Hyundai Motor Finance, a division of Hyundai Capital Canada (HCCA), announced today that it ranked highest in Dealer Satisfaction among Retail Captive Lenders according to the J.D. Power 2021 Canada Dealer Financing Satisfaction Study.

The captive finance partner of Hyundai Canada earned an overall Dealer Satisfaction score of 901 points on a 1,000-point scale, making it the No. 1 ranked Retail Captive Lender in the country and exceeding the captive average satisfaction score by 32 points. 

This is the first time that Hyundai Motor Finance earned top spot in this segment of the prestigious study since it commenced operations in 2014. The result also demonstrates a substantial improvement from 2020, when it ranked 6^th in Retail Captive Dealer Satisfaction, well below the captive average.

"It is a great honor that Hyundai Motor Finance is recognized by our dealer partners for providing strong service levels and competitive product features, particularly when dealing with the challenges of a global pandemic," said Mark Di Donato, Chief Sales Officer of HCCA. 

The strong satisfaction results are a reflection of a series of initiatives implemented by Hyundai Motor Finance throughout 2020. These initiatives included national expansion of its subvented retail finance product to all Hyundai dealerships in Canada, maintenance of consistent and stable credit policies and regular communications with the dealers during the pandemic, and launch of the "Dealer Partner Rewards" program that delivers a suite of service, risk and financial rewards to supportive dealerships.

In the Lease component of the study, Kia Motors Finance ranked second with an Overall Dealer Satisfaction Score of 906 points, while Hyundai Motor Finance ranked fourth with a score of 882 points. Each entity exceeded the captive average dealer satisfaction score by 55 points and 31 points respectively. 

Initiatives which contributed positively to the Lease study results for both brands included: the delivery of  "Virtual Instructor-Led Training" Lease training sessions for dealership staff across the country, a variety of COVID-19 customer support programs (payment deferrals, lease-extensions and distance contracting procedures), and a series of customer retention incentives designed to increase customer renewals during the pandemic.

This year's study also highlighted the growing importance of online interaction and transactions within the Canadian automotive retail industry.

"With an increasing number of auto sales moving to a full digital transaction model, lenders need to develop and launch digital platforms that enable the process from origination to funding – and be supported by the sales reps and credit analysts," says Patrick Roosenberg, director of automotive finance at J.D. Power. 

HCCA responded to increased digitization of the sale process by rolling out its digital document submission tool to all Hyundai, Genesis and Kia dealers in Canada in 2020. This tool allows dealers to upload their lease and loan contracting documents directly to HCCA, which automatically sorts and populates specific contracting details directly within HCCA's internal systems. As a result, HCCA is able to fund dealer contracts faster while reducing held-contracts. This system will also support the implementation of an e-signature solution, potentially making the entire lease and loan contracting process paperless in the near future.

Mark Di Donato of HCCA says the company still has a lot of opportunities to improve and deliver even more value to our dealers. Specifically, the company can improve the accessibility and availability of its credit and funding staff to dealer partners, while improving the ability to resolve dealer inquiries at first contact.

HCCA has experienced rapid growth over the last seven years. The company saw its financial assets jump six-fold from its first full year of operations in 2015 to C$3.7 billion as of May 2021.

The 2021 Canada Dealer Financing Satisfaction Study, now in its 23rd year, captures 7,190 finance provider evaluations across the three segments (Retail Captive, Non-Captive, Lease) from new-vehicle dealerships in Canada. The study was fielded in February 2021.