Protective Asset Protection has announced the results of its latest survey addressing dealer concerns and opportunities with F&I product offerings. Behind financing, additional F&I offerings represent the second-largest opportunity for margin growth for dealers (57.6 percent).
The online survey was presented to approximately 1,573 dealership owners and professionals between March 5 to 9. The results show that the majority of dealers are concerned with falling auto sales, as well as dealership consolidation and administrative challenges to their current roster of F&I products.
More than three quarters (78.8 percent) of dealers surveyed said their current F&I products don’t offer enough margin for the dealership, and nearly half (48.5 percent) said their current F&I offerings are too much of an administrative burden.
A significant number of dealers said they sell a vehicle service contract on 15 percent of all new vehicle sales. While 36 percent said they sell a vehicle service contract on 25 percent of used vehicle sales. Dealers also said the top three barriers to selling vehicle service contracts include inadequate coverage (66.7 percent), price and customers not seeing the value each at 63.6 percent.
Ideally, 63.6 percent of dealers said they would like to have more control over claims adjudication for their F&I products, and another 57.6 percent said they would like to have control over branding their own F&I products. Training remains critical, as 54.5 percent said more training is needed to sell F&I products, and 51.5 percent said more education is needed to help sales staff when handing customers over to the F&I office.
“Margin opportunities will remain a central concern for dealers in the coming years, especially as sales pressures increase for both new and used vehicles,” said Rick Kurtz, senior VP of distribution at Protective Asset Protection. “Many of these dealers will rely on F&I offerings to make up this margin, but they’re saying they want their own F&I products they can offer to their customers to increase margins further, help with the overall branded experience, and improve customer satisfaction.”