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Dealership Training

Creating a Culture of F&I

Contributing Author: Steve Roennau Vice President Compliance EFG Companies
Contributing Author:
Steve Roennau
Vice President
Compliance
EFG Companies

Q4 is here and that means it’s time to reflect on where your business is today and plan for what lies ahead in 2016. Many dealers not only forecast their future business, but also develop plans to create a cohesive team and workflow between all functional areas of the dealership.

Everyone knows the F&I department is an important driver of profitability – they get deals bought, sell profitable protection products, and ensure the delivery of the vehicle. Successful dealers don’t just think of F&I as a department, rather they adopt a culture of F&I throughout the dealership.

A culture is a way of life of a group of people – the behaviors, beliefs and values that they accept and pass along. As a dealer, do you understand the benefit of having your sales and service teams adopt an F&I culture? Where the employees believe in and accept the value of the F&I process and products as a way of doing business and impart it on everyone in both the showroom and service drive?

It’s obvious for dealers to see the value of training your sales team on F&I products.

Your sales people know many of their customers today work on a tight household budget. With a culture of F&I, they also know how a VSC helps them stay within that budget when their car unexpectedly breaks down. Or, that GAP protection will ensure customers can pay off their vehicle in the event of a total loss.

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EFG Client Davis-Moore Automotive Receives Dealer of the Year Award

Dealer of the Year PhotoF&I and Showroom Magazine recognizes Davis-Moore for the auto group’s commitment to compliance in driving F&I profit

EFG Companies, the innovator behind the award-winning Hyundai Assurance program, is proud to recognize Davis-Moore Automotive for receiving the F&I and Showroom Magazine’s Dealer of the Year and Pacesetter Awards. The annual F&I Dealer of the Year award is given to a dealership or dealer group with a highly profitable F&I department that demonstrates a commitment to regulatory compliance.

Founded in 1955, Davis-Moore is a six-rooftop dealership in Kansas, with five stores in Wichita and the Clint Bowyer Autoplex in Emporia. Earlier this year, Davis-Moore won the Better Business Bureau Integrity Award, as well as a variety of Reader’s Choice awards from Wichita’s local newspaper, The Wichita Eagle.

“We are so proud to count Davis-Moore as part of our family of clients,” said John Stephens, Senior Vice President, Dealer Services, EFG Companies. “Davis-Moore has always been a dealer group with high integrity and an eye toward the future. Their recognition of the importance of compliance and serving the customer’s best interest has helped Davis-Moore raise the bar in this new era of F&I profitability.”

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Featured

EFG Companies and Northwood University Announce F&I Innovator of the Year Student Competitors and F&I Mentors

EFG Companies, the innovator behind the award-winning Hyundai Assurance program, together with Northwood University, today announced student competitors and F&I mentors participating in the first annual F&I Innovator of the Year Award competition.

The competition will pit six teams of Northwood’s junior and senior undergraduate automotive marketing and management students against one another to conceptualize and build a new F&I product while earning course credit. 

Each team includes an F&I director who will serve as a mentor and provide beneficial insight into the daily inner workings of automotive F&I.

“Because of their practical experience within dealerships, the mentors’ knowledge will be invaluable to the teams,” said John Pappanastos, President and CEO, EFG Companies. “The directors will help the teams understand compliance and its increasing impact on F&I, the changing profile of consumers, and the focus on client retention.”

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