Automotive payment provider Auto Service Finance (ASF) has announced a partnership with digitalisation specialist Real Time Communications (RTC).

The collaboration will see ASF’s aftersales payment service, which is driven by its proprietary risk management technology, integrated into RTC’s Aftersales platform.

RTC’s Aftersales management technology, which provides dealerships with inbound booking, workshop loading and management, electronic vehicle health check and deferred work contact capabilities, now also includes the ability to offer customers the option of splitting their payments across a number of interest-free instalments.

Decisions are offered and processed immediately within the platform using ASF’s proprietary risk management technology, helping to speed up the customer approval process and enabling dealerships to sell work that might have otherwise been declined.

Auto Service Finance is now used by more than 2,000 dealership sites in the UK, including sites belonging to brands such as Jaguar Land Rover, Peugeot Citroën, Ford and Vauxhall. The business has also started working with Volkswagen Group brands across the country. Dealerships typically pay a percentage of the work sold using ASF to the company.

RTC’s Aftersales technology is used by major dealership groups across the UK, with the move set to both further increase ASF’s footprint and add to the integration capabilities of RTC Aftersales. James Jackson, co-founder and CEO of ASF, said: “Having the ability to offer customers flexible payment options is becoming increasingly important to retail businesses, and dealerships are no different.

“Customers also have high expectations for convenience and by integrating our solution with RTC Aftersales, we will be able to provide dealerships with a quick way of streamlining the approval of work, with the ability to split payments a seamless part of the process”.

Richard Robinson, Chief Operating Officer at Real Time Communications said: “We’re constantly looking to develop our solutions and integrate with new partners. The ability for our dealerships to offer their customers a simple way to choose flexible payment as part of the approval process for any required work will ensure a smoother aftersales experience.”