SOUTHFIELD, Mich. and FARMINGTON HILLS, Mich. — Open Dealer Exchange (ODE) and RouteOne this week announced a strategic alliance aimed at bringing solutions to their partners CDK Global and Reynolds and Reynolds that bridge the gaps, open the entire lender network, and streamline dealers' processes for providing financing and aftermarket protection products to car shoppers.

This alliance targets longstanding challenges related to the F&I office, specifically consumer satisfaction with the time it takes to complete the F&I process. The two companies aim to connect critical F&I components required to enable a seamless dealer workflow that translates into a better customer experience, less paperwork mistakes, and more deals “funded right the first time.”

"As an organization, we are passionate about helping streamline dealers' retail experience so they can deliver an overall better customer experience," said Steve Luyckx, general manager at Open Dealer Exchange. "This alliance allows dealers to quickly and inexpensively implement a streamlined F&I workflow into their existing operational infrastructure, create a seamless online to in-store shopping experience, and reduce the time consumers spend waiting for paper during the actual purchase process."

Officials said the technology convergence eliminates the need for traditional system-to-system integration and creates the broadest access point in the industry for automotive dealers to connect with captive finance sources, independent lenders, OEMs and aftermarket providers. At the same time, the alliance's process reengineering will be made available through CDK Global and Reynolds and Reynolds systems, allowing auto dealerships to combine a seamless and scalable F&I offering into their existing workflow with limited new investment or technology upgrades.

"This relationship will combine the industry's most robust and far-reaching captive finance source, independent lender and aftermarket provider networks, and makes them available through two of the leading dealer networks to create a simple access point that benefits everyone supporting automotive F&I," said RouteOne CEO Justin Oesterle. "The F&I process is something that everyone in the industry has been trying to fix for a long time. The reengineering of this process by our alliance connects the infrastructure needed to finally meet consumer expectations."