HAUPPAUGE, N.Y. — With online coupons rising in popularity, a new company is looking to drive more business for credit unions and dealerships through a unique automotive coupon program.

Officials from cuautocoupon explained that they formed the company to provide credit union members with discounts when purchasing a new or pre-owned vehicle through their coupon program.

The foundation of cuautocoupon is to pair vehicle-hunting credit union members with their individual credit union's lending department. By filling out a short online form, members can receive immediate access to a coupon that can be redeemed at a local participating dealership.

This coupon will entitle the member to receive special discounts off the vehicle purchase price.

As a value-added benefit, cuautocoupon intends to provide credit unions with the ability to solicit or educate their members in the market to refinance their existing vehicle loan currently with another financial institution.

Additionally, members can redeem a coupon at any local participating dealership to receive 10-percent off of their next service, parts or accessories purchase.

According to Robert O'Hara, who was named president of the privately-held company, credit unions were challenged to ascertain who among their members were in the market to purchase a vehicle. O'Hara also believes credit unions have always been challenged with gaining market share in new-vehicle financing.

Consequently, O'Hara insisted that credit unions have watched their members accept financing from other financial institutions, even when credit union financing was readily available and extremely competitive.

Extensive beta testing in select markets in the Northeast region early this year preceded the official launch of cuautocoupon to ensure a smooth national rollout while enhancing the program.

The company's main goal is to connect members with their credit union prior to the point of sale. This development is geared to put the credit union in the "driver's seat" for the first time to increase its auto loan portfolio balance sheet while improving the credit union's products per member ratio.

At cuautocoupon it is O'Hara's intent to continue to expand the growing number of credit unions and dealerships to join this marketing program and at the same time drive both traffic and sales volume to their respective businesses.

"Everyone wins with this program," O'Hara emphasized.

"The credit union will now have real-time knowledge of which members are in the market to purchase a car before they finalize their purchase, thereby allowing them the opportunity to close more auto loans," he continued.

"Dealerships will increase traffic and sales. Finally, members will benefit from substantial savings, thereby enhancing the credit union's overall value to their membership," O'Hara went on to say.

Before coming on board, O'Hara spent the past decade as a senior executive at Sperry Associates FCU in Garden City Park, N.Y., where he succeeded in driving new business through innovative marketing methods while fostering new partnerships with third parties.

Before Sperry FCU, O'Hara worked at Champion Mortgage, US National Mortgage and Delta Funding, all metro New York City operations.

Additional information can be found at www.cuautocoupon.com/cuac or by calling (800) 652-6876.