OEMs used to sell cars directly to their customers until the first independent car dealerships were opened at the end of the 19th Century. For many decades, OEMs leveraged this model to sell their vehicles far and wide. But now, advanced data and analytics are causing an automotive retail revolution towards more D2C sales.
As an OEM captive, you hold vast amounts of customer data. This data isn’t just an asset. It’s a strategic tool that can propel you to being a key driver of customer engagement. By leveraging the data and investing in advanced analytics, you can gain control over customer experiences, expand product offerings, and introduce innovative business models like usage-based subscriptions and D2C leasing.
Captives' evolution into customer excellence experts

In the automotive landscape, dealerships have long been the cornerstone of customer engagement, especially for individual buyers and small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). This traditional model remains robust, with 67% of vehicle purchases in 2023 still occurring through dealerships and showrooms, as reported by the EY Mobility Consumer Index.
Within this sales framework, customers typically interact with the OEM, the dealership, and the OEM captive finance company. From the customer’s perspective though, these interactions look like a unified experience, managed entirely by the dealership.
However, once vehicle financing is secured, you as an OEM captive start to play a more dominant role. You become the customer’s primary point of contact for ongoing financial services. This puts you in a unique position to not just focus on managing vehicle contracts and assets, but also engage with customers and foster stronger direct customer relationships. By gathering and leveraging relevant data, you can seize opportunities to enhance the customer experience and unlock new growth paths.
Imagine going from just handling transactions and contract management to controlling and nurturing the end-to-end customer relationship. The proliferation of direct-to-consumer (D2C) marketing and commerce channels enables you to get more out of your data so you can truly understand your customer’s needs, customize their experience and build trust.
You’ll be able to offer a smooth and integrated journey. From considering a vehicle to the commitment for long-term or flexible ownership. And even connecting online and offline interactions.

Traditional market model
Orchestrating the D2C approach and the dealerships
Digital sales channels are reshaping traditional vehicle dealerships. Higher customer expectations and the rise of vehicle manufacturers with a D2C (direct-to-consumer) model are squeezing profit margins and putting pressure on the traditional dealership model. As OEM captives need a strategic pivot, pushing the agency model to manage their dealer relationships emerges as a promising option, additional to the new D2C channels.
In this agency model, the vehicle itself is just a part of the value chain. With most of that value chain managed by you, the captive, you can generate extra revenue from services, software, upsells, and data monetization — areas in which you can truly excel.
Here’s how it works: It’s a mix between the traditional dealership model and D2C sales, offering the best of both worlds. End-customers can buy, lease, or finance their vehicles directly from you, the captive. For test-drives, pickup and after-sales services, they visit a local agent, who receives a fee compensation. This structure gives you more pricing control while local agents deliver the personal touch and physical presence end-customers appreciate.
New roles for all stakeholders
In the long run, everyone stands to benefit from this integrated approach.
- Captives gain a central market position: captives stand to gain significantly from being at the heart of a data-centric ecosystem. This central position allows them to manage prices uniformly, eliminating internal competition among dealers of the same brand. They can also optimize costs through centralization and economies of scale. However, to thrive in this ecosystem, captives must expand their services and cater to customers’ preferred financing methods, whether online via dealers, D2C sales channels, or third-party marketplaces.
- Dealers benefit from reduced financial risk: when dealerships become agencies and act on behalf of the captive, they will be compensated by the OEM, reducing their financial risk. This shift allows them to concentrate on value-added services like after-sales support, maintenance, and test drives rather than just sales.
- End-customers enjoy more transparency: customers benefit from a seamless experience across online and offline touchpoints, always interacting with the OEM captive while dealers work on the OEMs behalf. This model offers transparent pricing, reduced time spent in dealerships or showrooms, and the convenience of viewing available inventory and financial services at all times. Through a single platform, customers can effortlessly handle all interactions, such as booking test drives, scheduling maintenance, renewing contracts, or cancelling flexible ownership subscriptions.

A bright future
To stay ahead, OEM captives must create an integrated experience that offers a smooth end-to-end customer journey. In this experience, online and offline interactions connect seamlessly and meet your customers’ preferences at each stage of the buying process.
Customers will be able to interact with all stakeholders from one centralized platform and switch between channels as they progress through the buying journey.
By owning and managing the entire experience, you can capture data at every touchpoint. Putting you in the driver’s seat to define the future of automotive financing. Large-scale financing, new dealership business models, and increased service-based revenue streams might make you unstoppable, but you must start now.
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