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truWarranty’s dealer solutions can help your store transition to a hybrid sales/F&I model with a robust F&I menu of products, training, and reporting.

The average F&I menu can have as many as 15-20 different products to offer buyers and with such a short amount of time to run through them all, it becomes a nightmare for everyone. Simply put...it’s overload for the customer and the F&I manager.

Preloading ancillaries on new cars can be a bit of a gamble. Some products lend themselves well to this approach, like appearance packages and others need a more direct selling strategy to get customer buy-in. One product that many dealers may not have thought of preloading has little to do with the car itself… Identity theft protection.

Car buyers often cite their biggest complaint with the F&I process is the time it takes to walk through paperwork, financing options, DMV forms, and the hard-sell of aftermarket products and protections.

Today’s F&I department looks different from one dealership to the other. Small dealers, large volume multi-rooftop dealer groups….each store has their own unique challenges and needs in F&I. One thing that every F&I office does have? A clunky menu platform.

The car industry sits at a very uncomfortable crossroads in 2021. Most would agree 2020 was a wasted year from a profit and supply chain perspective and dealerships are still reeling from lost revenue.

Dealerships across the country struggle with turnover for a variety of reasons. For F&I managers, there are some steps you can take to reduce turnover.

Customer retention is one of the most important priorities throughout dealership operations. Service, parts, and sales all rely on repeat customers and keeping the customers from ‘cradle to grave’ as they say.

Key replacement is one of those odd ancillary products that either sells like gangbusters or falls flat every month with few being sold. It’s not that F&I doesn’t put their best foot forward to sell it...rather it’s the customer perception that somehow they already have the coverage through their personal car insurance policy.

New players are coming into the VSC space in higher numbers. Before the local dealership only had to worry about one or two online or independent companies or maybe the local credit union as a benefit to members. But things are changing in the online world of VSC’s.

If you haven’t created a first-time buyer bundle, maybe it’s time has come.

What if you don’t have a CPO program to lean on? Simple….start your own.

Should tire & wheel be moved off the main menu and perhaps to an ancillary bundle or is it worth it to still sell it as a stand-alone product?

Most businesses tend to forget Gen X when looking at selling strategies. The same can be said for dealerships and F&I. The argument could be made that the Millennials have more written about them than any other generation.

In F&I, time is never on your side. Deals are rushed, you are stressed, and the customers are frustrated…so much so that they take little if anything presented to them off the menu. Is there a better way to manage the time expectation of the customers BEFORE they even come into the F&I office?

Chances are your F&I department has a fairly big menu of products that are presented to customers on every deal regardless of whether it’s finance, cash deal, or lease. In reality many of the products are typically smaller in margin and don’t require all the upfront ‘selling’ that VSC or GAP insurance does.

There is nothing less exciting to talk about than compliance issues in F&I. Boring, dry....but important to address nonetheless. F&I departments have been under pressure for a few decades now to clean up their act and make sure that customers are not being duped and dealerships are doing business the right way.

Every industry has been affected in some way over the last 12 months during the COVID-19 pandemic and where some businesses have thrived, others have struggled and still struggle today. Again, not much good news across the board. But we are seeing recovery and signs of life which are encouraging.

No one goes to a new car dealership to buy identity theft protection. It’s nothing that comes to mind when they walk into the F&I office either. Buyers are presented with their menu of products and services and ID theft prevention would never organically come up. But what if there was a way to position this as a truly unique value add to every car buyer that purchases from you?

One way to help increase your brand’s exposure in the local market is to take advantage of private labeling your F&I products. We know...that was a quick pivot, right? But it’s important to understand the role of private labeling and how it can help, especially now.

Sometimes, employees quit without giving notice. No matter what, it always seems to be at the worst possible time when you are left shorthanded in F&I and we all know what happens next...deals stack up and customers are not happy.

Dealerships across the country struggle with turnover for a variety of reasons…commission-heavy compensation, long hours, lack of respect from management or owners, lack of professional respect among peers. In reality, most dealer personnel stay an average of only 3 years and that cuts across departments (sales, F&I, parts, service).

A lot has been written about the value in preloading ancillaries in F&I. We bang that drum over and over because we have seen the value of this strategy for a long time.

Credit unions are the thorn in the side of every F&I department. They usually have better interest rates (on used autos anyway). They can supply the buyer with a draft for a max amount that results in the dreaded ‘cash deal’ for F&I. And….they can provide aftermarket products to members/buyers like VSC, GAP, and Credit Life.