Alastair Shephard

Content Writer

Congratulations to Drive Vauxhall Bury St Edmunds for being named Dealership of the Month. 

Drive Vauxhall Bury St Edmunds use Bumper’s PayLater to split their customers’ aftersales invoices into interest-free monthly payments and PayNow for customers to make instant, digital payments from their device. 

Having joined the network in 2015, the team at Drive have gone from strength to strength using Bumper’s digital payment methods to improve customer satisfaction and retention. 

Flexible payment options have proved to be popular with Drive customers. One said, “So straightforward to use. It's a big help with budgeting and makes the difference between having all the work done at the same time, rather than postponing some, which is less than ideal. No interest charged either.” 

With a near-perfect 4.3 out of 5 stars, customers have also praised the staff at the site. One driver said, “It was so straight forward, the service advisor, Stephen Eboma, helped us as we are elderly. He kept us in tea and coffees in the waiting area while they fixed the car. 

“We are on a pension so splitting the payments was perfect for us like Stephen explained. We would recommend Bumper and Drive Vauxhall Bury St Edmunds to everyone.” 

Part of the site’s success can be attributed to the team’s streamlined process. Drive Vauxhall Bury St Edmunds use the Bumper and CDK integration enabling Bumper applications to be completed within their DMS. 

Congratulations to Harry, Stephen, Sam, and the whole team at Drive Vauxhall Bury St Edmunds for winning this award! 

Drive Vauxhall Bury St Edmunds celebrated as Dealership of the Month 

We’re excited to announce the Dealership of the Month for February is Acorn Kia Crewe.

The Crewe-based site had a fantastic start to the year and has continued its upward trajectory into February.

One of the longer-standing Bumper partners, Acorn Motor Group adopted PayLater into their aftersales departments back in 2017 and have now gone live with PayNow, processing customers’ one-off payments in just a few taps, and Pay By Bank, an instant account-to-account payment method.

The team also make use of Bumper integrations through popular automotive systems Keyloop and CitNOW, creating a seamless customer experience for drivers.

Their world-class customer experience has impacted their Trustpilot reviews, of which there are plenty!

One customer said, “Seamless, straightforward process, very well explained by Matt. Nothing was too much trouble.” Another stated, “Jay did an amazing check on my car for [my] MOT... great detail on the inspection video”.

Others described Kia Crewe as, “Very helpful”, “Quick”, and “First class”.

Bumper’s Chris Booth (Business Development Team Lead – North) and Islay Horton (Business Development Consultant) visited the site to hand over the award. 

Islay said, “Congratulations to Acorn Kia Crewe on their win. They’ve had an outstanding start to 2024 with Bumper, really embedding PayLater into their aftersales process.

“Having recently taken over the site, it’s been a pleasure to meet with the team here in Crewe today and I’m looking forward to seeing how we can utilise PayLater even further to create an incredible aftersales experience.”

Congratulations to Amy, Rebecca, Chloe, Matt and the whole team at Acorn Kia Crewe.

Acorn Kia Crewe named Dealership of the Month

We’re pleased to announce our first Dealership of the Month for 2024 is Mercedes Benz South West Exeter. 

The site has enjoyed large successes with Bumper's interest-free instalment option, harnessing the power of PayLater to boost customer retention and satisfaction. 

Having joined the Bumper network in 2022, the Mercedes Benz South West Exeter team recently attended a Bumper training session. Available to all partners on the network, the session is an opportunity to sit down with Bumper’s engagement team and discuss best practices when offering our payment products to drivers. 

Steve Johnson, General Service Manager for the Exeter-based site, found that offering customers flexible payment options significantly boosts red work conversion, improving the safety of customers’ vehicles. 

He said, “Bumper Pay Later has significantly enhanced our ability to maximize eVHC (Electronic Vehicle Health Check) red work identified sales. By offering customers the flexibility to defer payment for necessary repairs, we've removed financial barriers that might otherwise deter them from approving essential work on their vehicles. This approach has increased customer satisfaction and loyalty, as it aligns with their financial preferences and circumstances. 

“Additionally, Bumper Pay Later encourages customers to address red work promptly, leading to improved vehicle safety and performance while boosting revenue for our service department. Overall, integrating Bumper Pay Later into our eVHC process has proven instrumental in optimizing sales and enhancing customer experience.” 

