Why Offering an Insurance Quote in F&I Protects Dealer Profits

Nothing should get in the way of F&I managers from getting their opportunity to sell their menu of products…but there is one thing that can - insurance agents.

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Not the agent down the street. This is the one that is in the dealership when you are picking out a vehicle. 

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To set the stage, we know that F&I departments are tasked with creating a large percentage of dealership profits through selling everything from VSCs and GAP protection to pre-paid maintenance and interior/exterior protection. It’s a lot of pressure but for most dealerships their sales efforts are upwards of 40-50% of gross profits monthly.

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And everyone knows it’s hard enough to sell these products without the added roadblock of an insurer being allowed to operate within a dealership under the guise of simply trying to save a car buyer money on a policy. 

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While it may seem like a positive convenience, it’s usually not.

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What Can Go Wrong?

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Car buyers always have to provide proof of insurance before driving the car off the lot. Many customers may simply offer up their existing coverage information not realizing that there may be a more cost-effective policy out there to take advantage of. That’s where dealerships saw an opportunity…

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But the problem arises when those insurance agents start offering F&I related products themselves during or after the quote. Many major and regional carriers may offer a VSC or GAP and as part of the quote may offer pricing for those as well.

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That’s a HUGE issue for a dealership who is also looking to sell those products to their customers at the time of purchase. That’s literally the entire mission of every F&I manager (outside of getting the deal bought and getting DMV paperwork ready)...to sell their menu of protection products. 

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While there’s nothing wrong with those insurers being able to offer products, it is wrong to have that undercut the F&I department’s efforts. 

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A Better Way Forward for the Customer and the F&I Department

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Rather than having an agent hamstring your F&I profit, offer a real quote while your customer is in the F&I office DURING the deal. 

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By leveraging an app like DealerSure during the deal, your customers get a real quote within about 10 minutes that doesn’t upset the balance of sales efforts and the F&I manager’s rhythm of presenting the menu. 

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It also checks the boxes of being able to help save the customer some money that can be allocated to products that F&I has offered and preserving the dealerships’ ability to not sell without competing against an insurance company. 

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DealerSure offers an easy-to-use smartphone app that all of your F&I staff can use to help make the process of saving the customer money each month easier while helping free up their budget to add vital protections they otherwise may not have the budget for. Your F&I managers are able to maintain high PVR and high CSI by having everything seamlessly working in the customer’s favor in one interaction.

We’d love to show you how easy it is to deploy this app and review all the benefits your staff will enjoy, just reach out to us here or at dealer-sure.com and see how easy it is to get set up today.