Beau Townsend Ford Alliance eContracting Testimonial

Before e-contracting, completing a deal was a slow, cumbersome process. The deal jacket would pass through multiple hands, delaying funding and titles, and making the entire experience more laborious for both us and the customer. We often printed eight to ten documents in advance, hoping everything was correct, and if it wasn’t, we had to shred and start over. Remote deals on paper were even worse; security was a concern, and the process was far from fast. Our contract-in-transit times could reach ten days, and the risk of lost overnight packages sometimes delaying everything by up to 30 days. Before Alliance eContracting, we had to conduct two separate signing ceremonies, prepare paperwork twice, and manually compare figures. Customers would sometimes trade in vehicles with four- or five-year-old documents, including Social Security numbers still in the glovebox, posing compliance risks. Additionally, every finance manager tracked funding in their own spreadsheet, leaving no way to monitor deals store-wide, and stalled deals often went unnoticed unless flagged manually.

With Alliance eContracting, funding can happen within hours and sometimes even minutes, depending on the lender, with no clearinghouse delays. That’s a dramatic improvement from the seven-to-ten-day wait we used to face. The entire workflow is faster and more efficient; the finance team no longer spends time printing, prepping, or redoing documents, and instead can focus on the customer with everything they need right in front of them. From a finance perspective, the process is smoother, easier, and far less error-prone, freeing up more time to walk customers through menus and products, even on busy days. Security and compliance have also improved; there’s no loose paper with private information, and Alliance eContracting ensures every signature and checkbox is complete so deals fund without delays. What started as a customer-focused change has turned out to be equally beneficial for the dealership, delivering a better experience, better compliance, and faster funding. With everything integrated in one system — ERA-IGNITE, DEALsign, and Alliance eContracting — there’s no mismatched data, and everyone sees the same information. Recommended forms eliminate the need for cheat sheets, making it easy for finance managers to work quickly and accurately. For any dealer hesitant about eContracting, visiting a store already using it makes the benefits clear: customers expect digital now, and this process is better for everyone involved. Alliance eContracting has been a valuable investment, helping us help our customers, and that always pays off.