Joe Williams
Account Executive
EFG Companies
We’ve all experienced the repercussions of chargebacks. A customer refinances their auto loan and the dealership loses the rate markup. A customer cancels their products and the dealership loses the profits from those. Often, the negative effects roll downhill all the way to the F&I manager’s paycheck.
The goal, of course, is to minimize chargebacks. But, how can your F&I managers go about it? First, it’s important to understand what causes customers to refinance and/or cancel their consumer protection products. So, let’s start by putting ourselves in the customer’s shoes. Right or wrong, the F&I office is sometimes seen as a high-pressure environment. The in-depth discussions about their financial situations might make some customers disengage. If a customer leaves the finance office more disengaged, and feeling like they were pressured into a deal, you might have a refinance and cancellation on your hands.
The challenge for your F&I managers is to keep customers invested in the conversation and tone down the high-pressure atmosphere of the office. How? Simply go back to the basics of providing good customer service.