Embracing new Tech is table stakes, 
but upgrading old fax systems can’t 
be overlooked

Car dealerships have embraced many new technologies to reach new customers. Tools like Social Media, ‘Big Data’ mining, and CRM systems to manage it all. If you visit a dealer’s website, they might have a Live Chat agent available. When you visit the dealer in person, you’ll have access to Wi-Fi and a comfortable concierge with HDTV, gaming, and kids’ stuff to keep everyone comfy while your vehicle is being serviced or loan application is being sent to the bank for approval. There’s certainly integration into Internet leads from various third party vendors. 

But there’s a technology that has evolved that many dealerships have overlooked just because it’s ‘just the way we do things’ – faxing. Time spent walking the dealership’s campus with ‘wet ink’ signatures of a hopeful new car owner to the finance manager, then dropping the fax on the fax machine to the bank, dialing the number, waiting for the fax to go through (or fail) and then waiting for the return fax can delay important business decisions and burn time. Many have not upgraded to cloud faxing service because it was just part of the routine. 

However, by implementing Cloud faxing technology, like eFax Corporate® secure fax, dealerships that have made the jump to the Cloud are able to reduce turnaround time of approvals and parts orders. For example, it reduces IT overhead for things like fax servers, fax machines, paper, toner, maintenance and Telco costs, to name a few. 

Dealerships are also benefitting by enhancing their compliance and security of their customer’s personal and financial data (known as PII – Personally Identifiable Information) providing the GM, compliance and executive management with team with peace of mind in knowing that they have implemented technological measures to enhance compliance and protect their customers’ data and not get hit with a costly regulations or fines. For example, a fax can be sent via a secure email from the dealership to the financial institution to a specific loan officer – minimizing the risk of faxes on top of an inbound fax machine with sensitive customer data to any employee at the bank. 

Here’s a few specific areas that your dealership or auto group might consider improving with cloud faxing:

  • Finance and Sales processes. For a sales associate or sales manager, time is literally money. The process of getting loan applications completed, signed, and sent by fax to banks can take up a significant amount of time in the sales cycle. Loan paperwork processing and the back and forth between in-house finance and the financial institution can delay or kill a sale. With cloud faxing, this process flow can be collapsed into a much more simplified process of reviewing scanned docs, digitally signing them, and sending a secure email (via online cloud faxing) from a workstation to many financial institutions at once to get the best and fastest loan offers for prospective clients seeking financing. The loan officer then simply opens the link in the secure email (using TLS encryption) authenticates with their login info, and reviews the loan via a secure web browser. The loan docs can then be approved, signed, and returned to the dealership’s loan department processing team  and voila! An approved loan! This reduces the turnaround time of the loan approval and helps to accelerate revenues.
  • Sales and Operations. Sales managers often bear the brunt of the blocking and tackling that needs to happen –not only in the sales cycle – but also in the service end of things. ‘Walking the campus’ is part of the daily routine of a sales manager – making sure finance has a critical piece of information that they need or coordinating for a special replacement part for a long time customer who’s leaving on a road trip and needs it done ‘right away’- all part of the routine. With cloud faxing, the sales manager can send an electronic fax from any workstation or mobile device on the dealership’s campus/floor without having to make unnecessary trips to other parts of the campus. For example, an important approval or invoice can be sent from the service department to his cloud fax number – which he can then retrieve when he returns to his office later in the day, then print or fax to someone else.

So, in summary, cloud faxing technology is an often overlooked tool that a dealership can upgrade to and use to reduce sales cycles, streamline existing paper faxing workflows, while also reducing the IT overhead and pain of ‘old school’ faxing. Cloud faxing solutions, such as eFax Corporate, can also enhance compliance by using updated TLS encryption of confidential faxes and ensuring delivery of PII only to the intended recipients at banks- all by email!. A true ‘Win-Win’ for the sales team and the general manager!