notes from the drive
Practical thinking on Dealership Leadership, F&I Performance, and running the Overdrive™ Business Operating System.
Topics
Every good F&I protection bundle has one anchor: tire and wheel. Why it carries the bundle, why the value is real for the customer, and how to build a bundle for your market.
The fastest way to give away F&I margin is the discount game. Why "if I could take five hundred off, would you?" costs dealers money, and what to ask instead.
GAP pays the difference between what a car is worth and what's owed. Why dealership GAP covers rolled-in negative equity, who needs it, who doesn't, and how to explain it.
Every customer has had a flat, a bent rim, a lost key, a door ding, or a windshield chip. How to sell the protection bundle by finding the story, and why menu order matters.
Carfax found unfixed recalls on more than 1 in 4 taxis and rideshares. The recall work is already paid for. What's missing is a name next to the list.
"Too expensive" is rarely the real objection on a vehicle service contract. How to find the reason behind the no with empathy and one question: what's your plan for when you have a repair?
The service contract conversation should change with the customer. How the case differs for the three-year trader, the six-to-seven-year keeper, and the used car buyer.
The service contract is sold or lost before the menu comes out. A step-by-step look at the F&I customer interview: the handoff, the opening question, seventy-thirty talking, and the summary.
A warranty is free. A vehicle service contract is not. Why coverage matters more now that customers keep their cars six or seven years, and what a repair really costs them.
A four-store dealer’s reinsurance company was paying $1.86 in claims for every $1 of earned premium. Contract-level analysis revealed where the risk was concentrated and helped bring the loss ratio down to 60% over time.
Direct questions in F&I get guarded answers. Learn how eliciting gets customers to volunteer the facts that sell service contracts, GAP, and tire & wheel without running an interview.
A luxury franchise dealer switched F&I providers and back-end gross per vehicle rose from $1,686 to $2,277. Here is what actually moved, and what did not.
A BMW rooftop rebuilt its finance desk from three managers down to two and posted the biggest F&I gain in its group. $818,912 more back-end gross, driven by price rather than line count.
A Mercedes-Benz rooftop lost 77 units and rebuilt its desk from three managers to five, and still raised F&I PVR. The lever was finance penetration, not product.
A BMW rooftop sold 58 fewer cars and still added $372,045 in F&I gross. Three finance managers, three different personalities, and all three finished above $3,000 per copy.