IRVINE, Calif. — AutoAlert has released a new product called CreditConvert, a customer conquest tool that enables dealers to multiply their service drive selling opportunities.

Powered by pre-screen soft credit pull technology, CreditConvert enables dealers to engage service-not-sold customers by combining existing AutoAlert data with previously unknown equity and credit information.Officials said the program's pilot results indicated that CreditConvert could increase sales to service customers who did not originally purchase their vehicles from the dealership.

CreditConvert helps dealers execute real-time soft pulls without social security number or date of birth, as well as follow up with customers who are not currently eligible for an upgrade by notifying the dealership when the customer will be eligible using predictive intelligence.

The product can also help dealers target customers by credit tier and vehicles by model year and mileage.

The criteria CreditConvert uses is the same that banks use for automotive loan approvals and complies with the Fair Credit Reporting Act; because customers are not applying for credit directly the soft pull has no negative effect on their score. Offers made by CreditConvert are dealer-specific, so resulting firm offers of credit to customers are only valid at the issuing dealership.