Driving Solutions with Jim Fitzpatrick, powered by CBT News

Amberly Allen Breaks Down Modern Payments for Dealers

• CBT News • Season 1 • Episode 18

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Amberly Allen, founder and managing partner of Dealer Merchant Services (DMS), joins Driving Solutions to discuss DMS’s recent acquisition by Priority Payments and what it means for automotive dealers navigating a rapidly changing payments landscape. She explains why finding a more sophisticated payments partner became critical as surcharging rules, compliance demands, and consumer payment preferences continue to evolve.

Allen breaks down how Priority Payments’ scale, technology, and extensive compliance resources strengthen DMS’s ability to protect dealers, reduce liability, and modernize dealership payment ecosystems. The conversation also explores how the partnership expands DMS’s capabilities across treasury, cash flow optimization, and emerging payment methods, while maintaining the company’s high-touch service model. From new card network requirements to digital wallets and crypto adoption, Allen outlines what dealers need to know now—and how the transition will remain seamless for existing clients.

Key discussion points:

  • Why DMS sought a more scalable and compliance-focused payments partner
  • How Priority Payments’ technology and legal resources benefit dealers
  • Navigating Visa and Mastercard’s Commercial Enhanced Data Program (CEDP)
  • Modernizing dealership payments with digital wallets and crypto options
  • Expanding payment solutions across automotive and adjacent industries

Driving Solutions is the go-to podcast for dealership professionals who want to stay sharp, informed, and ahead of the curve. Hosted by Jim Fitzpatrick and powered by CBT News, each episode brings you real strategies, smart tools, and expert insights to help you run a more profitable operation.

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Announcer:

This is Driving Solutions exclusively on CBTnews.com.

Jim Fitzpatrick:

Hey everyone, Jim Fitzpatrick. Thanks so much for joining me on another edition of Driving Solutions right here at cbtnews.com. Big news in the dealer payments space. Dealer Merchant Services, you've seen them here before on CBT News, has been acquired by Priority Payments. Joining us now to share more about this acquisition and what it means for their clients is Amberly Allen, founder and managing partner of Dealer Merchant Services. Amberly, thank you so much for joining us in the studio.

Amberly Allen:

Jim, thrilled to be back. Thank you so much. And thanks for all the support. Absolutely. Pretty amazing time. Thank you.

Jim Fitzpatrick:

This is big news for you and your company and your staff and well deserved. So uh so talk to us about this. When when priority payments approached you, what made you feel as though this would be the right fit and the right partnership?

Amberly Allen:

Well, we've been working on looking for a more sophisticated payments partner for about a year. And you know, the company was growing very, very quickly. Surcharging is on the rise, and we knew that it wasn't a private equity firm that we needed or more financial resources in that way. We really needed somebody that could help our dealers with better technology, more scalability from a payments perspective. And so they are a much more sophisticated payments partner. Um I joke we didn't know a lot about credit card processing when we started, but these guys definitely do. So I'm thrilled to be a part of it.

Jim Fitzpatrick:

Yeah, it's uh it's it's quite a company, there's no question about it. The new partnership, you know, gives the dealer the benefit of working with a sophisticated payment processor, obviously, with a with a company like that. Why does having that kind of partner really matter right now?

Amberly Allen:

Well, they are a publicly held entity, and so they are held to a higher standard.

Jim Fitzpatrick:

Okay.

Amberly Allen:

And we know that dealers are on this in the spotlight as it pertains to compliance, and so a publicly held entity like this is held to a higher standard. They have 50 people on their compliance team. Wow. They have a full in-house legal staff, so we're gonna make sure the dealers are doing this the right way once and for all. Um, I've been beating on this um every time I'm in the studio, I'm telling dealers we've got to do it the right way, we've got to do it the right way. Uh the cool thing is that they're going to ensure that they are doing it the right way, and they're gonna insulate that from the the dealers from many issues. So um, they do $140 billion in processing throughout their 1.2 million merchants. And so that means we can also leverage that from a pricing and technology standpoint. Right. They're also globally held, so Canadian processing, bigger footprint, uh, more technology, and really creating more sophistication as it pertains to the payments ecosystem, uh, payables, treasury, really creating an ability to optimize cash flow for dealers. And they were very much in alignment with us and the way we have this high-touch customer service at at Dealer Merchant Services, making sure that they're in compliance, but really leaning into protecting our dealers and and growing their working capital.

Jim Fitzpatrick:

Yeah, that's fantastic. So um, as you mentioned, they are a publicly traded company with over $140 billion in processing power. How does this expand the scope of what you can offer? I mean, you just touched on a couple of things.

Amberly Allen:

That's right. So it really allows for it to be a much more sophisticated payments ecosystem, meaning that anything that payments is touching in your store, which is very important, but also a bit antiquated in the automotive space, making sure that there is optimization in your payables with business to business. So I'll give you a perfect example. There is a recent Visa change, Visa MasterCard change called CEDP. And basically what that requires is dealers that have very large wholesale parts departments, um, they have to provide more data and therefore they get better rates.

Jim Fitzpatrick:

Okay.

Amberly Allen:

Basically, what has happened is that if they aren't providing more data, they're going to be paying more. So even if a dealer isn't ready to surcharge, we have to make sure that from a technology standpoint, they are optimizing those that pricing perspective.

Jim Fitzpatrick:

Okay. Okay, gotcha, gotcha. So um what does it look like for dealers on digital wallets, crypto and PayPal and Venmo and and uh Cash App and all of the others?

