Tag: The Transcend Group

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EFG Companies F&I Featured

EFG and AFG Partner to Expand Balloon Financing with DrivingSense™

Hybrid financing product gives consumers the protection of a lease, lower fees and a title that is in their name.

EFG Companies, the innovators behind the award-winning Hyundai Assurance program, announced today a strategic partnership with Auto Financial Group to increase market share for its DrivingSense™ program, a highly relevant, post-recession consumer finance product.

DrivingSense is a residual based, walk-away, balloon loan program that provides consumers a more friendly financing option with no down-payment and lower monthly payments. Currently, residual-based financing accounts for almost 30 percent of the new vehicle market. While consumers look to their financial institutions for the best rates on conventional loans, they frequently choose captives or other competitors for residual-based financing options. With DrivingSense, financial institutions are now positioned to recapture those consumers’ loans by providing a credible residual-based financing option from a source they trust.

“Lenders and Dealerships are hungry for new financing programs that increase sales and loan volume by directly addressing the consumer needs” said Stephen Roennau, Vice President, EFG Companies’ Transcend Group. “With that in mind, DrivingSense is primed to tip the market.”

To understand DrivingSense, consider the difference between balloon financing and leasing. With balloon financing, consumers can make a very low down payment, or have no down payment at all. They get the vehicle’s title in their name and agree to make small monthly payments over the term of the loan. The last payment, known as the balloon or residual, is one large payment at the end of the term that pays off the loan.

Consumers typically have three options prior to loan maturity and at loan maturity:

  • trade in the vehicle, i.e. sell it and use the vehicles end-of-term value to pay off the loan;
  • refinance the vehicle; or,
  • pay the vehicle off and keep it.

DrivingSense provides the same protection to the consumer as a lease with the guaranteed future value, but the vehicle is titled in the consumer’s name giving them the tax benefits of balloon financing. DrivingSense also has lower fees than traditional leasing and lower costs for excess mileage.

“We approached EFG not only because of their demonstrated success in implementing distinctive market-differentiation programs and customized training, but also because of their strong engagement model,” said Richard Epley, CEO, Auto Financial Group. “EFG understands how to successfully position game-changing products and penetrate the market aggressively.”

AFG is partnering with EFG to provide ongoing training for their lenders and their indirect dealership clients to increase their market-share in residual-based lending with DrivivingSense. EFG is developing a behaviorally-based guided-discovery training curriculum for market implementation. The hands on training includes how to present the DrivingSense option to consumers and how to quote payments using AFG’s user-friendly customized web-based CarBuilder calculator.

DrivingSense is available on both new and pre-owned vehicles up to 4 years old. With mileage terms of 12,000, 15,000 and 18,000 and finance terms of 24-72 months DrivingSense will make sense to any consumer!

Contact EFG to find out more about this ground-breaking partnership!

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Dealership Training Economy

Make More Money on Returning Lessees

Contributing Author: Stephen RoennauRe-stating the obvious

  • Consumers held on to their cars much longer than normal during the recession or simply did without.
  • Post-recession consumers slowly came back into the car market. However, they were much more wary. Leases and used cars did better on average than new-vehicle sales.
  • Now, those lease terms are coming to a close, and dealerships can expect an influx of returning lessees, whom they can turn into new-vehicle owners.

What this means for 2014

According to “Automotive News”, General Motors saw those lessees start returning in November and they have only continued to grow.

Returning lessees pose a huge opportunity for dealership profit in 2014. Why? Because you’ve already done the legwork.

You’ve already built an ongoing relationship, bringing these consumers back to the dealership on a regular basis. Lease customers are on the hook, now you just have to reel them in with superior service and products.

What do we mean by service?

First there’s the follow-up. Evaluate your contact strategy for this audience. When do you begin contacting them? What is the contact frequency? What are your messages for this audience?

Remember, you don’t want to spam them, but you do want to stay top-of-mind. This is most easily done with your content rather than frequency. For example, many people, especially first-time lease customers, do not fully understand the process for lease-end. Educating them on the available options and inventory can go a long way toward influencing their purchase decisions.

You can also use your email communication to invite the customer in for a free trade appraisal to see how well the vehicle is holding its value. Simply getting them back to the dealership dramatically increases the chance of retaining lease customers. Remember, the customer who leased three years ago may be able to take advantage of better options. Many captives have stronger lease offers. Residual values in general have increased and the market has stabilized. Also, some lease programs waive the acquisition fee or security deposit on a re-lease or have other incentives for loyal lease customers. All these things add up to a greater opportunity for you to retain that customer.

