There’s no doubt that the greatest obstacle to success in F&I and CSI is the time it takes to complete the F&I portion of the car-buying process. From relying on technology to experimenting with hybrid sales/F&I managers, there have been endless suggestions, discussions and debates on how to meet this ongoing challenge.
After all the trial and error, the end result is often the same: Customers still complain that it takes too long to complete a vehicle purchase. In fact, according to a 2014 customer-experience study conducted by Autotrader, customers spend an average of 61 minutes in the F&I office — more than two-thirds of the ideal 90-minute transaction time consumers desire. But the blame shouldn’t fall squarely on F&I, as the sales team can disrupt the flow to F&I by failing to follow a specific set of steps that lead to a successful handoff.
The good news is speeding up the F&I process can take little or no effort — just as long as the sales and F&I teams work from the same playbook on a consistent basis. Now here are my recommendations for creating a more efficient F&I process.
Rapid Improvement
Every dealer knows that incomplete and incorrect paperwork passed from sales to the F&I department causes delays, but there are three more common culprits you may not have considered:
- Procrastination: When F&I managers wait too long to get involved in a sale, customers have to wait while they review the details of the transaction. F&I managers should be prepared to greet their customers and establish a connection when the customer is ready.
- Violation of Protocol: Your F&I team must follow a planned sequence of steps to set up their product presentations, get the proper documentation signed and put the vehicle on the road. Any variance will cause a ripple effect throughout the process.
- Drawn-Out Pitches: One symptom of a lack of F&I training is a long-winded product presentation. F&I managers should know their products and stick to the script, as wearing down customers with wordy presentations hurts production and generates poor CSI scores.
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