Amberly Allen:

Well, consumers want to pay in different ways. We're seeing that. We have dealers ask all the time. And so we know that PayPal, Cash App, Venmo, and crypto. Crypto is very interesting in that is it's on the rise. There's four trillion dollars in crypto that nobody knows how to spend. And so we want to enable our dealers the ability to give their customers what they're looking for as far as different payment methods.

Jim Fitzpatrick:

Right.

Amberly Allen:

So it's it's pretty interesting. And what this does, this partnership does is allows us to really modernize the ability for their consumers to pay in the way that they want and the dealers to receive the money and and pay make payables as well.

Jim Fitzpatrick:

Okay. So I'm addicted to all of those types of Venmo and Cash App. I think my kids train me when they're in high school and college, is just Venmo me the money. Just Venmo me. I I my my standing joke is I stay in touch with my kids through Venmo. Yeah, it's the only way I'm talking to them. It's great. But um, you know, you've always emphasized whenever you know we we're doing these segments together, the protecting the dealers and future-proofing their business. How does this partnership elevate that mission?

Amberly Allen:

Well, there's a few ways. I touched on it a little bit with the CEDP, but what that means for dealers that have big wholesale parts or fleet accounts, they really need to get with an agile payments partner that is looking at that, what they're paying today, and they're almost immediately probably paying more than what they were paying earlier this year.

Jim Fitzpatrick:

Okay.

Amberly Allen:

And so they have to have the technology in place to provide more data, therefore, less liability and less cost associated with running those payments. So just one piece of that. We've talked about surcharge many times together. And so we want to protect them with surcharging, but this opens up the ability to understand fleet and wholesale parts departments need to be more optimized. We also want to make sure that uh if they aren't ready to surcharge, that they're not overpaying, that I can leverage now $140 billion in processing. We're going direct to the card brands. We're the fourth largest merchant acquirer in the country being hooked up with priority.

Jim Fitzpatrick:

Fantastic.

Amberly Allen:

So we just are going to be able to scale and give them better pricing. I mean, just that being able to leverage that relationship.

Jim Fitzpatrick:

It's a whole new DMS, isn't it?

Amberly Allen:

It's a whole new DMS. It's Dealer Merchant Services has just been blown out of the water at this point. We've got jet fuel behind us.

Jim Fitzpatrick:

For your current clients, is it a kind of a seamless uh transition? Um, however, now with all of this power behind you, will they see any differences at all?

Amberly Allen:

Well, I think that what they'll see is business as usual, so that same high-touch customer service very much will stay the same. And that was another reason why we were really excited to work with priority. They knew that we got this far by taking really good care of our customers and making sure that they know where to find us when they need us. So none of that is going away. It's actually only going to get better. Okay. They're, you know, they hold themselves to an even higher standard as it pertains to answering customer support calls in four rings and all these things. So it's really important that uh they know that our current clients are just going to get more tools, more tools available to them, more technology, more agile partnership. So if there's questions, opportunities, things that they need, more efficiencies with payments, we'll be able to do all those things.

Jim Fitzpatrick:

And when you look at the next chapter with priority, what excites you the most about the future?

Amberly Allen:

Well, you know, I'm pretty competitive, so world comp world domination.

Jim Fitzpatrick:

You grew that company so quickly in such a short amount of time, it was just unbelievable. Thank you. So I can imagine with this this new rocket fuel, as you say, jet fuel behind you, there's no telling where this could go, right?

Amberly Allen:

Well, we really want to help dealers, and we it's not just new car dealerships, it's anything with an engine. Because what that means is is we can really bring some sophistication to their entire suite of the CFO. And so I think that are there issues with payables? Can you have more efficiencies there? I mean, we are looking and talking to all of our very best dealers and saying, where are the problems within payables, within receivables, how can we help navigate that? They have a full treasury department, they it's one of these things where um the future is bright, that's for sure.

Jim Fitzpatrick:

And when you talk about that, you know, uh outside of the auto uh business, such as motorsports, which many dealers have now gotten into. I spoke to Jeff Dyke, president of Sonic Automotive Group, as you know, and they are going all in on motorsports. I mean, they've had such great success with it, and obviously you can be right there helping companies like that. Absolutely.

Amberly Allen:

And we are working on all of those integrations with Lightspeed, with you know, proceed in the heavy trucking business. So those integrations now will be able to happen faster. And so everything is just going to move a lot quicker. So we're pretty well through the basic transition between the two companies, and um we're adding more state associations, we're adding more partners. Um we recently got California, which is for us, it's a really big deal because it was quite the gauntlet to make sure California is very specific on how they want their dealers to follow these surcharge laws.

Jim Fitzpatrick:

Okay.

Amberly Allen:

We want to be at the forefront of protecting them. We want to make sure that we know they know that we have additional tools to provide, and uh we're we want to help evolve that ecosystem of all things money movement.

Jim Fitzpatrick:

Sure, sure. That's fantastic.

Amberly Allen:

Wow.

Jim Fitzpatrick:

Futures never look brighter for DMS, that's for sure.

Amberly Allen:

Thank you.

Jim Fitzpatrick:

And really Allen, founder and managing partner of Dealer Merchant Services. Congratulations on the big news. I know uh, you know, you're you're gonna just put that rocket fuel in or jet fuel as you call it, and just go to amazing heights. So thank you so much for joining us.

Amberly Allen:

Thank you. Such a pleasure. Thanks.

Announcer:

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