In addition, it’s important to evaluate their experience in the showroom. You already have a database filled with information about their needs.

  • You know the current make and model of their car.
  • You know how many miles they drive.
  • You know their service history.

With these data points in mind, you can do much more than show them the new version of their car. You can offer suggestions on other makes, products, or financing options that might fit their needs better. When they come in, how prepared is your sales staff to meet their needs and exceed their expectations?

What about those products?

As with every customer in your dealership, returning lessees want the most for their money. After all, that’s the whole reason they chose to lease in the first place. Now is the perfect time to re-evaluate your F&I products and your provider. So, talk to your service advisers. They can tell you how quickly claims are processed, whether your admin is professional and courteous, and how many claims are approved. Those F&I products not only reflect back on you. Outside of the upsell opportunity, they can also help or harm your service drive, depending on how much red tape your service advisors deal with on a daily basis.

EFG Companies knows the importance of customer service combined with superior products. Everything from training to product administration has a single goal in mind – to be your partner for go-to-market success. Our agile product innovation and customization is backed by unmatched partner engagement and industry leading claims administration.

Make EFG your key to driving business. Contact us today.

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EFG Companies F&I

2013 Pacesetter – EFG Client Star Family of Dealerships

Contributing Author: John StephensEach year, “F&I and Showroom” selects six F&I Pacesetters of the year based on their ability to balance performance with customer satisfaction.  These dealerships set the pace for the rest of the industry with their professionalism and integrity. This year, Star Dodge Chrysler Jeep Hyundai of Abilene, Texas was named as one of the six Pacesetters for 2013.

What sets this family-owned small-town dealership apart?

The Star Family of Dealerships generated maximum PRU and customer satisfaction by taking a customer-centric approach to training and presenting their F&I products with the help of EFG Companies.

In addition to annual compliance training at EFG’s headquarters in Irving, Texas, Star’s producers learned how understanding the customer’s needs and driving habits sets up the product presentation and benefit discussion, as well as providing a strategy for responding to customer concerns.

Hector Lebron, Account Executive, Dealer Services
Right: Hector Lebron, EFG Companies
Left: Jeff Zinsser, Star Family of Dealerships

Once back at the dealership, EFG’s client representative conducted onsite training, reinforcing the methods learned in the classroom. They also provided guidance and a sounding board to both the front lines and upper management. This continuous engagement ensures that the skills learned in the classroom setting stay sharp, generating a higher success rate and PRU with EFG’s dealership clients.

Since becoming an EFG client in 2010, Star has increased PRU from 105 units per month to over 200 units per month in 2013.

  • Average PRU for new vehicles: $1,500
  • Average PRU for used vehicles $1,250

This achievement would not have been possible if Star’s Dealer Principal, Mike Dunahoo, did not believe in treating everyone like family. This not only includes customers, but also employees. In fact, Star Dodge Chrysler Jeep was named “Best Dealership to Work For,” by Automotive News in 2012.

By pairing excellent training, products and engagement from EFG with Dunahoo’s passion for providing the best experience, Star significantly increased product performance to become a 2013 Pacesetter.

F&I and Magazine’s Pacesetters are nominated by dealership employees, general agents, F&I providers and dealership vendors based on their commitment to regulatory compliance, ethics, and to providing a customer-centric sales and F&I process.

Last year, two premier EFG clients were named 2012 F&I Pacesetters.

With EFG’s world class products like MAP and Drive Forever Worry Free (private labeled Maxwell Forever), Nyle Maxwell averaged two products per deal while maintaining a CSI score of 93.4 percent for financial arrangements in 2012. Maxwell also credited continual training from EFG’s Transcend Group for keeping his F&I sales high and his staff motivated and inspired.

The Robbins Auto Mall F&I team touted a 76 percent penetration with EFG’s MAP VSC, and 41 percent with our Signature Finish Appearance Protection products. Robbins attributed the connection between the F&I and sales departments as responsible for such great penetration levels. By placing Top Performers for Robbins Auto Mall and extensive training from the Transcend Group, the sales staff adequately presented F&I offerings at the right time to their customers.

Want to learn how EFG can help your dealership raise the bar? Contact us today!