F&I

Every GM has the important task of choosing the right F&I manager when screening applicants, whether they are an outside hire or an existing employee. They have to think about the important revenue-generating responsibility this position holds, and the qualities needed to make all...

Much has been written about and analyzed when it comes to comparing all of the major population demographics. How Boomers prefer to buy a car. How Gen X-ers handle their money. What the newest entrants in the car buying segment, Gen Z, view car...

Making sales in any industry requires knowledge of what makes your customer tick, what their ‘pain points’ are, and being able to apply that knowledge to show them how your product helps them. But in F&I, how do you find all that out when...

Titles. Do they matter and if so, do they matter to the person who has the title or the person interacting with them? In dealerships, as in most businesses, the staff has titles dependent on where they fall in terms of authority. Director, manager, salesperson, service...

Anyone who was alive in the years 2007-2009 remembers very well the crash of the stock market, the stories of Bear Stearns and AIG employees being walked out of their building with no jobs, and businesses across America shutting their doors. The Great Recession...

There may not be a much more maligned F&I product to sell than GAP insurance. It’s the one product that buyers seem to understand the least about yet if they total their car, they will kick themselves for NOT having. It’s a tough sell...

For decades, car buyers have walked into the F&I office with a sense of dread and many would rather have a root canal than have to deal with the fast-talking guy ‘in the box’. F&I managers were always viewed with a wary eye and...

There has never been an F&I manager in the history of the car business that has ever been excited to work a ‘cash deal’. Ever. It is the most dreaded scenario that almost always deflates even the most successful F&I manager with years in...

Much has been made of working with Millennials in the F&I office. Hundreds of articles and blogs analyze the most effective ways to engage and sell to them. But many in the industry could be ignoring one of the bigger and soon-to-be influential groups...

‘We have to let you go. Clean out your desk and hand in your keys’. There isn’t a manager on the planet that has not dreaded having to say those words to an employee. F&I Directors are no exception. Firing an F&I manager can be...