The Problem
Convincing an industry to put down the checkbook
OnSite Dealer Solutions staffs and runs the reconditioning operation inside roughly 180 car dealerships across the country, from national groups like Hendrick down to independent lots. When a dealership needs its used and new inventory detailed and reconditioned, OnSite supplies the entire department.
Ashley Lejeune manages accounts receivable, which at OnSite means every work order that starts in Serve, moves into QuickBooks overnight, and goes out as a statement she emails by hand twice a month. Most of what comes back is a paper check.
Paper checks and the mail are terrible. Losing checks, checks getting stolen, checks not arriving for over a month, you name it.
Ashley Lejeune, Accounts Receivable Manager
A late check is not just a late check when you are billing on a twice-monthly cycle and the next statement is already going out.
It affects P&Ls, it affects cash flow, it affects bonuses, because we’ll have a check from two towns over take two weeks to arrive.
Ashley Lejeune, Accounts Receivable Manager
Back when Ashley worked out of the office rather than remotely, her answer to that was to drive over and collect the checks herself. The trouble is that a dealership’s side of the transaction ends the moment it cuts the check. Two signatures, an envelope, and the books are square, while OnSite waits on the mail to decide when it gets paid. Collections came up at every monthly CFO meeting.
Electronic payment is the obvious answer, but some car dealerships are hesitant to change.
I get the other ones that just don’t want to change their process of thirty years. This is how we’ve been doing it, this is how we’re gonna do it sorta thing.
Ashley Lejeune, Accounts Receivable Manager
The Solution
The argument that finally lands
Ashley came across Nickel through a streaming TV commercial that piqued her interest. She checked with her IT lead, who confirmed that Nickel could be the solution to their check problem.
What made it useful was the pricing. OnSite’s invoices run large, and in a business where every point gets negotiated, a processing fee is where the conversation stops.
No dealership wants to pay 3.5% on 70 grand.
Ashley Lejeune, Accounts Receivable Manager
ACH through Nickel costs nothing on either side, which gives Ashley something to lead with before a controller can object.
Anybody who I’ve gotten onto Nickel who was slightly skeptical at first, when I tell them that it’s completely free, no processing fee, I think it’s been the straw that’s broken the back into getting them on the other side of the fence. Because that’s the first thing everybody says: we’re not interested in paying a fee.
Ashley Lejeune, Accounts Receivable Manager
For the dealerships that make the switch, Ashley generates the statement in QuickBooks, creates the matching payment link in Nickel, and sends it to the customer.
I generate the statements, and then I go to Nickel and generate the invoice for the statement amount, send it off to the store, and within minutes, I have payment. It cannot get much easier than that.
Ashley Lejeune, Accounts Receivable Manager
It also repaired a billing cycle the mail had broken. One Texas dealership had drifted into paying monthly, not by agreement but because checks could not keep up with statements going out twice a month.
We can get paid twice a month from them, whereas we were getting paid once a month before because of how long the postal service was taking to deliver their checks. And then by the time their check arrived, they were already past due on their next amount.
Ashley Lejeune, Accounts Receivable Manager
OnSite has grown rapidly over the past year, which puts more weight on collections than it used to carry. Ashley’s remaining obstacle is not the software.
Nickel has saved a lot of headache and time. And I truthfully am honest with you when I tell you I wish every single one of our dealerships were using Nickel.
Ashley Lejeune, Accounts Receivable Manager
