Octane (Octane Lending, Inc.), the fintech company unlocking the power of financial products for retailers and consumers, announced that it has entered the auto market to help dealerships maximize their return on each car sale while delivering a superior customer experience.
Octane’s Captive-as-a-Service offering enables auto dealerships to enjoy the benefits of owning a captive finance company without the significant up-front costs, time, effort and investment required to establish such a business. Octane’s turnkey solution brings together core captive business elements, including credit underwriting, loan processing, loan servicing, funding and capital markets execution, under a brand name of the partner’s choice. Dealer partners and their customers benefit from a seamless technology-forward experience.
Additionally, tailored programs can include access to digital soft-pull tools, Octane Prequal and Prequal Flex, to drive qualified leads; a customized lending platform to support dealership-level promotions; and monthly customer touchpoints enabling dealer marketing for the duration of a consumer’s loan. As a result, Octane’s Captive-as-a-Service solution allows dealers to earn more money on each sale, grow and diversify their earning streams, strengthen customer loyalty, and build long-term enterprise value.
“At Octane, we are constantly looking for ways to help our partners grow their businesses. With Captive-as-a-Service, we give dealer groups the flexibility to create a program to meet their specific needs, like supplementing their existing lender mix, connecting their in-store and digital strategy, or turning their loan portfolio into a profit center,” said Jason Guss, Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Octane. “After seeing success with captive and private label partnerships in the powersports and RV markets, we are excited to bring our Captive-as-a-Service solution to the auto market.”
“We’re extremely impressed with Octane’s efficient and seamless process, providing an integrated financing experience that directly benefits our customers,” said Roger W. Holler III, president and CEO at Holler-Classic Family of Dealerships. “Our buyers across the credit spectrum can move confidently through the loan process, while giving us more control as we continue to scale our business. Partnering with Octane’s team has been fantastic; a smart business move for the Holler-Classic Family of Dealerships.”
Through its in-house lender, Roadrunner Financial, Octane has surpassed $7 billion in aggregate originations since its founding in 2014. The company has considerable underwriting expertise and consistent credit performance, as evidenced by its AAA ratings*. Dealers can benefit from Octane’s in-house loan processing team, which offers support seven days a week, and its award-winning loan servicing team, which handles in-house payments, collections, and recovery. Dealers can also leverage Octane’s significant capital markets experience; the company has issued more than $4.7 billion of asset-backed securities (ABS) since establishing its ABS program in December 2019, has cumulatively sold or secured commitments to sell $3.3 billion in loans through whole loan sale and forward flow transactions, and maintains strong relationships with institutional investors, banks, rating agencies, and warehouse capital providers.
Octane’s leadership team, which includes Steven Fernald, president and chief financial officer, Mark Molnar, chief risk officer, and David Bertoncini, senior vice president of Credit Strategy, Auto, has more than 50 years of combined experience in capital markets, financial services, compliance and credit risk, and over 25 years of combined experience in auto lending.
“The Octane Captive program makes an incredibly powerful tool — captive financing — approachable and deployable for us as a dealer group,” said Matt Greenblatt, owner/dealer principal at Matt Blatt Dealerships. “We are able to serve our customers better, see a fantastic return on our portfolio, and leverage the Octane team to implement solutions that save us money and bring in new customers. This is a new area of growth and profit for us and we are excited to be leading the industry and embracing it.”
“Our Captive-as-a-Service solution also unlocks countless marketing opportunities to drive value across the dealership, like coupons for servicing and maintenance or remarketing messages to drive the next sale,” said Mark Davidson, co-founder and chief growth officer at Octane. “At the same time, we help dealers deliver a fast, seamless financing experience to their customers through our digital tools and instant credit decisioning, and responsibly extend credit to a wide range of customers through our proprietary underwriting model.”
