Over the past several years, dealerships have learned that speed matters in the F&I office.
The average transaction takes up to three hours, but customers only have the patience for 90 minutes, according to The Academy, a training center for retail automotive professionals. Customers have become more acquainted with an automated world in which instant one-click transactions have become the status quo. But the F&I office has lagged in its ability to integrate digital into their processing, create a structure that values performance, or leverage their expertise in relationships in order to speed up the process for customers.
Powersports Finance scouted out some key ways dealerships can leverage technology, relationships, and sales tactics to help get a customer in-and-out of the F&I office quicker, and into their new powersport vehicle sooner.
1. Get It Right the First Time
When an F&I manager initially greets the new purchaser of a vehicle, the first thing he or she should say is, “Congratulations Mr./Ms. X! I see you are purchasing Y item for Z dollars, is that correct?” said Kevin Quinn, training and development specialist for The Academy, at a MotoLease dealer training seminar in early October. The reason for the script is to make sure the customer, the purchase, and the monetary amount all match up with initial documents that the manager has. Because if something isn’t right, it cannot be simply marked out and rewritten, Quinn said. Instead, it may involve the lender reviewing and reissuing documents, which can hold up the process.
