LOS ANGELES — By and large, SubPrime Auto Finance News is hearing that indirect auto lending and contract purchasing has loosened up a bit and money is flowing more freely as the economy and industry slowly recovers.

Since auto financing plays such a vital role in driving vehicle sales, SubPrime Auto Finance News sought out key insights from various lenders, particularly those covering the non-prime spectrum, to see exactly where the market stands.

Below you will hear directly from the companies themselves on how they see the market faring today and where the industry might be going in the future:

Mark Vazquez, vice president of sales at Westlake Financial Services:  

"Since 2008, we have aggressively pursued growing our dealer base to fulfill the demands of the market.  We have been fortunate to add 400+ dealer partners per month.

"Our current view is to conservatively push for more originations in both the independent and franchise markets. Our core business has been built with our independent dealer partners by continually offering different programs (we currently have seven) that allow them to capture more business. In the past couple of years our franchise penetration has grown through large strategic auto groups, and we will continue to pursue more. Based on market demand, we are always looking to hire great people that work well with dealers and share our vision of creating ‘win-win' deals and relationships. Any dealer partner or career inquiry can be made be visiting us at www.westlakefinancial.com or by calling us at (888)-8-YES-YES.

Andres Huertas, Turner Acceptance manager of direct and indirect merchant financing:

"I am not sure that the economy is better, but in our market, the conditions today have definitely been positive. As banks and other financial institutions reduced their lending significantly by tightening their credit policies and others exiting the market, those that had the capital and did not stop lending benefited, such as Turner. We have been able to expand our dealer base, both franchise and independent, offering our program which has benefited both the dealers and Turner with increased sales.  Additionally, we now do business in Indiana and look forward to bringing our indirect auto lending to other states.  We continue to look for opportunities to open up additional Personal Loan Branches in Chicago with the fourth one recently opening in July.  Turner's portfolio has benefited with terrific performance and growth as a result of the changes we made to our credit guidelines and our terrific customer service to our customers and dealer partners. "

Aaron Dalton, Prestige:  

 "We're definitely growing again and don't see anything on the radar suggesting that we should be thinking otherwise. Due to reduced new volume, our total portfolio had been shrinking since mid-2008. In the first quarter of this year, we were finally able to turn that around and start growing the portfolio again. And while we haven't yet returned to our historical high levels, originations for this second quarter, for example, were four times what they were at the lowest point of the recession. We've been actively adding both dealerships and states during the last year or so, and are now up to 25 states, which is more than we were in prior to the recession. Most of the states we've added are different from those that we pulled out of during the downturn, but we're looking for the right circumstances to return to some of those old states, as well.

"We've always focused on franchised dealerships, but we do have a few large and successful independents on board, and are always open to those discussions because there are obviously some excellent independent operators out there who understand this business as well as anybody. … It's clear that the bulk of the underperforming legacy assets (mostly 2006 and 2007 vintages) have worked their way through the system, and we're starting to see the better paper that we've booked since about mid-2008 really hit full stride — my only complaint is that I wish we'd been in a position to book a lot more of it than we did, but I think almost everyone other than Santander is saying the same thing."

Rick Potter, CAR Financial:

"We are strategically growing our footprint by opening branch locations in markets that have a reasonable dealer density in an effort to provide localized service specific to the needs that dealers have in a given market.  We have broadened our product offerings to include a BHPH Floor Plan to give dealers an end to end solution for high risk credit customers. We believe that this market will continue to grow as the general economic conditions and consumer credit quality have forced more consumers into our target credit tier. What we have been doing is working, and you only have to go so far as our website testimonials page at www.carfinancial.com/about/testimonials.aspx  to see the common thread of what BHPH dealers think and say about CAR Financial.  When you have stability and product diversity like we have, there are not large deviations in the numbers of new dealers or lost dealers in our customer base.  

"CAR is always looking for fundamentally sound forward thinking BHPH dealers, both franchise and independent, to get on board with BHPH deal purchases which are profitable for both the dealership and CAR.  Dealers should contact us at either (877) 570-8857 or at www.carfinancial.com/contact/dealer-inquiries.aspx.  CAR is always in the market for talented, analytical sales people to open new territories, or to become associates in one of our 16 branch locations.  Resumes should be sent to Marie.Brooks@CarFinancial.com or they can fax it to (407)-804-2985."

Jonathan Neubauer, chief executive officer of Vehicle Acceptance:

"Our underwriting standard is that we believe that the dealer knows what is best for his customer base. We have not restricted any dealer relationships due to market conditions; on the contrary, we have increased our funding considerably and stand by our dealers consistently. Vehicle Acceptance Corp. is really excited about the direction BHPH is going. We are actively broadening our branch office network to provide more local, personal and accountable services to our dealers. … VAC is expanding, continually looking for qualified collections and management staff, and is always looking for new dealer relationships whether they are in our home towns or in faraway places. We have strategies and programs for franchise dealers, and truly excel with the independent dealer. We are more than happy to go visit any dealer that is interested in our services at their convenience.

"We know that the cost of replacement transportation is significantly higher and credit availability is in short supply, so the BHPH dealer will continue to be vitally important for mainstream America. We are here to help dealers maintain their portfolio and manage cash flow to meet this demand. The best way to explain our program is that it is financing simplified. We provide cash and service solutions to dealers in 42 states, and have been for 22 years. We are not a finance company in the business of buying notes and all of the dealer's profit, we are working for the dealer to help them better provide transportation to their customers."

Dan Ulatowski, Credit Acceptance senior vice president of field sales:

"Credit Acceptance remains a subprime industry leader and has been growing at a healthy clip for the past two years.  We plan to continue that growth now and into the distant future.  We invite all dealers (BHPH, independents, franchise, and dealer groups) interested in selling more vehicles and making more money through our Guaranteed Credit Approval program to contact us for more information.  They can do so by visiting our website at www.creditacceptance.com (click on the orange link:  ‘Interested in becoming a dealer partner?') or by calling (800) 873-0512.

"Our collections performance remains stable and there are more people than ever experiencing difficulties with their credit. Credit Acceptance dealer-partners can offer financing to these consumers, allowing them to purchase a better vehicle than they could with cash alone. An even greater benefit for consumers is the opportunity to increase their credit scores by making on-time payments on their automobile loans, as Credit Acceptance reports to the major credit bureaus. We understand times have been difficult for many individuals, but our dealer-partners can give them a chance regardless of their credit history. 

"We have been growing our sales team and will continue to do so well into 2012 and beyond.  Those interested in learning more about positions currently open around the country should visit our website www.creditacceptance.com and click ‘Join Our Team' to learn more. Alternatively, they can call Ulatowski directly at (248) 353-2700 Ext. 4441."

Editor's Note: Please help SubPrime Auto Finance News update its online lender directory. To view a current copy of the directory, click here. To emails updates or changes, contact jreed@subprimenews.com. Please be sure to include states the company works in, as well as contact information.