What Controls Credit Application Deals That I Get?

Table of Contents

1. Overview
2. Workflow
3. DealerTrack's PaymentDriver Software
4. PaymentDriver Profile Settings
5. Modal Configurations
6. Error Handling
7. Submission to FinanceDriver or RouteOne Instant Approval Systems
8. Document Change Log

Overview

This article provides an overview of the settings that control what information is sent to either DealerTrack's FinanceDriver system or RouteOne's Instant Approval system. Currently, Modal only supports submitting credit applications through these systems.

Workflow

DealerTrack's PaymentDriver Software

Modal uses Dealertrack's PaymentDriver software to help calculate monthly payments in Checkout and Shop. The PaymentDriver Profile is where Modal configures the unique settings to be used in the payment calculator for each dealer. Please note that even if your dealership uses RouteOne, Modal will use a distinct PaymentDriver profile for your dealership.

PaymentDriver Profile Settings

Within a PaymentDriver Profile, the following configurations are made:

• Lenders - During onboarding a preferred list of lenders is submitted to Modal. These are the lenders that will be queried for quotes.
• Quote Preference - The following preferences are available for new, used, and certified (not currently supported) vehicles:
  • Captive's Make (default for new vehicles & certified vehicles) - Return payments only from the dealer's captive lender.
  • Lowest Payment (default for Used vehicles) - Return the payments with the lowest monthly payment amount from all lenders on the lender list.
  • All Lenders - Return all eligible payments from all lenders on the lender list.
• Dealer Reserve (mark-up aka bump rates):
  • Retail - Increase rate by APR percentage per vehicle condition (new, used, certified)
  • Lease - Increase rate by APR percentage or money factor per vehicle condition (new, used, certified)

With the above settings configured, PaymentDriver will return a quote for the vehicle of interest. The quote is based on the following information:

• Vehicle of interest
• Customer Zip Code
• Deal Type (Finance, Cash or Lease)
• Term Months
• Term Miles (Lease only)
• Down Payment
• Self-reported FICO score

All rates are determined when the customer enters Checkout. There is minimal caching that would affect the quotes the customer is given.

Modal Configurations

After the terms of the deal are submitted to PaymentDriver, PaymentDriver in turn will return an array of quotes to Modal to be used in the payment calculator. There are additional decisions that the payment calculator can make at this point in the process based on your dealership's configuration. 

The payment calculator has the ability to apply the following:

• Taxes
• Fees
• Program Type / Preferred Lender Program
• Incentives
• Dealer Cash
• Conditional Rebates

After these are applied in the payment calculator, the customer will be shown a quote for their selected vehicle. If a preferred lender program is selected, the quote matching this lender program will be shown to the customer and override the default behavior of showing the lowest payment. 

Error Handling

Sometimes DealerTrack will return an error for the vehicle of interest and the customer will be shown 'see dealer' for taxes and fees and potentially also the monthly payment. By default, all dealers have a set of backup rates to be used within the payment calculator in case there is an error. These backup rates are based on the selected term in months, self-reported FICO score, and the condition of the vehicle.

If your dealership has not explicitly told Modal to turn off backup rates, a call to PaymentDriver that returns an error will show 'see dealer' for taxes and fees, but provide the customer with an estimated monthly payment. If backup rates have been turned off, a call to PaymentDriver that returns an error will show 'see dealer' for taxes, fees, and the monthly payment.

See Why am I seeing "See Dealer" on taxes and fees? for additional information and scenarios. 

Submission to FinanceDriver or RouteOne Instant Approval Systems

Based on the above process, one quote from PaymentDriver, or one quote from the backup rates, will serve as the input to the DealerTrack or RouteOne Credit Application including the amount to finance, rebates amount, and requested monthly payment.

Each credit application software has different steps to configure which lenders credit applications are submitted to for approvals. For help enabling Instant Approval, contact your Modal Customer Success Manager and review this article Enabling Lenders for Instant Approval. 

Documentation Changelog

• 1.0 / September 22, 2020: Initial release