Tag: F&I

Categories
Industry Trends

2021 – Same But Different

As December 31st rolled around, it felt like everyone was holding their breath, ready to put an extremely difficult year behind them. Then, the realists reminded us that the changing of a date really doesn’t wipe away all the challenges we are currently facing.

The 2021 challenges for the auto industry look much the same as they did in 2020. According to The Conference Board’s economic forecast issued January 13th, several factors will impact the US economy in 2021, including:

  • scale of the ongoing COVID-19 resurgence and any resulting lockdowns;
  • status of labor markets and household consumption;
  • size and timing of additional fiscal stimulus;
  • timing and availability of a COVID-19 vaccine; and,
  • degree to which volatility in the US political transition affects consumer and business confidence.
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Categories
Economy

Watching the Economic Pendulum?

Contributing Author: John Stephens Executive Vice President EFG Companies
Contributing Author:
John Stephens
Executive Vice President
EFG Companies

The retail automotive industry has been riding a five year high with average 8.30 percent year-over-year increase in unit sales from 2011 to 2015 according to data from Wards Auto. With the rapid pace of automotive industry growth lending requirements loosened, longer term loans became the norm and more customers who had been holding off on purchasing a vehicle returned to dealerships.

Just like within any economic cycle, after a period of expansion, the pendulum swings to a period of economic reduction. And, everyone is avidly watching the signs to see when that pendulum will start to swing.

Experian’s latest State of Automotive Finance Market Report listed  average new vehicle loan terms increased to 67 months in 2015, while used vehicle loan terms increased to 63 months. This has resulted in a significant growth of negative equity on car notes.

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Categories
Dealership Training

Responsibilities of an F&I Manager

Jason Hash Training Manager EFG Companies
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?

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