Curo-who you may ask?
A coworker with lots of automotive financing experience, recently told me that if he could, he’d prefer Curomax over Dealertrack in a heartbeat. Apparently, they disrupted automotive financing 20 years ago.
20 years ago I though! We’re doing that now, how could they have done this so long ago?
So I looked them up (and found out they are the guys behind SCI MarketView!) and also I asked myself what makes a disruptor in the car financing industry. What are the elements that must be present in order for this to happen?
First, a short description of disruptors from businessleader.com:
To be a disruptor is to create a product, service, or way of doing things which displaces the existing market leaders and eventually replaces them at the helm of the sector. Disruptors are generally entrepreneurs, outsiders, and idealists rather than industry insiders or market specialists.
It’s also well described in this bulleted version from entrepreneur.com:
- Start from scratch. Don’t be constrained by working within the realm of what’s already available.
- Choose an industry and determine the biggest pain points customers experience. Now solve them in a new way that steps outside of traditionally accepted processes.
- Use technology.
These two descriptions are very close to describing my company… and many others that came before it.
Disruption in automotive financing
My Fintech, (DecisioningIT and its Lucy F&I Platform) are undeniably disruptors in the vehicle finance industry. And I just got proof of that 4 days ago, from a corporation that has acquired multiple disruptors over the last decade like Curomax.
Long-established corporations and their corporate executives in this rather antiquated (automotive finance) industry frequently view newer fintech startups as a threat, jeopardizing their position and comfort zones.
So they focus on what they do best: maintaining their market position and economic stability. You are only as good as the figures you can pull in the corporate world. So, what happens if a disruptor enters the market? Of course, they’re going to try to take it down or at minimum slow their development.
This is fine, because doing so sends disruptors in the right direction. When you think about it, these companies usually focus on economics and frequently lose sight of their customers. They grow so large that they can’t respond quickly to their clients’ changing needs, usually stuck with two-year plans and no time for anything else until “later.”
Their actions pave the way for disruptors to enter the market: outsiders with a consumer-centered approach using new technology to eat into the market share of large corporations. And we, at DecisioningIT, are doing just that. Very much like Curomax did some time ago.
Curomax: Lessons learned from the past
Who remembers Curomax and its automotive finance portal, 360Funding, from more than a decade ago? I don’t! Back then, my main focus was on developing dealer websites and not the way in which dealers financed their customers.
However, a coworker recently told me that if he could, he’d prefer Curomax over Dealertrack in a heartbeat. He claims that the user interface was considerably friendlier and more user-friendly.
So I looked them up and found a very interesting press release published in Autoworld and dated from October 2, 2000. The then President Alan Bird said: “The world is changing, and whether all of us continue changing with it is our choice. “It’s all about choices” he pointed out. “And the choices you make will determine whether or not you succeed in this new environment.“
He went on explaining Curomax’s technology “Instead of finding a lender the old fashioned way with a pen, a hard copy of an application, a fax machine, follow-up phone calls, and a great deal of wasted time, Curomax suggests a new strategy. One which takes full advantage of the PC, the Internet, and the lightning-fast speed of electrons travelling through cables.”
Here they are, the 3 disruptor’s bullets form above:
- Start from scratch. Don’t be constrained by working within the realm of what’s already available.
- Choose an industry and determine the biggest pain points customers experience. Now solve them in a new way that steps outside of traditionally accepted processes.
- Use technology.
Bird’s news release was made 21 years ago. I cannot believe the automotive portals are now in the same situation that Bird described “old fashioned way with a pen, a hard copy of an application, a fax machine”. Yes, of course they’ve got more technology, but they’ve gotten old fashioned as well.
As a disruptor myself, and based on previous disruptors like Curomax, I see a clear path for DecisioningIT to follow. And, thankfully, we began developing the Lucy F&I Platform years ago. 🚀
