DETROIT — GM Financial is giving dealers a break on some floorplan payments to help mitigate the effect of the novel coronavirus on their businesses.
General Motors’ captive is temporarily waiving curtailments, which is the principal a dealer owes to pay down floorplan inventory that sits on the lot longer than most vehicles, such as demo cars, loaners and other aged inventory.
Dealers can get a waiver to keep that inventory but delay payments for 90 days.
GM Financial also has guaranteed that dealerships’ dealer dividend payment, which is based on retail loan penetration and other factors, will be consistent with the previous month.
The challenges dealers and lenders face now is similar to a natural disaster, said Kyle Birch, president of North America operations for GM Financial. But when a hurricane strikes, “you get into building and there’s an end in sight. The crazy thing about this is there’s no predicted end. It continues to evolve every day,” he said. “With this uncertain time, we had to act and make sure we took care of our GM dealers.”
Dealers don’t have to take advantage of the waiver, but Birch said GM Financial wants them to know it’s available if they need it.
GM Financial also will partner with GM on incentive programs. “Those will be evolving as things continue to happen in regions or states or even nationally,” Birch said.
Most GM Financial employees have been directed to work remotely, but those at the call center have been given staggered shifts and lunches, Birch said.
GM on Monday said it would offer 0 percent financing for 84 months and 120-day payment deferrals for customers with outstanding credit. The automaker also gave new and existing customers free access to OnStar crisis-assistance services and 3 gigabytes of Wi-Fi.
GM and the captive also advised customers who need to contact GM Financial to text INFO to 53721, send a message through the GM Financial mobile app or call 1-800-284-2271.
The captive doesn’t typically accept text messages through a five-digit short code, but it has received three to four times the volume it normally receives on messaging channels, said Will Stacy, chief marketing and digital officer.
Most customers asked questions unrelated to the pandemic, but some have asked about payment deferrals, Birch said.
“We talk to customers every day about this stuff,” he said. “And we do anticipate over the next several weeks that those conversations will obviously increase.”
