Car Buying Tips

Guides and advice for purchasing new and used vehicles

Car Buying Tips

F&I Manager Compensation Plans That Scale: What's Changed and What Hasn't

Thirty-two percent of dealerships report that their F&I manager compensation has stayed basically flat over the past three years, even as back-end gross per uni...

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Car Buying Tips

Chargeback Tracking and Trend Analysis: What's Changed and What Hasn't

Your F&I team's chargeback rate is probably worse than you think it is, and you're probably not tracking it the way you should be. That's not a personal attack...

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Car Buying Tips

Protection Product Objections in 2024: What's Changed and What Never Will

Sixty-three percent of F&I managers report that customers are more skeptical about protection products than they were five years ago. Yet the dealers who've cra...

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Car Buying Tips

The Vehicle Problem: Subprime Cars Are Getting Older (And Younger)

Subprime deals are still a minefield, but the game has changed more in the last three years than in the previous decade. If your finance manager is running the ...

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Car Buying Tips

Training New F&I Managers: What's Changed and What Hasn't in 2024

The F&I Manager's Playbook Isn't Dead—It's Just Different Than You Think Seventy-three percent of dealership F&I managers have been in role for less than three...

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Car Buying Tips

Warranty vs. Service Contracts in 2024: What's Changed and What Hasn't

How many F&I deals are actually hitting your finance manager's menu board looking exactly like they did three years ago? If you said "most of them," you're pro...

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Car Buying Tips

Back-End Gross Targets by Store: What's Changed and What Hasn't

Back in 1985, the average dealership F&I menu offered maybe four products: extended service contracts, paint protection, fabric guard, and gap insurance. That's...

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Car Buying Tips

Spot Delivery Contract Risk: What's Actually Changed Since the Crackdown

The Spot Delivery Reckoning: What's Actually Changed Since the Crackdown In 1997, a class action lawsuit against a major automotive retailer forced the industr...

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Car Buying Tips

F&I Compliance Disclosures: What's Changed Since 1969 (And What Hasn't)

When Finance Office Rules Stayed Put While Everything Else Changed In 1969, the Federal Trade Commission introduced the Holder Rule, which required lenders to ...

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Car Buying Tips

Dealer Lender Relationships That Pay Off: What's Changed and What Hasn't

According to recent dealer finance data, the average F&I menu in a high-performing dealership now generates 40% more back-end gross than it did in 2018, but the...

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Car Buying Tips

Finance Income Per Retail Unit: What's Changed and What Hasn't in 2024

Are You Still Making F&I Money Like It's 2019? The finance office used to be where dealerships printed money. A solid finance manager could walk a customer to ...

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Car Buying Tips

How Top-Performing Dealers Handle Loaner and Demo Rotation Into Retail

Most dealers treat their loaner and demo fleet like an afterthought. A car comes off lease, rolls back into the lot with 40,000 miles, gets a quick wash and an ...

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