Volt and Bumper Collaborate to Advance Open Banking in Auto Industry

Global real-time payments platform Volt has announced a significant partnership with Bumper, a payment platform for car dealerships. Their collaboration aims to leverage open banking and real-time payments, allowing consumers to conveniently pay for vehicle transactions.

Revolutionizing Auto Payments

Volt has empowered Bumper’s new ‘Pay Now’ function, which is now available in over 5,000 car dealerships. The function enables real-time payments for cars, car parts, and repairs. The partnership arises amidst a resurgence in UK car sales, which saw a notable increase in 2023, particularly in used car sales, which experienced a 5.5% year-on-year growth in Q3 2023.

Since the integration was implemented in January 2024, more than £3 million in payments have been processed in the UK. Some customers have even used Volt to make outright car purchases.

Digitizing Dealerships, Speeding Up Settlements

Their collaboration aims to alleviate a major pain point for dealerships: slow settlement times. With Volt powering Bumper’s ‘Pay Now’ function, dealerships can benefit from instant settlements that are tracked in real time. This feature also offers a checkout flow and pay-by-link options, delivering a mobile-first experience to the service car dealerships provide.

Dealerships can now exercise greater control over their cash flow and inventory, reducing the risk of non-payment or system errors. The collaboration also paves the way for Bumper’s European expansion plans.

Boosting Open Banking Adoption

The partnership between Volt and Bumper is instrumental in advancing the adoption of open banking in the UK. It brings open banking payments to customers of over 5,000 dealerships, including several world-leading automotive manufacturers.

Volt’s VP of Partnerships, Richard Drury, acknowledged that the payments process has been a major challenge for car dealerships. The collaboration with Bumper offers a solution that resonates with both buyers and sellers, showcasing the potential for real-time payments in the automotive industry.

Jack Allman, CCO and Co-founder at Bumper, highlighted the significant impact of their partnership with Volt. He emphasized the benefits of frictionless account-to-account payment experiences and the possibilities for operational efficiency and automation.

Their collaboration marks another step in Volt’s growth journey, following partnerships with Shopify and Worldpay in 2023. For Bumper, it comes after a successful £40m Series B funding round, fuelling its plans for expansion in Europe.