WOODCLIFF LAKES, N.J. — BMW Group Financial Services announced Sunday that BMW dealers in Michigan and Texas have implemented its proprietary e-contracting system, a point-of-sale solution for retail, lease and pre-owned vehicles, in their dealerships.

The captive lender's e-contracting solution is already being used at BMW dealerships in Illinois, Maryland, New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania, and it will be introduced to California and Florida dealers in September. The e-contracting solution will be in a total of 17 states by the close of 2011.

The e-contracting solution can save dealers and customers as much as 30 percent in time during the credit application and contracting process, as well as provide cost savings from overnight shipping fees per transaction, according to Shaun Bugbee, vice president of sales and marketing for BMW Group Financial Services.

“This has been a multimillion dollar infrastructure investment on our part completely, at no charge to our dealers. It saves them even further by legally expediting the process for the consumer, while providing the dealers with the ability to submit the fully calculated contract for funding on the very same day,” Bugbee said.

In addition, BMW Group Financial Services partnered with Open Dealer Exchange LLC for contract data integration services, including credit application data. All interaction will allow BMW dealers to fully complete an accurate and electronic contract by interfacing directly through their own dealer management system rather than going through a third-party portal.

Overall benefits of BMW’s e-Contracting program include:

• Reduces F/I time for customer and dealer, increasing dealer satisfaction scores

• Helping dealers head toward a paperless environment

• Provides a “checks and balance” so any errors can be corrected before customer signs

• No more shipping/overnight charges with funding packages

• No more ordering of contracts