A common worry for anyone who is setting up their own car or vehicle dealership is the situation around f&i and whether or not they are required to have their very own department. Finance and insurance are of course essential aspects of buying a car and for most people buying cars they are essential and something which they have to get arranged pretty quickly. With this being said however there are some problems which can be presented for dealerships, especially independent dealerships, when it comes to having a department like this. Equally there are benefits of being able to deliver f&i for a customer, but there is also the option of outsourcing this too.
Let’s take a look at some of the problems which the creation of a department like this could cause to an independent car dealership.
Challenges
Staff will need to be trained on how to navigate the f&i with relation to all of the different vehicles which your dealership sells, and that is no small task. Given the the likelihood of requiring multi-purpose staff, this means that everyone will have to be trained and that will come at a cost and it will be extremely time consuming. This is not just in the beginning, but whenever there are changes made to insurances. Staff may also find themselves caught up dealing with a customer’s f&i needs, which is a time consuming process, and that could result in lose sales opportunities.
There is much heavier liability which dealerships have to take on when they have a department dealing in finance and insurance and that too will create a cost risk to what could potentially be a very small business set-up.
Benefits
There are also some benefits to having a department like this inside your dealership, it is not all bad news. The first and largest benefit of a set-up like this is that you will be able to take customers through the process from start to finish which shows excellent customer service. Your operation will also appear far more professional as a result of having this kind of department in-house, and that is something which will help both your reputation and your brand.
Conclusion
Whilst there are some benefits of having a department like finance and insurance inside the dealership the far smarter, and more cost effective decision is to outsource this and leave it to a company which specializes in it. Allow your staff to do what they do best which is selling vehicles, focus your time and attention on creating a great brand and a well run dealership with less moving parts and then find a great company who are specialists in finance and insurance and allow them to deal with your customers in a way that you feel comfortable with and which aligns with your company’s values. This is the smartest and the easiest way to manage this aspect of the sale.
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