Overview

Easterns Automotive Group is a used car dealership with 11 locations across the DC, Maryland, and Virginia region. With a focus on efficiency, transparency, and customer experience, the dealership employs salaried sales and finance professionals and has a centralized settlement department that finalizes every deal.

In recent years, Easterns has invested in digital retailing tools like Roadster (CDK) to serve the growing number of buyers who shop online or after hours. Today, more than 30% of their deals start online, with many customers completing paperwork digitally before arriving at a dealership for pickup.

But one critical step continued to slow things down: insurance verification.

The Challenge

Previously, the responsibility to verify insurance was placed entirely on the customer. At the end of the sale, the team would provide the VIN and lienholder details and ask the customer to fax or email their insurance documents. From there, the dealership had no visibility or control.

“A lot of little things can go wrong, and it’s very time-consuming. It usually happened at a really emotional point in the sale, when both the customer and the salesperson were super excited.”
Tim Atkins, Chief Operating Officer, Easterns Automotive Group

Faxes often failed to arrive. Emails were sent to the wrong address. And sometimes, customers submitted outdated policies or coverage that belonged to someone else, causing even more delays.

“We’d wait 30 minutes or more for the customer to figure it out and figure out how to pay for insurance... It was completely out of our control.”

Easterns had an internal rule: every insurance document must be verified before finalizing the deal. That meant the settlement office needed to manually track down agents, confirm coverage, and ensure the vehicle and deductibles were correct. A process that could easily take an hour, especially during late-night sales.

“We knew there was nothing stopping a customer from asking a friend to send over a dec page that wasn’t legit. So we had to call and verify everything, every time.”

The Turning Point

The team began exploring ways to solve the issue, starting by encouraging customers to use trusted agents or 24/7 carriers like Progressive and GEICO. But that required switching providers, and didn't align with Easterns' no-pressure sales model.

They needed something better. Something that kept the process moving, protected the dealership, and didn’t compromise the customer experience.

That’s when they found Canopy Connect.

The Canopy Connect Solution

Easterns started with a soft rollout. Tim and another team member tested Canopy Connect internally, completed a few verifications using their own information, and used a mix of Canopy Connect materials and a custom-built deck to train the broader team.

Within a couple of weeks, it was clear the platform worked.

Once Canopy Connect was integrated into Roadster, the process became even more seamless. Customers completing online deals were presented with three options to upload insurance: scan a document, take a photo, or log in through Canopy Connect. Many chose Canopy on their own.

“More people than you’d expect just enter their login and password. It walks them through the process. And we know the data we get is accurate. Now we walk in the next morning and the customer’s insurance is already there—ready to go, verified and trusted.”

The Results

• 40% of customers now verify insurance through Canopy Connect proactively. 
• Insurance verifications are completed in minutes, 24/7.
• Fully digital deals, including insurance, can be completed in as little as 20 minutes.
• Settlement staff save 10 minutes by skipping manual verification.
• 90 minutes saved per deal  gathering insurance information 
• Shorter deal times contribute to higher satisfaction scores and fewer lost sales.

“Late-night deals used to be risky. If we couldn’t verify insurance, we could be stuck for an hour and a half. Now the worst case is 10 minutes.”

“We’ve done full deals online in 20 minutes—insurance and all. Outside of Carvana, I don’t know who else can say that.”

Looking Ahead

Easterns isn’t looking to sell insurance. They focus on providing a fast, easy, transparent process that fits their brand and today’s digital consumer. Canopy Connect plays a key role in helping them do it.

“We don’t want to be in the business of selling another product. We just want the process to be better.”

As the dealership continues to expand its digital capabilities, including partnerships with platforms like Amazon’s Hyundai program, Easterns remains committed to refining its online process and giving customers a better way to buy a car.

“You want to spend your time helping a customer get excited about the car they’re buying. Not chasing down faxes or verifying insurance. Canopy helps us do that.”