Dealer glossary
E-contracting
Signing and transmitting the finance contract electronically instead of on paper.
Definition
Also called electronic contracting, eContracting
E-contracting replaces the printed, wet-signed finance contract with an electronic one, signed on screen and sent to the lender directly.
The reason dealers care is funding speed. An electronic contract can reach the lender the same day, errors are caught before signing rather than after, and there is no courier in the loop.
It depends on the signature actually being verifiable - the certificate and signature checks are what make the contract enforceable rather than merely convenient. A signature image on a PDF is not the same thing as a signed electronic contract, and the difference only becomes visible when someone disputes it.
Not every lender accepts electronic contracts for every product, and some states treat certain documents differently, so most stores end up running both processes for a while. That is normal rather than a failure of the setup.
Related terms.
F&I →
The finance office: arranging the customer financing and presenting the products sold alongside the vehicle.
Deal jacket →
The complete set of documents for a single vehicle sale, historically a paper folder and now usually digital.
Adverse action notice →
The notice a customer receives when a credit application is declined or approved on less favourable terms than requested.
See how this works in one system.
DealersCloud runs inventory, the CRM, desking, the books and your dealer website on the same records - so the things in this glossary stop living in separate places.
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