Farmington Hills, MI – RouteOne shares insights from its 2025 Annual Dealer Survey, revealing how dealerships nationwide are navigating the shift toward modern retailing. The findings underscore the importance of mapping a retail strategy that blends digital convenience with personalized customer engagement, online and in-store.
Modern Retail: A Spectrum of Experiences
The survey shows that dealership processes now span a wide range—from traditional dealer-controlled approaches to hybrid models and customer-driven experiences fully configured by the dealer.
In 2025, 75% of dealer respondents reported using hybrid deals that combine online and in-store elements, while 55% completed at least some fully remote transactions. These trends highlight the need for dealers to define where they fit on this spectrum and map a consistent retail experience that meets all customer expectations.
Dealership Processes: From Traditional to Digital
The biggest area of opportunity—and tension—is fully purchasing a vehicle online. It is the least offered, the most unlikely to be added (9%), and generates the highest uncertainty (17%). Yet it is also the most likely new activity dealers plan to add (12%), reflecting a broad landscape of early adopters, hesitant followers, and hesitant adopters.
Applying for credit and browsing for a vehicle are nearly universally offered digital features, while adoption drops for mid-process activities such as pricing protection products or remotely signing contract documents.
This variation reflects a diverse dealer landscape—one where perspectives differ; however, the trend is clear. These insights reinforce RouteOne’s mission to equip dealers with connected, flexible solutions that support customers anytime, anywhere, through any process. RouteOne offers dealerships the ability to deliver customers a modern, efficient, and fully configured F&I experience wherever then stand on their modern retail journey.
Customer Feedback Drives Innovation
“Our dealer and finance source customers’ feedback is the cornerstone of our innovation,” stated Amanda George, Chief Product Officer, RouteOne. “Every insight they share helps us design and deliver solutions that truly meet their evolving needs.”
Tools to Map Your Modern Retail Strategy
RouteOne offers solutions that help dealers and partners build a retail experience tailored to their goals:
- RouteOne Fusion – Fusion enables dealers to map a connected journey for customers, starting online and continuing in-store. It brings together financing, trade-ins, credit applications, and aftermarket product selection into one streamlined platform—delivering convenience and personalization at every step with a seamless transition to the in-store experience.
- RouteOne On-Demand– For partners looking to integrate advanced capabilities, RouteOne On-Demand provides a robust API platform. It powers seamless communication between systems, supporting credit application submission, identity verification, real-time pricing, protection product presentation and selection, and remote eSigning. These integrations allow industry partners to design experiences that fit their unique strategies while ensuring a customer-centered, efficient transaction.
The 2025 survey results confirm a sustained shift toward adding digital retailing options, with hybrid deals becoming the norm and remote transactions maintaining a strong presence. Having tools to maximize consumer engagement and a seamless transition from digital to in-store experiences is key. Dealers seeking these personalized insights to map their modern retail strategy can visit RouteOne at booth #3743W during NADA 2026 in Las Vegas, NV, or learn more at RouteOne.com.
About RouteOne
RouteOne began in 2002 as a joint venture of GMAC (now Ally Financial), Ford Motor Credit Company, DaimlerChrysler Financial (now TD Auto Finance), and Toyota Financial Services.
RouteOne is the technology that connects dealers, finance sources, and integrated industry providers across North America for vehicle financing at the point of sale. Continuously delivering best-in-class customer service and industry-leading solutions to the market, RouteOne is relied upon to create a flexible, modern purchase experience that promotes dealer choice and can take place in-store, online, or a combination of both.
As points of sale evolve, RouteOne services will continue to expand to meet the demands of the marketplace. More information is available at RouteOne.com