Building The RouteOne Foundation
RouteOne started, as most innovations do, as a way to vastly improve a current process. Collaboration has been key to our success from the beginning and throughout the last 20 years. Several parties passionate about the vehicle finance industry saw a need for a more transparent workflow and came together to enhance how dealerships and finance sources do business.
In 2002, GMAC (now Ally Financial), Ford Motor Credit Company, DaimlerChrysler Financial (now TD Auto Finance), and Toyota Financial Services joined forces. Their mission? Building and enhancing processes for the vehicle finance industry that make selling and financing a vehicle easier for dealerships and improve the consumer experience.
We focused on what dealers had to say almost immediately, getting feedback from our users and working to be "designed by dealers for dealers." We learned early on that collaborating with our customers was essential to the success of all involved.
Expanding our vision, we welcomed Canada into the fold a few years later. We created the dealer sales team shortly after that with the idea that RouteOne Business Development Managers understand the individual needs in each state or province.
Team Support is Crucial
It's not just building the process that makes RouteOne unique and successful; it's the commitment of our team to remain flexible and agile in the ever-changing marketplace.
We've been all about supporting our team members from the very beginning. Creating a collaborative and cohesive team is vital to serving our customers – providing dealers and consumers with the purchase process they want now and in the future. Our agile response helps us better answer industry demands.
We not only want to hear from our dealers, but we're always open to input from all our employees and want everyone to have a seat at our table. Our platform is known for top-notch reliability. Our success depends on the can-do attitude of our whole team - from our IT professionals and departments behind the scenes to our support and sales teams out in front.
“It is no accident that I have been with RouteOne for over 19 years, the majority of my career. I have had opportunities to work in and lead many different departments, and I am so grateful for the mentors and colleagues along the way.”
-Long-time employee Amanda George, RouteOne Chief Product Officer
Continued Investment in the Culture
Investing in the well-being of our team helps further cultivate our collaborative culture. We believe in creating fun and interesting activities that help us get to know each other in more compelling ways. The team has enjoyed ice cream truck visits, summer picnics in the park, yacht cruises on the Detroit River, sporting events, and more. Friday online fitness and health classes are available so everyone can take a break wherever they are and enhance their mental well-being.
We’re also firm believers in giving back to our community. We cover the time and encourage our employees to participate in local volunteer opportunities, such as food banks like Forgotten Harvest and gathering school supplies and holiday gifts for needy area children.
Our family-oriented sensibilities help us strive to ensure our workforce is supported personally and professionally. Thanks to our dedication to our team, we've captured the Detroit Free Press Top Workplaces Award five times, and staff members receive accolades and awards yearly.
Since 2018, we’ve hosted our annual Code-A-Thon to foster innovation and teamwork. This three-day design and coding event brings innovative ideas to fruition through an intensive collaboration of teams from various roles, including coders, designers, and product managers. This competition generates many innovative applications and solutions for internal teams and external clients. Added benefits for employees include opportunities to learn more outside of work and tuition reimbursement to help expand personal and professional horizons. We’ve supported employees in technology boot camps to help them develop their technical skillset.
Continued Growth and Collaboration For the Next 20 and Beyond
The RouteOne team grew to 250+ in 2015 and more than doubled in the last few years to our current total of 500+. Part of that growth came from a desire to serve dealers who wanted more transparent and flexible menu options to sell aftermarket protection products to consumers. We acquired MaximTrak in 2016 to help fill that need and welcomed that staff into the RouteOne family. Once again, flexibility and collaboration combined to help create a streamlined end-to-end process adaptable to wherever the sale starts - online, in-store, or a combination of both.
As we reflect on our first 20 years, we can see clearly that the next 20 years are in the collaborative hands of our entire team. We're agile and flexible enough to adapt to the ever-changing demands of the vehicle finance industry and the automotive buying public.
Are you interested in joining our collaborative team? Please take a few moments to learn more about us and view our current opportunities today.