JUNE 27, 2017

F&I is one of the most important departments and biggest profit centers in an auto dealership. The WardsAuto F&I Resource Center keeps F&I professionals up to date with the latest trends and best practices so they can perform their jobs more effectively and profitably. Visit the F&I Resource Center regularly to stay on top of your game.

Security Experts Offer Car Dealers Advice in Era of Digital F&I

What do finance and insurance technology providers advise their dealer clients about digital F&I security?

We asked several of them, and here’s what they said...

Customer Retention Comes in Different F&I Packages at Dealerships

Tire-related protection plans – some of them offered for free – can keep customers coming back to dealerships. “The National Automobile Dealers Assn. shows that every time a customer walks in the door, the visit’s worth on average $240 in repair orders,” says Bill Springer, president of Krex, a provider of services-based retention programs, including Drive-Sure Road Hazard Tire Protection.

Subprime Becomes Too Rich for Some Lenders’ Blood

Auto-loan delinquencies are up, mainly because of the usual suspects: subprime borrowers behind on their bills, according to credit tracker TransUnion. And although some lenders are pulling away from the subprime and non-prime segments, it’s not a mass exodus. Lenders who specialize in that segment welcome the thinning out of the competition.

Auto-Retailing E-Contracting Gains Traction – Finally

For quite a while, auto-retailing e-contracting was beginning to look like it was a proposal for the future – and always will be. “We’ve talked about it forever,” Nick Stanutz, a senior vice president at Huntington National Bank, says at a recent auto financing conference. “But there’s not much demand at the dealer level.”

Instant Income Verification Could Improve Sales Process for Consumers

This year could see U.S. auto sales decline for the first time since the industry emerged from the 2009 recession, meaning automotive lenders and dealers no longer can rely solely on record vehicle sales month after month to grow their businesses.

F&I Gets High-Tech, But It’s Still a People Business

There’s no doubt F&I is ready to do business digitally. Online tools potentially help dealers digitally sell more vehicles and F&I products. In the meantime, people still visit brick and mortar showrooms hoping to have a meaningful F&I experience, not a bad time in “the box.”