The Road to ROI with F&I

You might be surprised to learn just how much technology is in your car. From voice-activated commands to built-in navigation, today's cars are packed with features that make life easier.

 In this article, we'll explore five shocking facts about technology in your car.

It's no secret that the current state of the automotive industry is in flux. Manufacturers are looking for ways to cut costs and increase profits, and one of the methods they're exploring is going direct to consumers. While this model has been around for a while, it's never been more viable than it is now. Here are five signs that the Direct to Consumer model could be a reality for you.

The massive disruptions associated with COVID-19 made many industries, especially automotive dealerships, wonder if supply chains, consumer demand, and essentially everything else associated with running a business would ever get back to normal. 

For dealerships, in particular, the attractive interest rates (sometimes 0%) brought buyers to showrooms in droves. With all the demand driven by low-interest rates and low inventory, sales managers and team members enjoyed an upper hand in negotiations with buyers. 

Employees' reduced levels of commitment, energy, and drive translate to reduced productivity. Consequently, employee motivation is critical for business success. At a dealership, employees face challenges that can quickly lower their morale. As such, there is a need for dealership owners and managers to motivate employees constantly. Here are six strategies you can use to encourage and motivate dealership employees.

Have you ever had an employee call out sick or not show up for their shift? Or worse, have someone quit on the spot? These are all situations that can leave a dealership scrambling. Having a fill-in F&I specialist on-call can help combat these emergency issues. Here are a few things to know about F&I specialists:

Dealership success can be significantly aided by enthusiastic participation from all staff members. Employees are most productive when they are constantly encouraged and motivated. As a dealership decision-maker, you are responsible for creating strategies that will maintain constant staff enthusiasm for the company’s goals and objectives. This, however, begs the question: how?

In every business, quality of service is important for customer retention. When you provide excellent customer experiences, your automobile dealership can prosper. You can grow your dealership by improving the Finance and Insurance departments (F&I). According to the National Automobile Association (NADA), the finance and insurance department represent about 25% of all the dealership sales. Here are 5 ways you can improve your F&I process at your automobile dealership.

With the increased accessibility of information on the internet, car shoppers already know what they want as soon as they enter the car dealership. They expect to spend their time at the dealership effectively and productively. Unfortunately, this is not the case. Half of all the car buyers have expressed dissatisfaction in the car buying process, primarily because of the amount of time spent in the sales process. This article will point out five effective ways dealerships can improve the F&I Process to optimize their sales process.

Whether you want to increase your dealership productivity, good customer service, or increase sales, put a keen eye on your employees. Nothing delivers better sales and counters competition in the market like motivated employees. But in an environment where every leader is trying to motivate their team, how can you set yourself apart from the others?

Most automotive dealerships would agree with the statement that within their establishment, it's their finance and insurance department that generates the most revenue per square foot. When a department is that mission critical, there is simply no room for gaps in its staffing, at any time. In short, every dealership must have F&I experts available during every hour they're open, or they risk losing potentially hundreds of thousands of dollars in sales. Fortunately, dealerships do have options available if they find themselves in sudden need of such a critical component of their business.