Electronic auto deal contracting volume barely rose year over year in the first quarter of 2023. But the overall trend line is positive, and an appetite remains among lenders to digitize more of their auto finance processes this year, according to document e-vault provider Wolters Kluwer.
The volume of deals transmitted digitally by a dealership and accepted digitally by lenders in the first quarter rose by around 0.5 percent compared with the first quarter of 2022. But the 2023 first-quarter numbers were 12 percent higher compared with the fourth quarter of 2022, according to Wolters Kluwer.
Automotive e-contracting typically increases more in the first quarter than in other quarters, mimicking the seasonal pattern shown by auto sales, according to Tim Yalich, head of automotive strategy at Wolters Kluwer Compliance Solutions.
This 0.5 percent first-quarter e-contracting growth rate was far below what the Automotive News Research & Data Center calculated to be an 8.5 percent increase in new-vehicle auto sales during the first quarter.