Non-Captive Finance - Prime Credit

As great dealers know, financing is all about relationships. With the changes in the market over the past year, it seems that many dealers are turning more to sources a little closer to home like local banks and credit unions. The exception to that trend is reflected in BB&T’s receipt of the Diamond Award for the second consecutive year. According to Derek Lane, sales finance manager and executive vice president of BB&T, it’s the company’s consistency and reliability that dealers value so such. “BB&T approaches the sales finance business from a relationship standpoint, providing superior, value-added customer service to our dealers through consistent, reliable and common-sense lending. It is extremely gratifying to see our sales finance team recognized as the top performer for a second year in a row by our dealer partners in this very competitive prime lending environment."

Also noteworthy is the fact that Regional Acceptance, BB&T’s subprime division, won Diamond status in the category of Subprime Credit Finance, so in essence the same finance company took top awards in both prime and subprime finance—a first in the history of the Dealers’ Choice Awards.

No Platinum or Gold Award was given in this category this year because the providers rated the next highest were local credit unions and local banks. Last year, local credit unions collectively took sixth place, and local banks were not even on the radar. This is likely an illustration of the repercussions of tightened financing guidelines. Dealers have had to rely more on smaller institutions where relationships count a great deal. Bigger institutions like Fifth Third Bank, Wells Fargo Auto Finance and Capital One Auto Finance scored high enough to earn honorable mention nods in fourth, fifth and sixth place, respectively.