The F&I Compensation Model That's Killing Your Profit (And Why It's Still The Industry Standard)
The F&I Compensation Model That's Killing Your Profit (And Why It's Still The Industry Standard) Why do most dealerships pay F&I managers on gross profit per d...
The Contrarian Case Against Rushing E-Contracting at Your Franchise Store
Back in the 1950s, when dealers first started offering financing on the lot instead of sending customers to the bank down the street, the practice seemed like p...
Stop Chasing Chargeback Trends: Why Your F&I Tracking Is Costing You Money
It's 2 p.m. on a Thursday, and your F&I manager just pulled up a spreadsheet showing chargebacks trending up 3.2% month-over-month. The finance director wants a...
The Deal Jacket Audit Checklist Is Lying to You
Back in the 1980s, before deal jackets got shredded by compliance consultants and before every state had a different set of audit guidelines, a finance manager'...
Stop Training F&I Objection Handling—Build a Better Menu Instead
Most dealerships train their finance managers to overcome objections to protection products by working harder. Add more closes. Better scripts. Softer language....
Subprime Deal Structure: Why Maximum Backend Gross Is Killing Your Profitability
It's 2 p.m. on a Tuesday, and your finance manager just walked a subprime deal because the customer balked at the menu. You lost $2,400 in back-end gross on a u...
Stop Training F&I Managers on Product Knowledge First—Here's Why
In 1987, a Nissan dealership in San Diego trained its entire F&I team on product knowledge the old-school way: a three-ring binder, a weekend seminar, and a sta...
Stop Chasing GAP Penetration Rates (Here's Why High Numbers Might Hurt You)
Imagine this: it's a wet Tuesday morning in late November, the kind of weather that makes you grateful for AWD. Your F&I manager just hit month-to-date penetrat...
Back-End Gross Targets Are Costing You Money — Here's What to Track Instead
Most dealerships treat back-end gross like a thermostat. Set it to 1,200 or 1,500 or 1,800 dollars per unit, then turn up the heat on your F&I team until the nu...
The Real Cost of Saying No to Spot Delivery
Every dealer in Texas—and everywhere else—has heard the same sermon about spot delivery: it's the fastest way to lose money and invite compliance nightmares. Th...
Red Flag Rules at Your Dealership: Why the Industry Gets It Wrong
It's 3 p.m. on a Tuesday, and your F&I manager just sent over the CSI scores from last month. They're down again. The reason? Your compliance officer has been t...
Why Fewer Lender Relationships Actually Drive Higher F&I Gross
You know that feeling when your F&I manager tells you they can't hit their back-end gross targets because the lender's menu is "too restrictive"? Or when a fina...