$12M saved. 10M calls handled monthly. One platform.

$12M saved. 10M calls handled monthly. One platform.

Rising servicing costs are crushing auto lenders. Limited QA coverage creates compliance blind spots. Fragmented borrower experiences drive up operational risk.

Westlake Financial needed a solution that could actually scale.

Managing $24 billion in assets and serving borrowers nationwide through 50,000+ dealerships, Westlake wasn't looking for incremental improvements. They needed a fundamental transformation—lower cost per loan, complete oversight across every interaction, and faster resolutions for both borrowers and insurance claims.

They partnered with Salient. Here's what happened.

Embedded partnership, rapid deployment

Westlake didn't want a vendor relationship. They wanted true collaboration.

Salient relocated to Los Angeles to work directly with Westlake's leadership team. Instead of layering AI onto existing IVR systems, they rebuilt from the ground up—gathering every detail to create compliant AI agents that could match and exceed human performance.

"Both our teams value the velocity of iteration," said Brian Renfro, Executive Vice President of Servicing at Westlake. "We gave constant feedback, and saw Salient consistently deliver changes."

The approach worked. Westlake and Salient co-designed an AI-native stack purpose-built for lending operations.

"Salient helped us create our perfect agent," added Robert Engilman, Chief Compliance Officer at Westlake. "We could even configure it to outperform where humans have historically lacked."

The results: Enterprise scale, real savings

Today, Westlake runs their entire servicing operation through Salient's platform:

• 45% reduction in servicing headcount

• $12M+ in annual savings

• 10M+ calls handled monthly

• 100% QA coverage on selected calls

• 10K+ compliance alerts surfaced monthly

• 25%+ average increase in total loss claim values

Those numbers represent operational transformation, not just automation.

Three products, one AI-native platform

Westlake now leverages the entire Salient suite across departments:

Taylor (AI Agents): Automates all loan servicing calls—collections, inbound support, welcome calls, verification—and updates systems automatically. Handling 10M+ calls monthly.

Marshall (AI Compliance): Ensures full compliance coverage across every interaction, surfaces alerts in real-time, and provides targeted agent coaching. Processing 10K+ alerts monthly with 96%+ accuracy.

Flyn (AI Insurance): Automates the total loss recovery process from price discovery through insurer negotiations, maximizing value for both Westlake and borrowers. Driving 25%+ average ACV increases.

"We're focused on driving down costs because we're ultimately selling a commodity service," explained Paul Nestojko, VP of Finance at Westlake. "If we can deliver the same quality at a lower cost, that's a win—and Salient enables exactly that."

Built to scale, designed to expand

The partnership isn't stopping at current use cases.

"Our view is simple: anywhere we're doing manual, repetitive work today, AI should take it over," said Nestojko. "Salient has shown us this is possible and we look forward to continuing to partner on new ideas."

Renfro agrees: "We've automated huge parts of servicing without losing performance, and now the opportunity is even bigger—including with insurance. If AI can handle it consistently, we should be using it. There's a lot more we want to build together."

When AI is built for lending, it works

Westlake didn't need experimental technology. They needed a platform that could handle $24 billion in assets, maintain strict compliance, and deliver measurable ROI across multiple departments.

Salient delivered all three.

Voice AI in lending works when it's purpose-built for the industry's unique requirements. When it's compliant by design, not as an afterthought. When it scales without breaking.

That's what Westlake proved. And they're just getting started.