Ignite Consulting Partners turned to their music library to mark last week’s beginning of the Internal Revenue Service accepting federal tax returns for the current filing season.

To explain what this part of the calendar can mean for independent and buy-here, pay-here dealerships, firm experts chose the song “Casey Jones” by the Grateful Dead.

Why? Because part of the chorus has the phrase, “you’d better watch your speed.”

Ignite explained its methodology in an industry Tip of the Week message.

“With tax season upon us, we thought it prudent to share that over the years during this time of year, we’ve noticed an increase in a bunch of bad habits that we refer to as ‘speeding,’” Ignite experts said.

“We’ve seen lots of examples of speeding,” they continued. “For instance, ignoring stipulation or verification items in a quest to get a vehicle delivered the same day, not following the correct process when making an exception to an underwriting rule, overlooking down payment requirements, not following the proper spot delivery process, or cutting corners on document signatures.

“Overlooking details like these happen all the time during tax season when store traffic increases and actual and anticipated tax refunds have customers in the mood to shop,” Ignite went on to say. “After all, there’s a lot of truth to the saying ‘Ya gotta make hay while the sun is shining.’”

However, Ignite suggested that dealerships remain steadfast during this time so as not to have the barn burn down later because of bad hay or crash that train referenced in the Grateful Dead song.

“Overlooking small details like those mentioned above, though, can cause a lot of heartburn later, and the corrective measures that need to be taken after the fact can be costly and be a thorn long after tax season has come and gone,” Ignite said.

“Our tip this week is to stay true to your best habits and resist the temptation to take shortcuts. Easy for us to say, we know, but we’ve got plenty of examples where ‘speeding’ has created havoc,” Ignite went on to say.

If your operation has encountered some havoc, Ignite might be able to help. Firm experts can be reached at info@ignitecp.com or by visiting www.ignitep.com.