Fintech car finance firm strikes deal with Ford

AutoFi partners with Ford on new point-of-sale platform, allowing customers to finance a car purchase in minutes.

AutoFi, a technology platform for car financing solutions, has joined forces with Ford Motor Credit Company. The pair have launched a new platform for purchasing and financing vehicles, which can be accessed via Ford dealerships websites from anywhere and on any device.

The platform can also be used in-store, and is now available at Ricart Ford in Groveport, Ohio. The technology will be rolled out to more Ford and Lincoln dealerships across the US in due course.

AutoFi’s business is to connect car buyers with lenders using advanced technology, smoothing out the process of point-of-sale financing. The AutoFi team features a number of former Lending Club, PayPal and SunGard employees. The company raised $17m in May of last year, in a round led by Crosslink Capital – a San Francisco-based venture capital firm with over $1.6bn in assets.

And AutoFi has now added Ford Credit to its growing list of backers. Ford invested into the equity of the technology firm in conjunction with the new partnership. AutoFi declined to comment on the size of the investment, but said that Ford is the company’s first “strategic investor”.  

“By combining our fast and efficient credit-decision process with AutoFi’s online capability, we are making the customer experience faster, smoother and simpler,” said Lee Jelenic, Ford Credit director of mobility.

In a recent Ford survey, conducted by Harris Poll, 83 per cent of Americans said that they would like to spend as little time at dealerships as possible when shopping for a vehicle. But many of these same respondents said that they would also like to touch and feel a car prior to purchasing it. Ford is calling the AutoFi-powered platform “the best of both worlds”, bringing speed and simplicity to the buying process through technology, while also available in-store.

“We think this will be a game changer for both consumers and dealers, and we are thrilled to work with Ford Credit to make this happen,” said Kevin Singerman, CEO of AutoFi.