AUSTRALIAN-based “buy-now, pay-later” payment platform Openpay Group Ltd has signed up with Ford Australia and its dealers as one of its key automotive customers.

The agreement covers service business at the dealerships and provides customers with a ready access to funds to pay for vehicle servicing and repair.

Openpay also has similar agreements with Eagers Automotive dealerships and this month, Pentana Solutions.

Ford is Openpay’s first OEM customer but its CEO and managing director Michael Eidel indicated more manufacturers are being sought.

“Through this partnership we will be working together to help Ford’s customers ‘Go Further’ – making greater payment flexibility available for all their car servicing needs,” he said.

“We have previously partnered with many dealership groups but partnering at the OEM level strongly cements our leadership position in the automotive vertical.”

Ford will offer the Openpay “buy-now, pay-later” (BNPL) service to its dealership network across Australia to support customer car servicing needs of repairs, parts and accessories.

The agreement with Ford Australia is seen as a major milestone in addition to Openpay’s exclusive partnership with Pentana Solutions, the leading provider of dealer management software (DMS) in Australia, which went live in February 2021.

Mr Eidel said about 2500 new-car franchise dealerships – or about 60 per cent – across Australia including Eagers Automotive, Inchcape, and Peter Warren use Pentana’s eraPower DMS.

He said the move strengthens Openpay’s leadership in the automotive sector and fits with a strategy of focusing on specialist verticals beyond retail, and into automotive, healthcare, home improvement, education and memberships.

Openpay aims to deliver the most flexible plans in the market with durations of two months to 24 months and values of up to $20,000.

It said its target customers are “finance-savvy and of an older demographic who use Openpay plans as a cashflow management tool.”

Openpay also has a B2B offering, Openpay for Business, a SaaS-based platform that allows companies to manage trade accounts end-to-end, including applications, credit checks, approvals, and account management in the one system.

It operates in Australia, New Zealand, the UK and entered the US market, under the brand name Opy, in December 2020.

By Neil Dowling