What customers really want: rethinking the auto finance journey from pre-approval to renewal

Wednesday 29th April 2026: 11.00am (UK time), 1 hour

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Auto lenders are operating under sustained pressure — rates remain elevated and may well rise, affordability is stretched, and competition for creditworthy customers is intense. The instinctive response is to compete harder on price. But the evidence points in a different direction: customers who say they want the lowest rate often behave as if they want something else entirely. Certainty that they’ll be approved. Clarity on what they’ll actually pay. A process that doesn’t waste their time or embarrass them at the point of sale.

Part 1 — Myth-busting: what do customers actually want? We test the premise that price is the primary driver of customer choice. What does the research show — and what do practitioners see on the ground? Where do customers drop out of journeys, and why? And if certainty, simplicity, speed, and trust are the real drivers, what does that mean for how the journey is designed from the first touchpoint?

Part 2 — The pre-approval journey: aligning risk and experience. The gap between the advertised rate and the rate a customer actually receives is one of the most damaging friction points in auto finance — and a live Consumer Duty concern. We examine how smarter pre-approval, rate for risk, and AI-driven scenario modelling can close that gap: giving customers a realistic picture earlier, while giving lenders better tools to understand the downstream impact of amending policy and affordability rules before they make them.

Part 3 — Convenience and retention: designing for the relationship, not just the transaction. Customers don’t stay of their own accord. But the decision to retain — or not — is often made at the moment of origination, not at renewal. We look at what “excellent” looks like across the omnichannel journey, where the biggest friction points still sit, and how lenders can build retention into the design of the experience from day one.

Who should join

Auto finance practitioners involved in product design, credit strategy, originations, and customer experience — including lenders, captive finance companies, and intermediaries thinking about how the finance journey affects their own conversion and retention rates.

Panel:

• David Betteley, head of auto finance community, Finance Connect
• Andrew Brameld, former chief commercial officer, BNP Paribas Consumer Finance
• Richard Hoggart, CEO, DSG Group
• Jason Hurwitz, sales director – Europe, NETSOL Technologies

Moderator:

• Edward Peck, founder and CEO, Finance Connect

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