Upstart recently added two new applications to its auto retail platform.

The artificial intelligence (AI) lending marketplace boosted Digital Finance and Online Sales in an effort to offer dealerships a seamless online to in-store vehicle-buying experience, from search to signing.

Upstart Auto Retail combines online and in-store digital retail capabilities with financing and manager tools to help dealerships create an omnichannel car-buying experience. In the second quarter, Upstart will add:

• Digital Finance: Enables a frictionless signing and contracting process, with automated verification, more loan approvals, and next-day funding powered by Upstart’s AI – and no new sales process required for dealers.

• Online Sales: Enables the completion of a car purchase entirely online, including financing and e-signing contract documents.

Both applications can be customized to a dealership’s existing software solutions or workflows, according to a news release.

“Engaging customers with a seamless experience – whether shopping from the comfort or their homes or in-store – is the key to winning in the next generation of auto retail,” said Jeremy Nowling, sales and digital retailing director at Rohrman Auto Group,

“We are excited to continue our partnership with Upstart as it introduces a new range of increasingly flexible and cutting-edge retail and financing software solutions for dealerships,” Nowling continued in the news release.

In addition to Rohrman, Upstart has also partnered with Del Grande Dealer Group (DGDG), one of the largest family-owned automotive groups in the San Francisco Bay Area, and

“In 2022, we launched a successful pilot program with Upstart to extend our leadership in creating a best-in-class digital experience,” DGDG chief executive officer Jeremy Beaver said in the news release.

“We expect to make further progress this year by completing our start-to-finish omnichannel sales approach. Upstart has enabled DGDG to help customers that would have otherwise not had access to reasonably priced auto financing options,” Beaver added.

All told, Upstart said it’s working with 780 dealerships across the U.S.

“Buying and financing a car is an important financial milestone, and Upstart is continually evolving to help dealerships meet customers where they are,” Upstart co-founder and CEO Dave Girouard said.

“As more consumers opt for a digital car-buying experience, the new Digital Finance and Online Sales applications will enable dealerships to deliver the buying experience that consumers expect,” Girouard went on to say.