Credit Union Group May Ramp Up F&I Products
Credit unions could finance more aftermarket F&I products, since Vero Products, a division of CU Direct, recently acquired Fidelis PPM. Fidelis specializes in customer relationship management and prepaid maintenance, which keeps customers coming back to the selling dealership for service.
Historically, F&I product sales were stronger for indirect lenders and weaker for direct lenders like
credit unions, which typically offered financing with lower loan-to-value ratios. Today, credit unions do more indirect lending and finance more F&I products, according to CU Direct.
As a result of the acquisition, Vero and Fidelis PPM formed DRIV Technologies LLC, Scottsdale, Ariz. “The strengths we have are in reporting,” said Ryan Williams, president of DRIV Technologies and a co-founder of State College, Pa.-based Fidelis.
“We track every customer — what the metrics are, what they spend when they come back to the dealership service department,” he told AFN. “That makes the product pretty sticky.”
About 1,000 dealerships were already using Fidelis PPM, the companies said.
CU Direct, based in Ontario, Calif., administers Credit Union Direct Lending, better known as CUDL. It is the nation’s largest credit union auto lending network, serving more than 1,100 credit unions and about 11,000 dealerships.