Matthew Squire, Senior Service Team Manager, said, “I really enjoy being able to offer Bumper, it’s a complete ease for the customer and for us to work with. There has been lots of positive feedback from allowing customers to spread the cost monthly at 0%”. 

Congratulations to Steve, Matthew, and the whole team at Mercedes Benz South West Exeter!

Mercedes Benz South West Exeter: Dealership of the Month 

 is a new option when it comes to paying for their car maintenance costs. Although they’ll probably be aware of it as an alternative payment method with retailers such as Ikea or ASOS, many won’t know the option exists at garages and dealerships. 

To make sure drivers know how easy it is to fit repair costs into their monthly budget we need to introduce them to Bumper during their visit. 

But what’s the best way to do it? And when is the best time to do it? Let’s take a look. 

Introducing PayLater to the customer at your first interaction means the customer has all the information available to them from the get-go. 

Bringing your car in for a repair or service can be a daunting experience for customers. Most drivers don’t know much about cars and could be facing a potentially large repair bill. Let the customer know about Bumper when they arrive and put their mind at ease. 

Below is an example script you can try with your next customer.

“Just to let you know, we have multiple payment options available including pay monthly with Bumper.”

What does the customer need replacing following their vehicle health check? A fluid top-up, new tyres, and brakes? It’s a particularly negative list of essential repair work to have to read out to customers. Break it up by offering Bumper. Let PayLater ease the burden of mounting repair costs and you might find the customer can afford more essential work than they thought. 

“Your vehicle health check has identified your car requires new front brake pads and 2 new tyres. That comes to £600, or can be split over 4 monthly payments of £150. Which payment method would you prefer?”

Since you let the customer know about Bumper early on, completing the payment process should be a doddle. Customers are increasingly looking for new digital methods of payments and a pay monthly option at the point of sale is something they’ll be pleased about. The key is to position PayLater as a payment method like cash or card. 

Would you like to pay that by card or in monthly instalments?"

Looking for more ways to boost customer experience using Bumper? Contact our Engagement Team to request training 

When to offer Bumper to customers 

We've partnered with Volt to power our open banking payment option with real-time payments for vehicle deposits, repairs, parts, services and outright vehicle purchases. Open banking allows drivers to make secure, account-to-account payments. 

This next phase of open banking addresses friction caused by slow settlement times for dealers. With greater oversight of the transactions via payment notifications, dealers significantly reduce the risk of customer non-payment. The update also includes the option to make instant refunds to customers. 

The collaboration marks a significant rise in the use of open banking for Bumper with more drivers opting for the method at the point of sale. 

For dealers, open banking presents a huge cost-saving opportunity, with transaction fees a fraction of traditional payment methods. As of January 2024, open banking has saved 152 Bumper dealerships an estimated £200,000 in transaction fees. Moreover, open banking reduces the risk of fraudulent payments – customers are required to authenticate the payment within their banking app. 

The news comes at a time of exceptional growth in the used car market with more sold in 2023 than any other post-pandemic year. This rebound is reflected in the £3 million in payments processed through the Bumper-Volt integration since its launch in January 2024. 

Currently available in the UK, the integration will accelerate the rollout of Bumper’s open banking offering across other European territories.

Richard Drury, VP of Partnerships at Volt, said: “For car dealerships, the payments process has been a major challenge, and our solution is a real asset in alleviating those challenges many dealership owners are facing today. We’ve created a perfect solution for Bumper, with the initial results and quick adoption proving that it resonates with both buyers and sellers. There’s huge potential for real-time payments to take off in the automotive industry, so this partnership was a no-brainer for Volt.” 

Jack Allman, CCO and Co-Founder at Bumper, said, "The move to Volt as Bumper's Open Banking payment provider will have a huge impact on functionality for our partnered dealerships and their customers, providing them with a frictionless account-to-account payment experience. 

"This new partnership enhances our open banking infrastructure with increased functionality including settlement accounts, real-time notifications and refunds. These developments will increase operational efficiency and automation across all users, whether they work in accounts, sales or service. 

“Additionally, Volt’s global payment network facilitates Bumper to roll out our Open Banking product across Europe in the near future. We're incredibly excited to have launched this next phase of our Open Banking platform and can't wait to see the increased value this new iteration will bring to our partners." 

Bumper Partners with Volt to Empower Dealers with Open Banking

We’re thrilled to announce the last Dealership of the Month for 2023 is Lookers BMW and MINI Stafford.

