Throughout the year, dealership financing and insurance (F&I) departments have been navigating tough issues from high interest rates to increased frustrations with the car-buying experience. Going into 2024, dealers will need new tools to serve their customers both online and in-store, lest they risk falling behind other, more flexible competitors.
Joining us from the JM&A Group on this episode of Driving Solutions are Zach Williams, manager of Virtual F&I, and Jonathan Jordan, director of retail strategy, to discuss how virtual F&I is positively impacting the car-buying experience and dealer profitability at dealerships nationwide.
Key Takeaways
1. JM&A launched Virtual F&I in response to consumers calling for an online alternative to the in-store car-buying experience. Now, the company is looking to leverage its digital financing service to help dealers provide a seamless shopping experience whether customers are shopping online or in the showroom.
2. Not only do digital financing tools give shoppers more flexibility, but they also give dealers advantages such as better efficiency and profitability. JM&A’s Virtual F&I solves pain points on the consumer side, allowing for faster service times, while also ensuring retailers have access to the best possible F&I manager even when their in-store representative is serving another client.
3. JM&A Group operates a team of associates across the country who are solely focused on facilitating the F&I process, selling financing products on behalf of the dealer, and connecting car buyers with the services that work best for them.
4. To help retailers implement Virtual F&I and improve the car-buying experience, JM&A sends its financing associates to dealerships to coach their staff on digital financing while also working closely with dealers themselves to ensure they maximize the utility of their new online tools.
5. Next year, the JM&A Group is looking to launch a Virtual F&I platform that will allow dealers to better facilitate the online financing process. The company will be demonstrating this new tool at the 2024 National Auto Dealers Association (NADA) convention in February.
"There's something in virtual F&I for everyone; whether you're on the continuum of a smaller store, maybe rural [where] it's hard to find talent, or all the way on the other side of the continuum, a major metro, high-volume store." — Zach Williams, Manager of Virtual F&I, JM&A Group
