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Americas

United States
Puerto Rico

Europe

Denmark
Germany
Ireland
Norway
Poland
Sweden
United Kingdom
Spain

A new car is a big-ticket item that you can’t exactly pluck from a supermarket shelf. But, at its core, a car dealership is still a retail business. Just like any other shopper, car buyers need to know their account information is safe, they can pay using whatever methods they like, and they don’t have to jump through hoops to finalise the sale. 

Founded in 1998, Motorpoint is the UK’s leading independent retailer of nearly new and used cars. It has 20 stores across the UK and offers customers a multichannel car-buying experience – with face-to-face payments in-store, over-the-phone payments, and online payments via its website. 

In Elavon, Motorpoint found a reliable payments partner that could work alongside its internal finance team. The business has grown considerably during its ten-plus years with Elavon, so it needed to roll out payment solutions across new store locations. With the business open seven days a week, it was important that there were no delays when doing this.  

“Elavon provides Motorpoint with an off-the-shelf payment solution,” explains Heather Whitmore, Motorpoint’s head of finance operations. “Beyond the card readers used by our in-store and online sales teams, we also use merchant IDs and gateway services to support with reporting.

“Our finance team uses the Elavon reporting functionality every day – it’s especially useful to be able to reconcile receipts to transactions."

Motorpoint

Payment trends and security

"Motorpoint is a digital-first organisation, using technology to improve our processes, efficiency and experience," Heather continues. "The car-buying process has changed so much over the last few years: it's been vital to introduce new payment methods, so car buyers can pay how they feel most comfortable. With Elavon, we could do that."

On the other hand, some motorists prefer using a card machine – whether paying a deposit, for added extras or the full balance of a vehicle. It was important that Motorpoint still have this option available as it looked to introduce alternative methods.

Car sales mean high value transactions, which need to be processed and approved seamlessly. This needs dedicated support around chargebacks and fraud. “Car retailers have very specialist requirements and Elavon has been able to flex its solutions to meet our needs,” she says. “They raised the ceiling on our transaction approval limits for secure online payments, which has been essential in an ever-changing car market.

“Elavon’s ability to easily integrate with Motorpoint’s other payment solutions has been essential in ensuring the seamless introduction of new payment options, particularly when we introduced Pay By Link. When looking to implement this, it was important we could easily integrate the technology into our website and sales platforms.”  

Pay By Link lets businesses generate web links that they issue to customers by email, social media or SMS. The links send customers to secure payment pages, so it’s particularly handy for remote, online or over-the-phone sales.

Open banking

Motorpoint opted for trusted Elavon partner Prommt to provide its open banking solution. Called Pay by Bank, this gives customers another option when it comes to making payments in-store or over the phone. 

Pay by Bank cuts the time and hassle of sharing IBANs and manually adding a payee – instead it uses a payment link or embedded button on the business’ website. As an alternative to card, Pay by Bank helps reduce payment operation costs and reduces the risk of fraudulent activity. In turn, customers can make use of a fast, secure and seamless way to pay directly from their bank accounts.

“Pay by Bank has helped us streamline our payment collections and helped smooth the payment process,” says Heather. “It also adds an extra layer of security, as customers can complete the full payment directly from their device. So, they don’t have to share personal information with the Motorpoint team, whether they’re paying over the phone or in-store.

“Previously, we had to rely on manually allocating bank-transferred money,” she continues. “Not only was there a greater risk of human error when inputting the account details, but the potential for payment referrals also made the process clunky and time-consuming for customers.”  

Customer service

Motorpoint has been impressed by the high level of care and attention from both Elavon and Prommt during the onboarding process. “As soon as we mentioned to Elavon our plans to onboard Prommt, they couldn’t have been more supportive,” says Heather.

“The team acted quickly and were able to get the required merchant ID ready for us in just a few days. This helped us onboard Prommt quickly and the solution was live within a month.”

When it came to what Motorpoint would say to other businesses considering working with Elavon, Heather says: “Even though we’ve worked together for a long time, the team still regularly reviews our account to look for ways to improve our experience. Our account manager is always happy to come into our office for meetings and working sessions.

“We put a lot of trust in our payments provider to ensure card payments are quick and efficient. The Elavon team is really hands-on, and work  as an extension of our own team.

“Elavon’s competitive pricing, fraud prevention measures and strong focus on customer service means it’s a real front-runner in the space,” Heather concludes. “For more than a decade, they’ve helped us integrate innovative new payment solutions to allow customers to pay in a way that works for them.”

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