Moves to empower customers will mean that self-service motor finance is set to become a major trend in 2016.

Dealer online technology specialist iVendi says the technology to allow customers to work through their own finance product choice, quotation and application is now available and that dealers are looking to use it both online and in the showroom.

Chief executive James Tew (pictured) said: "There are several converging strands coming together that we believe will really put some momentum behind self-service finance this year.

"One is simply that the technology is now proven to work well while another is that customers have become very well-versed in using online comparators in all kinds of areas such as insurance and holidays.

"However, the real driving force is simply customer empowerment. In a post-FCA motor industry, there is a realisation that putting as much of the motor finance process as possible in the hands of customer works well for all parties."

Tew said that while there was an instant recognition among dealers that self-service finance worked well for remote customers, it was the possibilities of in-showroom self-service that was proving the real ‘lightbulb’ moment.

"Everyone intuitively understands how self-service works outside the showroom but it is the in-showroom aspect that is perhaps the most exciting.

"There are all kind of ways that it can be used to ‘play' with the car sales process. You can more easily move finance to the front of the process if you have a high rejection rate, for example.

"Perhaps most interestingly, you can simply leave the customer to work through the finance process themselves in the dealership, putting them in complete control."