Lindsay Automotive launched a post-sale, pre-F&I vehicle delivery system for dealers on Monday that is aimed at six potential friction points that can curtail store revenue and customer satisfaction.
Created by dealership owner Steve Lindsay in collaboration with industry veterans Chip King and Tony Gomez, ZipDeal is designed to streamline and monetize the “frustrating” downtime between when a customer says “yes” to a deal and enters the F&I office.
ZipDeal uses a series of interactive questions that are geared to simplify paperwork and save the customer time while creating a 100% personalized delivery process, increased dealership profits, higher CSI and greater customer retention.
Lindsay created ZipDeal in 2017 for Lindsay Automotive, which includes Lindsay Honda, one of the top volume Honda dealers in the Midwest and among the top 10 in the country. Lindsay’s goal was to improve the major pain point of the vehicle delivery process for his sales staff and customers with a consistent, personalized presentation that put the customer in the driver’s seat.
Lindsay explained ZipDeal is unique because it links six pre-delivery customer touchpoints into one customer-driven interactive tool.
“We perfected a system that greatly enhances the customer experience and helps us gain control over the end of the sale. It also addresses additional sales opportunities, including protection products, that often weren’t presented before,” Lindsay said in a news release.
“With dealer front-end profits as low as 3%, we can’t count on sales staff to just sell cars anymore. ZipDeal makes sure our sales staff present every product and accessory, every time for additional revenue streams while giving consumers the control they want over the process,” he continued.
Customers proceed at their own pace through a series on online questions and options that can address these key areas:
• New deal and trade-in paperwork: Customers complete key deal details which can eliminate sloppy paperwork and decrease contracts-in-transit, so dealers get paid faster.
• Insurance options: Customers can shop their existing provider against a host of competitors to acquire the best possible terms and conditions.
• Finance and protection products: The presentation of F&I and protection products includes videos, product images, and detailed product descriptions so customers can educate themselves on their own time without a high-pressure sales environment.
• Feature functionality: Every vehicle feature is explained and explored so customers can leverage all the features available.
• Personalized vehicle settings: A deep dive into vehicle customizations ensures settings are personalized for customers before they drive off the lot, from auto-lock features to programming preferred radio stations.
• Online review: At the conclusion of the ZipDeal delivery experience, customers rate the dealership, and if the rating is positive are automatically asked to post a review. Managers are notified in real-time of negative ratings so they can rectify issues while the customer is still in the store, avoiding a negative review and poor CSI.
ZipDeal is available for both desktop computers and tablets. The collected data is either printed out automatically for placement in the deal jacket or pushed to a dealer’s DMS for the F&I manager to review and tailor the F&I menu and delivery experience to a customer’s needs.
Lindsay Automotive piloted ZipDeal with the sales staff at each of its two locations. Staff was trained on accessories and protection products (paint and fabric) and earned commissions on sales.
Within three months, protection product sales increased from 5% to over 33%, and reps were earning as much as $3,000 a month in extra commissions, according to the company.
Also, the company said the dealership reduced the frustrating downtime between the end of price negotiations and the F&I process. This was due, in part, to inviting the customer to engage in the delivery process. The dealership also increased Finance PVR profit by more than $200 and boosted positive online reviews by 500%.
The company said these gains were a direct result of presenting every product to every customer every time, an area where dealers have historically struggled.
Lindsay Automotive’s success inspired King and Gomez to bring ZipDeal to market as they realized its potential to improve the customer experience, impact a dealer’s bottom line and provide a competitive advantage in today’s market.
“This tool pulls all of the processes together and puts the customer in the driver’s seat like nothing else out there. The average dealer is making less than $300 in front-end gross profit on new vehicles,” King said.
“ZipDeal reconnects customers with protection products, accessories, and insurance options, for more revenue streams and back-end profits. Customers get a consistent, personalized process that puts them in control, and dealers make more profit. It’s a win-win,” he went on to say.
Gomez added, “Having spent the last year in a high-volume retail environment, one of the biggest challenges is the downtime between consummating the deal and getting the customer into the F&I office. ZipDeal’s delivery system focuses on engaging the customer during that time and exposing them to every opportunity, which is critical to customer satisfaction and the dealer’s profitability.”
For additional information and to schedule a demonstration, call (877) 699-7770 or visit www.zipdeal.com.
The world has witnessed drastic changes in just a few short months. The economic fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted nearly 50 million workers since the end of February, according to Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody’s Analytics in a recent CNBC report.
While Moody’s also believes “the COVID-19 recession is over,” automotive dealers of every size should be taking this time to review every aspect of their business to ensure maximum readiness for when the economy truly turns positive again.
