How Friesen Automotive Streamlines Payments and Improves Profitability

I’d recommend SimplePay to another dealer without hesitation. It’s been great.

Operational efficiency and a superior customer experience are critical to a dealership’s continued success. Like many dealerships, Friesen Automotive relied on a third-party payment solution, which meant payments were not fully integrated into their CDK workflow. As a result, reconciliation required additional manual input. The dealership also lacked a compliant surcharging solution, which made it difficult to effectively manage processing costs.

Chris Fasbender, General Manager of Friesen Automotive, searched for a solution that would alleviate the operational and financial challenges and reduce friction for employees and customers.

Under our previous process, customers often had to move from one area of the dealership to another just to complete payment, which wasn’t ideal.

Fasbender wanted to find a solution that increased staff productivity while providing best-in-class service. He found it with CDK SimplePay.

One of the biggest selling points for me was being able to take payment right there with the customer.

Simplified Operations and Enhanced Efficiency

SimplePay seamlessly integrates within the CDK ecosystem, so it can be used throughout the dealership, from service and parts, to sales, and accounting.

The integration with CDK was a huge factor for us. We wanted something embedded directly into our dealership management system that would simplify operations across the entire business.

To simplify payment processing, dealerships can accept virtually all forms of payments directly at the point of service, which includes Invite to Pay transactions that enable secure remote payment when needed. Friesen has seen growing adoption of modern payment methods, including tap-to-pay, Apple Pay and Google Wallet.

Greater Visibility Leads to Smarter Accounting

Significant operational improvements are in the accounting department. Payment data is embedded directly within CDK workflows, so it’s more visible and there’s virtually no manual entry, which means far fewer payment-related errors.

Plus, the Accounting staff can independently research transactions, resolve questions faster, and spend significantly less time investigating discrepancies.

The beauty is that our Accounting team doesn’t have to engage others to determine what the issue is. They have the capability and tools to simply look it up themselves.

By eliminating reconciliation challenges and streamlining payment workflows, employees spend less time correcting errors and more time focusing on higher-value activities.

Fully Compliant, Fiscally Savvy

SimplePay offers fully compliant surcharge management across all dealerships and ensures that surcharges are passed along to the customer.

For Friesen Automotive, compliant surcharging has produced measurable financial value. By creating a consistent and compliant surcharge process across all three dealerships, the organization has been able to better manage payment processing expenses while maintaining a smooth customer experience.

The biggest benefit for us has been the ability to do compliant surcharging and maintain that moving forward. It’s made a big difference in the bottom line financially.

Partners in Success

Friesen Automotive credits CDK’s Support team as an important part of their overall experience. Fasbender noted that if there’s any problem, it’s resolved quickly and effectively.

The phones are answered, case numbers are assigned, and we get responses back.

According to Fasbender, getting SimplePay set up and training at the dealership’s three locations was simple and seamless because everything was preprogrammed, plugged in and worked.

That’s the beauty of the CDK integration. If there’s an issue, the information is right there, and it’s simple to fix.

Our team members have shared that their lives are much easier because of the straightforward and streamlined workflow that SimplePay provides.

Highly Likely To Recommend CDK SimplePay

Results Achieved After Implementing CDK SimplePay

• Fully compliant surcharge management across all dealerships
• Simplified payment processing at the point of service
• Reduced accounting and reconciliation effort
• Significant reduction in payment-related errors
• Increased staff productivity
• Improved visibility into transaction data
• Easy employee adoption and training
• Support for ACH, tap-to-pay, Apple Pay, Google Wallet and Invite to Pay
• Seamless integration within the CDK ecosystem