The automotive industry is in the midst of a transformation—software-defined vehicles, global supply chain realignments, digital retail, and AI-led manufacturing are changing how vehicles are built, sold, and serviced.

But amidst this innovation, many automakers and Tier 1 suppliers are hitting a frustrating roadblock: paperwork.

From dealer onboarding and loan documents to service agreements and multi-tier supplier contracts, the industry still runs on a massive volume of documentation—and much of it still requires approval through slow, fragmented, or manual signature processes. Even where eSignatures are being used, they’re often bolted onto outdated workflows with platforms that were never designed to scale with enterprise complexity.

And the result?

  • Delayed vehicle delivery cycles
  • Slow dealer and partner onboarding
  • Contract turnarounds that take weeks instead of hours
  • Friction in fleet management, financing, and service workflows

For an industry known for speed and precision, this is an unacceptable drag on business performance.

Even worse, many manufacturers have unknowingly made the problem worse by adopting legacy eSignature platforms like DocuSign and Adobe Sign—tools that offer limited capabilities, poor scalability, and inflexible models like DocuSign pricing and Adobe Sign pricing. These tools may have worked well for simple, low-volume document use cases. But for enterprises operating at global scale, they quickly fall apart.

What the automotive industry needs now is not just a digital signature—but a modern, enterprise-ready approval platform that removes friction, reduces cost, and accelerates operational agility.

That’s where Certinal comes in.

2. Legacy Pricing is Holding Automotive Back

When it comes to enterprise eSignature deployments, most platforms follow a per-user or per-envelope pricing model. DocuSign and Adobe Sign are the biggest names in this space—and both operate using this outdated logic.

What does that mean in practice?

  • You pay for every user, regardless of how often they actually send documents.
  • You’re billed based on envelopes or signature events, which restricts high-volume use.
  • API calls, integrations with CRMs or DMS systems, audit logs, and template features are all paywalled behind higher-tier plans.
  • You’re constantly forced to map users to seats—instead of thinking in terms of workflows and impact.

This model is completely misaligned with how the automotive ecosystem functions.

In a typical OEM or Tier 1 supplier:

  • A few central users send high volumes of documents (legal, procurement, finance).
  • Dozens of regional teams only send documents occasionally.
  • Hundreds of dealer partners, vendor contacts, and field teams may need signing access without needing full licenses.

Yet, under legacy pricing models, you either overpay for unused seats or restrict access—resulting in bottlenecks, informal approvals, or risky workarounds.

Here’s What This Looks Like in the Real World:

  • A 10-user plan with DocuSign can cost up to $3,600–$5,000/year—regardless of whether 2 or 10 users are active.
  • Additional API calls? $50–$200/month depending on usage.
  • Want Salesforce or SAP Ariba integration? Be prepared for custom-tier pricing and deployment costs.
  • Need advanced compliance features (eIDAS, 21 CFR Part 11, audit logs)? That’s enterprise-only territory.

And now imagine scaling that model across:

  • 20 countries
  • 5 regional sales organizations
  • 1,000+ dealers
  • 50+ vendors in the production ecosystem

Suddenly you’re locked into a 6- or 7-figure contract for eSignatures alone—most of which go unused.

This is not a pricing model designed to enable transformation.
It’s a model that punishes adoption, penalizes flexibility, and rewards staying small.

And yet, because these vendors were early market entrants, many automotive leaders defaulted to them without questioning whether the pricing—and the platform—actually makes sense.

It’s time to rethink that.

3. Large Files? Legacy Vendors Say No.

Beyond pricing, another critical limitation of legacy eSign platforms is their handling of large or complex files—a common requirement in the automotive industry.

Let’s take a look at some of the documents you work with daily:

  • CAD drawings for parts and tooling
  • Engineering change requests with visual markups
  • Contract annexures with vehicle specs, logistics details, and SLAs
  • Regulatory documents with embedded diagrams and legal disclosures
  • Fleet service agreements with detailed price breakdowns
  • Annotated manuals or warranty documentation

These are not your average PDFs. These files are heavy, often exceeding 25–50 MB, especially when scanned at production-grade resolution or bundled with compliance documentation.

Here’s the Problem:

DocuSign and Adobe Sign place restrictive upload limits—often in the range of 25MB per file or 100MB per envelope (which includes all attachments and documents combined). And those limits include overhead for envelope metadata, logs, and audit trails.

The result?

  • Teams are forced to compress files, sacrificing clarity and legal defensibility.
  • Documents are split into multiple envelopes, creating confusion and broken audit trails.
  • Large documentation is sent outside the platform via third-party file sharing or email—introducing compliance risk and breaking workflow integrity.

For an industry where precision and traceability are non-negotiable, these workarounds are unacceptable.

Certinal Fixes This—By Design

Certinal supports documents above 100MB—out of the box.
No file-splitting. No compression. No offline handoffs.

