then all is quiet on their front while they wait – and wait – to find out if they have been approved.

However, behind the scenes there are a number of tasks being done to process that loan application and finalize the sale of the vehicle. Most of these tasks are tedious, repetitive, and done manually, which is why the customer is left waiting. Simply put – it takes time.

RPA to the Rescue

This is where robotic process automation (RPA) can help. RPA is an automation system that can take these tedious and repetitive tasks and do them more quickly and more accurately than any human. Whether it is checking a customer’s credit history, verifying their information and documentation, loan boarding, sending out a welcome letter, or ensuring the title transfer of the vehicle, it can all be automated.

This is incredibly important at a time when auto retailers are facing a potential increase in demand for new vehicles. While auto sales have gone down due to COVID-19, that same reason is prompting many people to purchase a vehicle to stay off public transportation. It’s a potential silver lining for the auto industry.

Of course, the automation of the automobile industry isn’t new. Automation has been used on the factory floor for years and the industry has always been at the forefront of innovation when it comes to the manufacturing side of things. It is the sales side that, until now, has been lacking. Fortunately, that will soon be a thing of the past.

RPA Success in India

One of the hottest auto-buying markets in the world right now is India. In February of 2018, the sale of passenger vehicles rose by over 7%. Seven cars were being bought every minute. Tangentia saw this as the ideal market to integrate RPA into the auto loan process.

We partnered with the largest car dealership in India, to implement an RPA solution that would help them with their auto sales process. When a vehicle is purchased in India, the purchaser has to register with 12 different agencies to finalize the sale. These are agencies such as the department of transportation, insurance, roadside assistance, and vehicle warranty.

Prior to RPA implementation, the entire purchase and loan approval process was done manually. It took two days before a customer was approved and all the paperwork was done. It was a time- and energy-intensive process for sales associates. Yet, RPA took the entire process and shortened it from a couple of hours to minutes.

This freed up associates’ time, made the process more efficient, and reduced the number of errors that occurred. It also made the customers happy because they didn’t have to wait long to get loan approval and get their new car on the road. This has significantly impacted the ROI for Indus Motors.

The Bottom Line

The more time sales associates spend on the sales floor, the more vehicles a dealership will sell. With RPA, sales associates won’t be tied to their computer and phone dealing with the tedious loan approval process and all the other number of things that must be done when selling a vehicle. Instead, RPA bots can take care of all that behind-the-scenes work and sales associates can be where they’re needed most – on the front line making sales.