Overview
Reynolds and Reynolds announced a partnership with Corpay to digitize dealership payables, moving vendor payments from paper to electronic channels. Through Reynolds Electronic Payables with Corpay as the execution layer, dealers can schedule bills and have payments sent via check, ACH, or virtual card. The companies emphasize increased security, operational efficiency, and potential virtual-card rebate revenue.
How the workflow operates
- Initiation: Dealers enter and schedule bills in Reynolds Electronic Payables.
- Execution: Corpay issues payments in the vendor’s preferred format (check, ACH, or virtual card).
- Visibility: Dealers track statuses and manage supplier enrollment via Corpay’s AP Gateway portal.
Key claims and benefits highlighted by the companies
- Fraud prevention: Dealership bank details are not printed on checks; checks are issued from a Corpay-managed custodial account to avoid exposing the dealership’s account information.
- Rebates on virtual cards: Routing more spend through virtual cards can generate rebates, creating a potential new revenue stream for accounts payable. Specific rebate amounts and eligibility were not disclosed.
- Security of virtual cards: Virtual cards are framed as the most secure option by eliminating bank account number exchanges and tying funds to specific transactions.
- Operational efficiency: Automation aims to reduce manual tasks (printing/mailing checks, invoice matching, month-end reconciliation) and produce a detailed audit trail.
- Centralized tracking: The AP Gateway portal is intended to reduce manual follow-up and improve exception handling.
Context and rationale
The initiative targets common back-office pain points at dealerships and aligns with broader industry moves to tighten controls over outbound payments amid risks like check fraud and account takeover. By bundling execution with a dealer-facing payables tool, the companies aim to accelerate electronic adoption without disrupting vendors that still prefer checks or ACH.
Open questions and limitations noted
- No disclosed financial terms, pricing details, or whether additional costs apply beyond payment processing fees.
- No timeline for rollout, adoption metrics, or targets for virtual-card spend.
- Unclear vendor enrollment approach when suppliers decline virtual cards or need specialized remittance formats.
Company snapshots (as described by the companies)
- Reynolds and Reynolds: Provider of dealership management software, services, and forms, with headquarters in Dayton and operations across multiple U.S. locations and internationally.
- Corpay (NYSE: CPAY): Corporate payments company offering payments and invoice automation, procure-to-pay, expense management, and commercial card programs. It says it processes 1.9 billion transactions annually and is the No. 1 B2B commercial Mastercard issuer in North America; Corpay-branded Mastercards are issued by Fifth Third Bank, N.A., or another licensed institution.
Implications for dealerships
- Potential to reduce manual check handling and improve cash-flow timing with scheduled, electronic disbursements.
- Increased visibility into payment statuses and exception handling via a single portal.
- Opportunity to capture virtual-card rebates where suppliers accept them, while still supporting checks and ACH.
For more information, the companies direct readers to corpay.com and reyrey.com.