You can upload:

  • Annotated engineering drawings
  • Technical documentation bundles
  • Multimedia-rich contracts with embedded files
  • Audit and compliance packs
  • Fully scanned legal agreements with signatures, seals, and visual identifiers

And everything remains in one envelope, tracked and sealed with a secure, compliant audit trail.

This is not just a convenience—it’s a capability that ensures:

  • Process continuity from upload to sign-off
  • No information loss during handoffs
  • True enterprise readiness for automotive-grade documentation
  • Faster time-to-signature, even with bulky or complex documentation sets

For an industry that thrives on precision and regulatory rigor, this matters deeply. And it’s something that only Certinal delivers at scale.

4. Certinal: Built for the Auto Industry

Certinal isn’t just another eSignature solution. It was designed from the ground up to serve complex, high-volume, multi-stakeholder environments—and that makes it a perfect fit for the automotive sector.

Whether you’re a global OEM managing cross-border agreements, a Tier 1 supplier onboarding multiple vendors, or a dealer group running customer contracts and compliance forms daily—Certinal delivers the flexibility, intelligence, and security you need without the price bloat of legacy vendors.

What Sets Certinal Apart:

  • Usage-Based Pricing
    You pay for what you use—not who uses it. This model is tailor-made for distributed, ecosystem-driven industries like automotive. Add unlimited users without worrying about rising license costs. Certinal grows with you.
  • Supports Large Files (100MB+)
    Certinal handles high-resolution schematics, compliance files, and multi-attachment documents with ease. No compression. No splitting. No workarounds.
  • Unlimited Users
    Roll out the platform across every touchpoint—dealerships, engineering teams, legal departments, vendors, and logistics partners. No more seat-count battles.
  • Built-in Compliance
    Out-of-the-box support for eIDAS, SOC 2, 21 CFR Part 11, HIPAA, and regional compliance standards. For automotive organizations operating across borders, this is non-negotiable.
  • Enterprise Integrations
    Certinal integrates natively with Salesforce, SAP, Oracle, Microsoft Dynamics, and leading DMS platforms—so you can embed it into your existing workflows without friction.
  • Mobile-Optimized Experience
    Field teams, showroom reps, and dealership staff can access and sign documents instantly—on any device. Whether it’s a service authorization or a lease contract, Certinal delivers a seamless mobile-first experience.
  • AI-Powered Intelligence
    Certinal holds patents in AI-driven document processing, including:
    • Auto-tagging of signature fields
      Smart recipient routing
      Contextual document classification
    • Real-time error detection

These AI features reduce manual setup, prevent errors, and accelerate every stage of the approval journey.

Certinal isn’t a workaround. It’s a workflow engine.

5. Results That Drive Business

Switching to Certinal doesn’t just save money. It directly impacts the metrics that matter most to automotive businesses: speed, compliance, and customer satisfaction.

Here’s what automotive leaders are experiencing after switching from legacy platforms:

🚗 50% Reduction in eSign Costs

By eliminating per-user license fees, API overages, and integration upsells, automotive clients have reduced their annual eSignature spend by half—with more users onboarded, not fewer.

🕒 60% Faster Approvals

Intelligent routing, mobile access, and pre-configured workflows have cut average approval times from days to hours—accelerating procurement, dealer onboarding, and contract closures.

🔄 More Adoption, Less Friction

Without license limitations, companies have expanded access across legal, finance, supply chain, sales, and compliance teams. That means more documents get routed digitally and fewer fall back to manual methods.

✅ Compliance Without the Chaos

Whether it’s local data residency, cross-border audits, or auto-generating secure audit trails—Certinal helps automotive businesses stay compliant without creating overhead.

💡 Smarter Workflows

Thanks to Certinal’s patented AI, repetitive tasks like tagging, recipient setup, and document routing are now automated—freeing up internal teams to focus on strategic execution, not admin work.

In short: Certinal is not just a cheaper alternative—it’s a better one. One that helps you move faster, reduce cost, and unlock enterprise agility across your entire value chain.

6. Conclusion

Automotive companies can’t afford to be slowed down by legacy tools. In a hyper-competitive industry defined by innovation, efficiency, and speed-to-market, you need every process firing on all cylinders—including approvals.

If your current eSignature provider charges per user, limits your file sizes, or nickel-and-dimes you for every integration and feature—it’s time to upgrade.

Certinal is the only eSignature platform built with enterprise-grade automotive workflows in mind.
It gives you:

  • Transparent, usage-based pricing
  • Unlimited users across geographies and teams
  • Native support for large documents and compliance-heavy records
  • Embedded AI to accelerate every approval
  • The scale, speed, and intelligence to make digital transformation real

It’s not just about going paperless. It’s about moving forward. Faster. Smarter. At scale.

If you’re ready to stop paying for limits—and start paying for results—Certinal is the partner built for your industry. Book a Demo Now!

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