Rate of auto loan approvals is vital, report says

A couple discuss their auto loan situation with a bank representative. [Zhang Heping/For China Daily]

If an auto finance company wants to improve its business, it should speed up the process of approving loans to buyers, a recent survey finds.

A JD Power report released on May 26 shows that auto dealers are more concerned about loan applications and approvals (38 percent) than loan portfolios (31 percent) and relations with sales representatives (31 percent).

According to the report, 62 percent of dealers say automakers' finance companies release loans within two days after customers submit all of their material, up from 49 percent in 2015, but still much lower than in the United States where the figure is 84 percent.

Banks and credit card companies are doing a less satisfactory job, with only 44 percent providing approvals and loans within two days. That threatens many of the businesses to lose customers, the report said.

The report is based on a survey of 2,061 dealers that sold models from 48 brands in 78 Chinese cities from January to April.

The survey shows that 51 percent of dealers say they "definitely will" have more business with providers they are more satisfied with over the next 12 months. The figure is 27 percent when they are not satisfied with providers.

That means financial institutions add an additional 6 million yuan ($910,800) per dealer to their existing business cooperation, said the company.

Auto dealers are more and more concerned about loans to customers as commissions from auto loans are playing a bigger part of profit.

Statistics show that on average commissions rose to 8 percent of their profit in 2015 from 2 percent in 2011 while car sales generated 22 percent of the profit in 2015, about half of the figure in 2011.

Jiang Zhongjun, a sales and client service director at JD Power, said the percentage of profit from auto finance will grow larger year by year as more and more Chinese people are buying cars with loans.

JD Power said that people buying volume cars with loans were 15 percent in 2015 and will become 34 percent in 2018, and those who buy premium cars with loans were 31 percent in 2015 and will grow to 45 percent in 2018.

Jia Xinguang, an auto analyst in Beijing, told cri.cn that in developed countries people buying cars with loans could reach 60 percent.

Yang Xu, a senior auto finance manager at JD Power, said banks and auto finance companies can improve online availability of their products as the mobile internet has become a part of daily lives.

Auto finance started in China in 2004 with two auto finance companies, and there were 23 such companies by the end of 2015.