TROY, Mich. -

One of the scenes in the 1967 film “Cool Hand Luke” includes a famous line that’s likely been turned into an array of social media content nowadays. It’s when Paul Newman is told, “What we’ve got here is a failure to communicate.”

Evidently, that’s also what’s happening to the interaction of dealerships and auto-finance companies as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

According to the J.D. Power 2020 U.S. Dealer Financing Satisfaction Study, disruption has been the name of the game in the automotive finance industry that has simultaneously been strained with day-to-day operations while being pushed to complete more transactions than ever digitally.

J.D. Power asserted that these changes — many of which dealers expect to be long-term — are forcing finance companies to evolve quickly in an increasingly digital environment.

“The pandemic has severely disrupted dealer-lender communication, with many dealers reporting that lenders were delayed or not available when they needed them, or not able to assist in a timely manner,” said Patrick Roosenberg, director of automotive finance intelligence at J.D. Power.

“While the effect of the pandemic has pushed more sales to digital channels, 55% of dealers are saying they expect at least one in five of their sales to be digital in the next year,” Roosenberg continued in a news release.  “With lenders’ sales reps forgoing on-site dealer visits and the credit staff and funders working remotely, the need for consistent and reliable communication is paramount to dealer satisfaction.

“Lenders will need to step up their efforts to deliver high levels of service to help facilitate sales, whether those transactions are happening virtually or in the dealership. Knowledgeable, helpful and available sales reps, credit analysts and funders can help drive incremental business,” Roosenberg went on to say.

The 2020 U.S. Dealer Financing Satisfaction Study is based on responses from 3,960 dealer financial professionals. The study, which was fielded in August-September, measures dealer satisfaction in six segments, including

— Captive luxury – Prime
— Captive mass market – Prime
— Lease
— Non-captive national – Prime
— Non-captive regional – Prime
— Non-captive subprime

In the captive mass market segment, the study showed Volkswagen Credit ranked highest in overall dealer satisfaction with a score of 939 (on a 1,000-point scale), followed by Subaru Motors Finance (934) and Honda Financial Services (902).

In the national banking ranking, TD Auto Finance came in highest in overall dealer satisfaction with a score of 931, followed by Ally Financial (922) and Chase Automotive Finance (872).

In the regional banking listing, Citizens One Auto Finance ranked highest in overall dealer satisfaction with a score of 954, followed by Huntington National Bank (910) and Fifth Third Bank (879).

In the subprime space, the study placed Ally Financial highest in overall dealer satisfaction with a score of 913, followed by Chase Automotive Finance (878) and Capital One Auto Finance (820).

And in the lease category, Audi Financial Services topped the overall dealer satisfaction ranking with a score of 970, followed by Subaru Motors Finance (946) and Volkswagen Credit (941).