Tag: WALKAWAY

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F&I

Are You Appealing to Millennials?

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Contributing Author: Gabe Aldrete, Vice President, Dealer Services, EFG Companies

When you hear the term “Millennials” paired with the term “car,” what comes to mind? Do you automatically think, “Millennials aren’t interested in cars?” For the past few years, it seemed like a new article was published every month stating that the reason Millennials weren’t buying cars was due to personal preference.

Today, economics has proven that assertion false. According to J.D. Power & Associates, Millennials (those born between 1980 and 2004) accounted for 27 percent of new car sales in the U.S. last year. Millennials have already surpassed Generation X to become the second-largest group of new car buyers after Baby Boomers, and each year, the influence of the Baby Boomer generation recedes and Millennial buying power increases.

It turns out, personal preference had very little to do with Millennials approaching the auto industry. Rather, it had all to do with the economy, the job market, and wage growth. Most of the Millennials with buying power today entered the job market during the economic upheaval in the Great Recession. Because of the lack of prospects, some returned to school, while others moved in with parents or got roommates and stuck it out in low-paying or part-time jobs that did not utilize their post-high school training or education.

Continue reading “Are You Appealing to Millennials?”
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EFG Companies F&I

Increase Your PRU

Contributing Author: John StephensThe festivities of graduation still linger and families are on the hunt for the perfect used car for their kids leaving the nest. With used cars flying off the lots, you are probably trying to make the most of this ample opportunity to increase F&I profit.

You already know that a vehicle service contract is an excellent way to increase used car sales. It eases parental anxiety and provides their kids with quality coverage on most of the same components as a manufacturer’s warranty. But, you have also had more than your fair share of customers with concerns about the mileage limits, especially on a much older vehicle.

Take for example, an F&I manager presenting a 10-year/100-mile vehicle service contract to a customer looking at a car with 60,000 miles on it. Traditionally, this VSC would only cover the next 40,000 miles and many customers often feel like such a product is not worth their money.

However, with EFG’s Motorist Assistance Plan, dealerships have the opportunity to provide more value to their customers with extra protection from financial risk, leading to higher PRU. With MAP®, customers can add on both miles and time from the time of purchase, taking them well beyond a traditional VSC.

MAP’s add-on miles provides your F&I manager with a significant closing tool. And, if that’s not enough, MAP can be offered with six months complimentary WALKAWAY®, the product behind the award-winning Hyundai Assurance.

WALKAWAY relieves customers of their lease of loan obligations when unforeseen life events occur, such as involuntary unemployment, physical disability, or critical illness.

While providing your customers with this extra protection, MAP and WALKAWAY:

  • strengthen margins and profitability with upsell opportunities;
  • manage risk by adopting a strategy that decreases repossessions and collection costs;
  • drive traffic to your service department;
  • transform potentially frustrating events into loyalty-building opportunities; and,
  • differentiate your offerings, thereby retaining and attracting new customers.

With more than 35 years as an administrator of consumer protection products, EFG Companies knows how to innovate products that build profitable and lasting relationships with your customers. Contact EFG today to learn how products like MAP can increase your PRU.

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EFG Companies F&I

Auto Sales Rose 10% This Year. Want to Beat That?

According to a recent Bloomberg survey, auto sales are on pace to rise at least 10 percent for the third consecutive year. The U.S. sales rate exceeded the 14.5 million pace, which was the average estimate of 16 analysts in Bloomberg’s survey. This rate is the best industry sales pace since 14.95 million in March 2008, according to the Automotive News data center.

September highlights:

  • Chrysler sales rose 12 percent to 142,041 vehicles for its 30th straight gain
  • GM’s sales rose 1.5 percent
  • Toyota Motor Corp. led with the biggest gain, with sales surging 42 percent
  • Honda boosted sales by 31 percent

Does it sound like Americans are beginning to raise their heads and purchase the big-ticket items they’ve been holding off on? They might be. However, the pain and fear caused by the economic turmoil of the past few years translates to smarter purchasing decisions combined with wariness of job instability. For example, small cars with better gas mileage are on pace to capture the largest share of the U.S. auto market since 1993. Do you remember what was happening in 1993? Like today, we were on the tail end of a recession and on the precipice of new economic growth and 22 million new jobs.

So, what if you could empower consumers to take action – get over the hump and make a decision about a new vehicle purchase, while at the same time differentiate your dealership from the competition?

Now, you can with WALKAWAY® — the industry’s first and only debt cancellation vehicle return program. WALKAWAY® enhances customer satisfaction by empowering consumers to make their next vehicle purchase with confidence, knowing that if unforeseen life events occur, they are protected. This unique program also gives you a proactive way to manage risk by adopting a strategy that decreases repossessions and collection costs and strengthens margins and profitability by closing more sales and enhancing loan volumes.

Provided by EFG Companies, the innovators behind the renowned Hyundai Assurance program, WALKAWAY® has proven to help sell more cars, differentiate dealerships in a crowded market, save deals, and drive additional revenue with upgrade opportunities.

Contact EFG today for a complimentary analysis on how the program will impact your business.