The site managed an outstanding end to 2023, increasing the number of drivers using Bumper’s PayLater to split their bill into interest-free instalments by 50%.

Service advisor Kacey led the way in December helping 17 customers to drive away with their bills split with Bumper, closely followed by Andrea, known to the team as Queenie, with 14 PayLaters under her belt.

Driven by Aftersales Manager Lee Tucket, Lookers BMW and MINI Stafford use PayLater via the RTC integration. The team offer the monthly instalment option across both their aftersales and service departments.

Lee said, “Bumper's PayLater has been a huge success for us at Lookers BMW and MINI Stafford. By using flexible payment methods positioned at the right time, we've afforded our customers the opportunity to make what could be a large, unexpected cost much more achievable. This has had a significant impact in boosting our customer satisfaction levels and red work conversion.”

The Bumper-Lookers partnership has also had a positive impact on customer feedback. Mohammed visited the site in January and said, “Went for an MOT test, I was informed the rear tyre needed replacement but also both the front two. I saw I could have interest-free over 3 months, easy to apply and accepted. Saved shelling out in one go and spread over 3 months, great option. I will definitely do that again next time.”

Congratulations to Lee, Kacey, Andrea, Steven, Ashley and the whole team at Lookers BMW & MINI Stafford.

Lookers BMW & MINI Stafford Win Dealership of the Month 

We're pleased to announce the winner of the Dealership of the Month for November 2023 is York, Ward & Rowlatt.

The site achieved a record-breaking month in November by doubling the number of customers paying for their repairs through Bumper.

York, Ward & Rowlatt has been a part of the Bumper network since 2016 and in that time has established the pay monthly option as a fundamental part of their aftersales process. The team have now installed the Bumper PayPads, giving customers the power to choose between PayLater and PayNow in just a few clicks.

Mutual Bumper and York, Ward & Rowlatt customers agree that the customer service at the site is truly unbeatable. One reviewer said, “Fantastic service and a great team. Really helped me understand everything clearly with good communication.” Another said, “Great to be able to spread the cost of maintaining a car over a set period of time, really helpful in such precarious financial struggles.”

Bumper’s Darren Gloster visited the site to hand over the award. He said, “I’d like to say a big congratulations to York, Ward & Rowlatt. They’ve been a long-standing and valuable partner for Bumper.

“It’s fantastic to see the team working so hard to bring customers greater payment flexibility. They’re incredibly knowledgeable about Bumper’s products and have now adopted the PayPad into their everyday process so easily.”

Congratulations to, Rebecca, Stuart, Paul, Dan and the whole team at York, Ward & Rowlatt!

York, Ward & Rowlatt Win Dealership of the Month 

It’s with great pleasure that we announce the Dealership of the Month for October goes to John Clark Audi Aberdeen. 

The team won the award for their quick adoption of Bumper’s open banking payment option – PayByBank.

The new payment option allows customers to make one-off, account-to-account payments directly from their mobile devices. Requiring the use of authentication within the customer’s banking app, Open banking significantly reduces the risk of fraud for the dealer and avoids high processing fees often associated with cards issued by third parties. 

Open banking now sits alongside PayLater and PayNow, allowing Audi Aberdeen to offer a broad range of payment products no matter the customer’s needs.

Bumper’s Ricardo Fishbourne delivered the award to the winning site. He said, ‘A big congratulations to the team at John Clark Audi Aberdeen. The team have successfully integrated open banking into their everyday process, giving customers even greater payment flexibility than before.

‘Customers are looking for smarter, digital alternatives to card and the team here have really taken that on board, starting to work open banking into their everyday conversations with customers. They’ve proved themselves to have an incredible knowledge of our products, which is key when introducing a new payment option such as open banking.’

Mark Duncan, Sales Manager at Audi Aberdeen, said, ‘Open banking has really helped us receive payments from customers in a more efficient and cost-effective manner. We like how simple it is to use and our customers also appreciate its ease of use once we’ve explained it to them. Open banking is helping us reduce merchant costs on our transactions as traditional credit and debit cards carry a much higher processing cost compared to Open banking’.

Congratulations to Keith, Mark, Evelyne, Andrew, Jennifer, Juli, David and the whole team at John Clark Audi Aberdeen!

Dealership of the Month: John Clark Audi Aberdeen

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