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.
Categories
Compliance

NADA Fair Credit Compliance – 8 Months Later

Contributing Author: John StephensIt’s been eight months since NADA released their Fair Credit Compliance Guidelines to help the retail auto industry navigate today’s increased focus on regulatory compliance. As the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) continues to aggressively seek out discriminatory practices, more dealers and lenders are implementing flat fee programs to weed out discrimination, including disparate impact (practices that seem neutral but result in negative impact to customers in a protected class).

While NADA has provided this guidance to dealers and lenders as they scramble to navigate a more stringent compliance operating environment, it also means that the opportunity to make finance reserve is slimming or coming to an end. However, there is an upside in maintaining dealership profitability, as flat fees leave room to make money on F&I products.

What are you doing to maximize this profit opportunity, given the changes affecting the retail automotive industry today?

  • Have you evaluated your F&I product portfolio to ensure you have the best product mix?
  • Have you sufficiently trained your F&I managers to increase product penetration?
  • Are your F&I managers AFIP certified, and do you have plans in place to get your people to senior or master?

To verify that you provide the right product mix, take a look at your CRM and pull the demographics and purchasing trends of your customer base. You can easily predict or better understand why some products sell more than others based on your customers’ behavior:

  • Do you push more new or used inventory?
  • Are your customers more interested in buying sedans, SUVs, trucks, or hybrids, etc.?
  • What is the primary use of your customer’s vehicles? Do they put a lot of miles on them?

Beyond CRM data, it’s also important to re-evaluate the market surrounding your dealership on the other side of the great recession. Demographics have changed significantly since 2008, and statistics like the type of employers in your area, housing prices and income levels can help paint a more comprehensive picture of your current and potential customers. While establishing which types of products your customers want or need is important, it’s equally important to evaluate your product administrator to determine their impact on your business.

  • Are their products insured by A.M. Best underwriters?
  • How many claims are paid each year?
  • What are their reserves?

Strong product providers, like EFG Companies structure F&I products that increase your profit and keep enough in reserve to handle whatever the market throws your way. Earmarks of providers like these include having the backing of an A.M. Best “A” rated company as well as having a culture of honoring claims.

In addition to establishing the right product mix, it’s also important to ensure your F&I managers have the right training and support to enhance bottom line productivity. Turn your team into Top Performers by ensuring they know how to:

  • Ask the right questions to determine customer needs;
  • Listen reflectively to customer concerns and readily position the product’s features and benefits to address those needs; and,
  • Increase the value proposition to the customer and enhance the customer relationship.

You could have the best products around, but without proper training, those products will not move. While classroom settings are perfect to refresh seasoned F&I managers and set up new managers for success, it’s vital that you hone those skills back at the dealership. Pair off your seasoned managers with new recruits to provide mentorship and practice. This will help both F&I managers keep their edge.

As dealerships focus more on selling F&I products, it is important to keep in mind the compliance practices that go with the sale of those products. The heightened focus on regulation does not stop at dealer markup. Everything is under scrutiny. The best way to ensure that your finance practices are compliant is to AFIP certify your finance team.

Founded in 1989, AFIP is the nonprofit, non-aligned sanctioning body in the United States for

  • in-store sales;
  • financial services personnel;
  • select lender; and,
  • aftermarket vendor personnel.

AFIP certification curriculum focuses solely on the federal and state laws that govern in-dealership financial services.

With the recent increase in regulation oversight, non-compliance can lead to massive financial exposure. By taking the initiative to AFIP certify your F&I managers and taking the steps to ensure your teams have the appropriate processed and controls in place, your dealership will more easily navigate the myriad of federal, state and local laws that impact your operation. In addition, by investing in more intensive AFIP courses for your senior team, they can more easily direct, provide advice and correction for your finance managers when it comes to compliance.

With the right products, comprehensive training, AFIP certification and a reliable product administrator, it is possible to significantly increase F&I penetration and compensate for the potential for lost revenue with a flat fee system while remaining compliant. With more than three decades of developing and delivering consumer protection solutions and go-to-market strategies, EFG Companies gives clients the edge in the market place. Put our agile product innovation, unmatched partner engagement, and industry-leading claims administration in your court today.

Categories
EFG Companies

Product Administration can Make or Break Your Repeat Business

Contributing Author: Barry CarterCongratulations! Your VSC penetration is up and so is your F&I income. Your F&I department is rocking on upselling consumer protection products with your vehicles. You can’t believe the success you are having with sales and F&I. Your customers are happy all the way until they leave the dealership and drive home. But guess what, their experience with you hasn’t ended.

Because your customers choose your F&I products, their experience with those products will reflect back on you. You can have the greatest closing numbers in the world, but if your F&I products don’t reflect the service you provide in the dealership, your customers will most likely not return for their next purchase.

Good experience with an F&I product goes beyond claims paid to the customer service provided to both your customers and your service center. Think on your own experience with call centers. The ones you hate are the ones that keep you on hold too long, don’t address your questions, or keep transferring you between departments. Good customer service includes answering phone calls immediately, listening to customer concerns, and answering all questions politely. This experience is often even more important than monetary matters. When looking at your product administrator, look beyond the number of claims paid and average amount paid to the customer experience. Ask yourself:

  • How quickly are calls answered?
    • Anything over 60 seconds is unacceptable.
  • What is the average call time?
    • There is an art to a good service call. It shouldn’t end too quickly, leaving the caller more confused, and it shouldn’t linger. Good adjusters or customer service representatives move the conversation along efficiently and end the call between 3 minutes and 5 and a half minutes.
  • How often are calls abandoned?
    • If more than 5% of callers hang up, there’s a problem.
  • What is the average availability of a service representative or a claims adjuster?
    • This affects everything else. Without at least 75% availability, calls will not be answered promptly, therefore more will be abandoned.
  • Is it easy for my customers to get answers to frequently asked questions, such as policy coverage or claim status?
    • These should be available in a number of places, such as online, within the administrators automated phone system, and in print form.

It’s pretty easy to tell whether your customers are having a good experience with your F&I products by just walking into your service center. If your team members are complaining about never getting through to the administrator to initiate a claim, get a status, or get payment, it’s likely that your customer is having the same poor experience. One conversation you never want to hear is:

Service Advisor: “We couldn’t process your claim with your product administrator.”

Your Customer: “I bought the car through you, what do you mean you can’t process my claim?”

Service Advisor: “It’s not us, it’s the product administrator.”

Your Customer: “I can’t believe this service! I’m never bringing my car here again and you can be sure I won’t buy from you again either!”

The best way to avoid the scenario above is to ensure a good customer experience from the day they purchase their car. With over 36 years in innovating and administering consumer protection products, EFG knows the importance of customer service and that our efforts reflect back on our clients. That’s why we perform monthly audits based on daily results to ensure that your customers and service advisors always have the best experience. We continuously strive to keep abandon rates below 5 percent, answer every call within 60 seconds and to provide answers or process a claim as quickly and efficiently as possible.

At EFG, your reputation is our business. Contact us today to find out more about our commitment to your success through product administration.