Web-based RouteOne breaks away from its car company parents

To make it easier for dealers and shoppers to obtain credit for a new car purchased directly over the web, the Big 3 auto makers and Toyota and their financing arms --DaimlerChrysler Services, Ford Motor Credit Co., General Motors Acceptance Corp., and Toyota Financial Services – formed RouteOne two years ago.

Now in a sign that interactive car buying and financing are finally catching on, RouteOne, which develops and markets a web-based system that enables dealers and their finance sources, including captives, banks, and other financial institutions, to exchange credit application and decision information online, is announcing a permanent management team.

Previously the top executives running RouteOne during the joint-venture company’s start-up phase were on loan from their parent organizations. RouteOne’s new permanent CEO is Mike Jurecki, who was previously with Ford Motor Credit. Joel Gruber, previously with DaimlerChrysler Services, is now RouteOne’s CIO, while Brad Rogers, formerly with Toyota Financial Services, is the new vice president of sales and marketing.

“It`s a strong signal to our dealer and finance source partners that the people who know RouteOne better than anyone are willing to stay and continue to build the success of RouteOne,” says Paul Knauss, chief financial officer for DaimlerChrysler Services North America and RouteOne chairman.

As web technology and Internet retailing play a bigger role in changing the way car manufacturers and dealers sell new and used vehicles, helping customers arrange online financing is becoming a competitive differentiator–-and a lucrative new source of revenue. The value of cars financed online is forecast to reach $2.2 billion in 2004, compared to $1.7 billion in 2002, says Jupiter Research.