Strengthening Finance Performance: How Dealerships Can Navigate Today’s High-Rate Environment

Even though the base interest rate was cut to 4% in August 2025, customer finance APR hasn’t dropped at the same pace. 

With rates still affecting everyday customers, many are feeling the squeeze when it comes to finance affordability.  

Dealers are navigating tighter margins, stricter affordability checks, and more cautious customer mindsets. 

Recent figures from the Finance & Leasing Association (FLA) show a decline in new car finance agreements, suggesting many customers are stepping back amid affordability concerns. 

A survey published in February found around 9% of UK adults reported being declined for credit in the past 12 months, highlighting that access to credit is becoming more selective. 

This creates a unique challenge for dealership finance teams: how can they support customers through the finance process while keeping operations efficient, transparent, and compliant? 

Understanding Today’s Finance Landscape 

Small changes in interest rates can have a significant impact on customers’ willingness to take out finance.  

Higher APRs often make monthly payments a sticking point, prompting customers to shop around more and triggering stricter affordability checks. As a result, more deals fall through at the underwriting stage. 

Finance teams need to focus on helping customers understand their finance rate, what it means for repayments, and how different options affect long-term costs.

Clear communication ensures customers can make informed decisions with confidence. 

Challenges in Finance Operations 

High interest rates can create friction in dealership finance processes. More customers may drop out due to affordability concerns, slowing deals, and increasing administrative work. 

Lender decisions can take longer, leading to back-and-forth communication, duplicated data entry, and inefficiencies that reduce productivity. 

How DealTrak Helps 

DealTrak’s integrated lender panel, with over 65 lenders and growing, helps dealerships offer customers more options, increasing the likelihood of approvals.

By improving lender matching, speed, and accuracy, dealerships can reduce dropouts and improve customer satisfaction. 

Built-in compliance checks ensure proper disclosures are made and reduce the risk of rejected deals or post-sale issues, all without adding extra administrative burden. 

DealTrak’s platform makes this matching process more accurate, allowing dealerships to offer a wider range of options.