A New Era in Automotive Fixed Operations: The Synergy of Tekion and Sunbit

The automotive fixed operations landscape is witnessing a paradigm shift. Modern dealerships have evolved beyond traditional vehicle service, repair, and maintenance roles, emerging as holistic hubs for enhanced consumer experiences. Integrating automotive service with flexible financing options, especially in times of increased demand for repairs or maintenance, reshapes the consumer journey. At this transformative crossroads is the integration of Sunbit's pay-over-time technology and Tekion's Automotive Retail Cloud platform.

Tekion, innovator of Automotive Retail Cloud (ARC), the first and fastest cloud-native automotive retail SaaS platform, champions a seamless, comprehensive and consumer-centric approach. Its platform is crafted to respond to the modern needs of Fixed Operations departments. With the integration of Sunbit's pay-over-time solution, Tekion elevates the consumer experience further, effortlessly presenting straightforward and personalized financing options when most essential.

This integrated approach is about transforming challenges into opportunities. Often, the discussion about vehicle repairs or scheduled maintenance can become a financial stress point for consumers. With Sunbit technology's financing options embedded within Tekion's interface, dealerships can pivot this conversation, offering a silver lining: the inclusive opportunity for monthly payment plans that alleviate the stress from immediate financial burdens.

According to a 2023 S&P Global report, the average age of a consumer vehicle on U.S. roads experienced its highest year-over-year increase since the Great Recession in 2008-2009. As consumers decide to keep vehicles longer in today’s economic environment, they also experience more frequent and higher-priced repairs.

Visualize a typical journey: A driver schedules their vehicle's service via a Tekion-powered dealership. Alongside their appointment confirmation details, a Sunbit "pay as low as" module emerges, offering a snapshot of potential monthly payments if they opt to pay over time. This intuitive feature persists, even as dealers furnish service estimates, ensuring consumers always possess clarity regarding potential financial options.

The beauty of this integration lies in the empowerment it offers to customers. Alongside the cost breakdown, they also get an opportunity to pre-qualify for payment plans, which approves 90% of people who apply. Those already pre-qualified find their estimates reflecting their pre-qualification amounts, reinforcing confidence and control over their financial decisions. Nearly 70% of dealers partnering with both Tekion and Sunbit have had customers pre-qualify for financing via their integration.

For Service Advisors and dealership staff, the benefits are equally prominent. From the Tekion platform, they can view if a customer has been pre-qualified. No more shuffling between systems or manual checks. Having Sunbit's financing solutions natively integrated into Tekion's platform ensures Service Advisors can provide holistic service suggestions, blending service/repair recommendations and potential financing solutions.

Sunbit, with its technology already present in over 40% of US dealerships, has become synonymous with trusted fixed ops financing. Embedding Sunbit technology into Tekion's DMS sets the stage for service centers to cultivate enduring customer relationships based on trust, transparency, and flexibility.

As we navigate the ever-evolving terrain of automotive Fixed Operations, integrations, like the one between Tekion and Sunbit, will help define the next-generation service drive. By creating a synergy between service management and flexible financing, dealerships can meet and exceed modern consumer expectations, setting a new benchmark for the industry.

Loans are made by Transportation Alliance Bank, Inc., dba TAB Bank, which determines qualifications for and terms of credit.