Author: efgmarketing

Juggling the Compliance Acronym Soup: CFPB, ECOA, FCRA

Post author By efgmarketing
Post date March 30, 2016

Contributing Author:
Steve Roennau
Vice President
Compliance
EFG Companies

Compliance has been a hot topic going on three years in the auto finance space. Lenders, such as Ally Financial, Toyota Motor Credit, and the American Honda Finance Corporation, have reached resolutions with the CFPB based upon dealership practices. We’ve all known that the CFPB has been trying to regulate dealerships through lenders. With this heightened sensitivity to compliance, other regulatory bodies that have jurisdiction over automotive dealerships, such as the FTC, are now turning their gaze to dealership practices.

While everyone is frustrated with the ambiguity of the CFPB, there are some well-defined actions dealerships can take to ensure compliance with entities like the FTC. With this in mind, now is the time for dealers to brush up on their F&I practices to ensure compliance, starting with this simple question: When a dealership sells a car and secures financing, who is the creditor at the time of sale?

If you said the dealer is the creditor, you would be correct. However, many F&I managers often think that the lender is the creditor. This mindset opens the door for non-compliant behavior as the F&I manager could think that their actions have fewer repercussions. As a dealer who knows about the legal repercussions, wouldn’t you rather have an informed staff that takes accountability for their actions?

Tags Ally Financial, American Honda Finance Corporation, CFPB, Compliance, ECOA, FCRA, FTC, Toyota Motor Credit

Featured

EFG Companies Pushes the Industry Again with Technology Innovation

Post author By efgmarketing
Post date March 22, 2016

EFG’s Parts Wizard Streamlines, Automates Claims Administration for Sourcing Parts

EFG Companies, the innovator behind the award-winning Hyundai Assurance program, today launched Parts Wizard, a new technology platform that reduces dealer reinsurance exposure, streamlines claims administration and increases customer satisfaction. For more information about EFG’s claims administration, visit: http://bit.ly/EFGAdmin

EFG’s Parts Wizard automates the manual process of sourcing OEM, aftermarket, remanufacturered, and used parts for vehicle repairs. In addition, sourcing parts through the Parts Wizard enables dealerships to reduce future claims risk with a longer warranty than the standard OEM parts provided by the manufacturer.

All parts sourced through the Parts Wizard, come with an “end of contract” warranty covering the deductible, labor and cost of replacement parts. If any part sourced through the Parts Wizard malfunctions during the term of a customer’s contract, the cost to repair or replace that part will be completely covered without dipping into reinsurance reserves.

Tags EFG, EFG Companies, Parts Wizard

Dealership Training

Responsibilities of an F&I Manager

Post author By efgmarketing
Post date March 17, 2016

Jason Hash
Training Manager
EFG Companies

When you think of an F&I manager’s responsibilities, what comes to mind? What do your sales people think the F&I manager’s responsibilities are? What do lenders think?

As a dealer principal or general manager, you probably think the F&I manager is responsible for increasing your gross profit, maintaining lender relationships, and ensuring compliance. And, that’s a fairly comprehensive outlook. Meanwhile, ask any sales person and they might say something more like this, “The F&I manager just sells products.” And, lenders might describe the F&I manager’s role as, “structuring financing arrangements”.

While each of these descriptions touches on some of the F&I manager’s responsibilities, they fall short in representing the total importance of an F&I manager’s position in dealership operations. And, while that’s not technically a bad thing for people to define F&I managers differently, giving everyone in your dealership a baseline overview of the F&I office’s function can actually help enhance dealership performance and foster a greater level of teamwork.

So, what exactly are the responsibilities of an F&I manager?

Tags F&I, F&I Manager, F&I training