ATLANTA, Feb. 27, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Carputty, a fintech company modernizing both auto financing and ownership, today announced the introduction of the Business Flexline™, a new kind of credit line designed for small business entrepreneurs and the organizations that support them.
According to the U.S. Small Business Administration Office of Advocacy, 99.9% of businesses across the U.S. are small businesses, many of which need vehicles for their workers to get around, such as construction crews, landscapers, HVAC workers, general contractors, and car sharing hosts. Specifically, as of January 2021, there were over 380,000 small fleets in operation, with small fleets being defined as 5-14 vehicles, accounting for nearly 3,000,000 commercial cars and trucks.
Small business owners that rely on vehicles as part of their operation often face challenges when financing their cars and trucks. Most lenders consider each purchase independently and each individual loan can make subsequent loans more challenging. Further, small business lenders may not consider all forms of income in evaluating an applicant.
The Carputty Business Flexline differs from traditional loans by providing a flexible line of credit that can be used to finance multiple vehicles and transaction types. The new Business Flexline offering from Carputty will be available directly to entrepreneurs as well as to any organization servicing small business owners. Through Carputty’s partnership program, companies interested in offering the Business Flexline to their customers can integrate directly with Carputty’s end-to-end platform.
"Everywhere you look, there are small businesses that rely on vehicles as a core asset. From plumbers and contractors, to car sharing hosts and home health aides, these entrepreneurs face a multitude of challenges when it comes to managing the financial aspects of their small fleets," said Patrick Bayliss, CEO of Carputty. "We've designed the Business Flexline to help these business owners overcome traditional barriers associated with auto financing and allow them to focus on growing their businesses."
Unlike traditional auto loans that are single-unit and transactional, the Business Flexline provides an evergreen line of credit specific to auto financing. Carputty members can use their line of credit to finance multiple vehicles and have the flexibility to use it across a variety of transaction types - they can buy a new or used car from a dealership or retailer, buy out the lease of a current vehicle or refinance existing loans to lower rates and payments. When a member pays down their balance, the funds become available again to use on other vehicles, comparable to how a credit card works.
The company also offers the V3 Valuation tool, which tells members how much their current vehicle is worth and offers data-driven predictions around when the best time is to sell. By arming entrepreneurs with data-driven insight, they can manage their vehicles and identify the best times to replace them.
Qualified small business entrepreneurs with an LLC can get access to a credit line of up to $800,000 at competitive rates, allowing them to consolidate all their needs into a single Flexline, eliminating the hassle of multiple applications and numerous payments to different providers. This carries obvious benefits for any small business owner that is looking to grow their core business and Carputty has seen success with a pilot program with Turo, who rely on vehicles to power their businesses.
“Prior to discovering Carputty, managing my auto loans was a complicated and time-consuming process,” said Marcelo Casella, Turo host and Carputty member. “Carputty allows me to finance all of my vehicles on one single line of credit, meaning no longer having to make multiple payments to multiple providers. My vehicles are critical to my business and with Carputty, I can manage these assets much like I would with any other investment, allowing me to save on business expenses and time, and ensure compliance.”
Carputty’s platform enables any company servicing small businesses and entrepreneurs to embed Carputty’s offerings and full service capability directly, allowing them to offer Business Flexline directly to their customers. Regional lenders and credit unions as well as car sharing services and fleet management platforms can all benefit from adding Business Flexline to their suite of offerings.
“We’re really excited about the partnership opportunities that this business product will bring,” said Joshua Tatum, co-founder and Chief Product Officer of Carputty. “We designed our system to easily integrate with partners’ systems, allowing us to extend our capabilities to any organization supporting small business owners. Those partners will be able to grant their small business customers a more flexible and cost effective way to manage their vehicular assets, extending their business with those customers and generating greater loyalty.”
Business Flexline is currently in an exclusive pilot with Turo, the car sharing service and the company plans to make it generally available later this year. The newest addition to Carputty’s offerings comes on the heels of the company’s Series A fundraise of $12.3 million led by TTV Capital and Fontinalis.
About Carputty
Carputty is a fintech company modernizing both auto financing and ownership. Founded in 2020, the Company reengineers auto financing by leveraging data based on the consumer and not directly tied to a transaction. The Company’s flexible lending product, Flexline™, gives members a continuous line of credit that can be used to finance all their vehicles, including new and used automobiles, lease buyouts and refinancing of existing loans. The Company’s data-first approach powers financing decisions that are agnostic, transparent and dynamic, with each member’s Flexline evolving alongside their financial standing. As a multichannel business, the Carputty platform can be seamlessly embedded with business partners seeking to implement end-to-end auto financing capabilities. For more information, visit www.Carputty.com.
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press@carputty.com
