NEW YORK -

TrueCar formed a partnership with LendKey on Monday to launch an integrated vehicle buying and financing program.

The companies explained this partnership will give consumers insight into pricing data and access to guaranteed savings as well as the ability to secure pre-approved financing automatically before visiting a dealership.

The new platform can allow consumers to get a guaranteed savings certificate off of manufacturer's suggested retail pricing (MSRP) from TrueCar Certified Dealers and immediately get a pre-approved financing certificate from a local financing using LendKey's online lending platform in minutes online versus hours in person at the dealership.

“Consumers are increasingly pricing cars online before visiting a dealership and now, for the first time, they will be able to receive quick, transparent and accurate information about auto loans before stepping foot into a dealership,” LendKey chief executive officer Vince Passione said.

“This partnership allows us to combine TrueCar’s upfront pricing with LendKey’s pre-approved financing from our lender clients to make the process of buying a car more seamless for consumers,” Passione continued.

TrueCar co-founder and executive vice president of partner development Jim Nguyen explained this partnership with LendKey provides a great opportunity for both consumers and finance companies to deliver a better vehicle-buying experience.

“Nearly 85 percent of car purchases today require financing, and we believe that consumers will find this to be a great way to purchase their new car,” Nguyen said. “LendKey has established relationships with hundreds of credit unions and banks to develop an online loan process that is designed to be simple and transparent.”

Aspire Federal Credit Union is one of the first financing outlets to launch the new integrated platform Tom O’Shea is CEO of the institution based in Clark, N.J.

“We want to make it simple for our members to purchase a car, and finalizing both pricing and financing before going to the dealer makes it easy for them to do so,” O’Shea said.

“We have been offering a car buying service powered by TrueCar to our customers and by extending this to integrate with LendKey’s online loan platform, our members will have everything in hand before they step into a dealership and let them speed up the entire process,” he went on to say.

More information about the platform is available at www.lendkey.com/autoloans.