Even before Covid, the sales process was changing to keep up with consumer demands. Consumers are doing more research online than ever before, and more customers are using online tools to start their sales process. Customers use website credit applications, trade value estimators, chat services, and BUY NOW buttons to initiate the sales process. Internal … Read more
As the U.S. infrastructure bill works its way slowly through Congress, I thought it would be good to look at what this could mean for rural customers and their dealerships. Internet speeds in the urban areas have been well over 100mps for years while many rural areas are 10X slower (10mps) and close to old … Read more
Helping customers ‘see’ the equity they have in their vehicles is far better than using a standard trade tool that only shows market value. Customers entering the market may be unaware of the shifts in trade value the chip shortage has created. They may be excited about upgrading their vehicle but historically have had to … Read more
According to the experts, the chip shortage creating the inventory problem will continue throughout 2021 and possibly into early 2022. Eventually, new vehicle supply will return to normal, and used vehicle prices will level off and fall back to the norms. I’m also positive that if you are reading this article, you are doing everything … Read more
When rates and reserve are about equal on an F&I deal, it’s critical to understand your ancillary product maximums per lender decision. Ideally, you want to select the lender decision that allows maximum profitability on any sold protection products. However, you also want to ensure that the lender reserve allows an adequate profit based on … Read more
There are two scenarios: Promoting or hiring a newbie into the F&I department and training them from scratch. Hiring a trained F&I director from another organization. Both have different cost structures, but they both need training and management oversight for a set time. If they are a newbie, they have to learn all the lending … Read more
The 80/20 rule applies to a lot of business factors at the typical dealership. I’m sure you can name 3 or 4 right off the top of your head. One 80/20 rule that may not come to mind is in your F&I Department, where 80% of your deals reach maximum profit and 20% fall short. … Read more
The chip shortage has created an inventory shortage that looks to be getting worse. It may be some time before the OEM’s get back on track with a steady supply of vehicles for dealers. The lack of new vehicles has increased the cost for the dealers to get used vehicles as well. The price increase … Read more
Why do we accept $1,500, $1,800, or $2,100 in F&I profit as ‘good enough’? We all know the ‘good enough’ mindset leaves profits on the table. Traditionally the work needed to capture the additional $40-$120 PVR most dealerships forgo has outweighed the profit reward. Thus, ‘Good Enough’ has become a dollar figure per unit sold. … Read more
The F&I managers do a great job of selecting the best lenders to submit a deal. They instantly have a good idea of what each lender looks for and what they will accept. Choosing lenders for the deal and getting callbacks is easy and fast for most F&I managers. The time-consuming part is breaking down … Read more