Everything from reviewing F&I training protocols to refining inventory strategies are top-of-mind for dealers today. What’s more, dealers should also be taking this time to review their complete lineup of F&I program offerings and portfolio of services to ensure they have the right makeup of value-added products for customers.
It all starts with identifying vehicle trends
The right F&I portfolio begins with understanding what people are buying. Sure, incentives are hot for new cars currently, but supply levels and aggressive offers mean the sale of used cars and trucks will dominate car lots for some time. In fact, According to PureCars data reported in TorqueNews, during the last week of May used vehicles represented 10 of the top 14 vehicles nationwide.
Many dealers realize the opportunity to cater F&I products around used vehicles. As noted in the 2020 F&I Trends Report, a survey of approximately 500 dealership executives across the U.S. revealed that 41.7% said more sales of used vehicles represents the greatest opportunity to sell F&I products, followed by more truck sales (36.6%), longer loan terms (28.9%), and more EV/plugin sales (23.7%).
Structuring the right F&I program
This means F&I products such as vehicle service contracts and ancillary protection products will be beneficial products to offer customers to ensure their cars are protected from damage and expensive repairs. And to boost dealer profits, it would be wise for dealers to review the type of participation program they operate within. Not all participation programs are designed the same, and programs such as Dealer-Owned Warranty Companies (DOWC) are designed where dealers can brand their own F&I products, boosting profits further.
Even though there is great profit potential, a DOWC often means the dealer must own and operate the program as well, including certain administrative duties. Fortunately, when dealers partner with the right provider, most of these administrative duties and support are handled by the provider, leaving the dealer to only worry about selling their own branded F&I products to the customer — something they should already be used to. This is especially critical since a recent survey4 presented to 1,500 dealer professionals showed that 29% said their current F&I products are “too much of an administrative burden” and “don’t offer enough margin for the dealership.”
Many experts believe the worst may be behind us in terms of the quick and sudden damage that COVID-19 did to the economy. The numbers are far from returning to normal, but economists believe growth may be right around the corner again. To prepare, dealers should be taking many steps to come out of the pandemic recession, and a complete audit of their F&I product portfolio and participation program review is a necessary step in this readiness phase.
Tim Blochowiak is vice president of dealer sales at Protective Asset Protection, a full-service provider of F&I programs offering vehicle protection plans, GAP, ancillary products, training and other services through vehicle dealerships. For more information visit http://www.protectiveassetprotection.com.
Portfolio is looking to make the reinsurance process easier for auto, RV and powersports dealers and independent agents.
The dealer participation program provider recently announced the launch of a new website at PortfolioReinsurance.com. Portfolio explained the site was designed to offer a streamlined, user-friendly experience.
Among the highlights is a series of quick-reference homepage buttons. Each one offers dealers more details about one aspect of Portfolio’s award-winning reinsurance program, including ownership, dividends, loans and income development.
The feature also appears on the site’s agents page, where agents can click to learn about Portfolio’s program, F&I products, agency support and more.
“Our goal was to create a more intuitive, interactive, mobile-friendly website,” Portfolio chief sales officer Dan Haugen said. “You can get the overview quickly, and if you need to know more about reinsurance or how Portfolio’s program works, you can instantly access this other, more detailed layer.”
In an increasingly digitized industry, Haugen added, dealers and agents — like all consumers — want accurate, actionable information delivered on demand.
“It’s critical,” he said. “You can’t just tell your story. You have to be a resource.”
The new website is live now at PortfolioReinsurance.com.
New York authorities recently indicted a pair of former managers at an Empire State Hyundai dealership, alleging they defrauded the franchised store and JPMorgan Chase of more than $1.5 million.
Westchester County District Attorney Anthony Scarpino Jr. announced that James Castellano of Valley Stream, N.Y., and Israel Viloria of New Rochelle, N.Y., were indicted and arraigned on charges stemming from a fraudulent auto crimes scheme involving a New Rochelle, N.Y., dealership.
According to a news release, both Castellano and Viloria were charged with the following three counts:
— Two counts of grand larceny in the second degree, a class C felony
— One count of a scheme to defraud in the first degree, a class E felony
Castellano alone also was charged with:
— 20 counts of falsifying business records in the first degree, a class E felony
— One count of grand larceny in the second degree, a class C felony
— One count of criminal tax fraud in the third degree, a class D felony (under New York Tax Law)
Authorities recapped that Castellano was employed as the office manager and Viloria was employed as the used-car manager for New Rochelle Hyundai.
The indictment alleges, from approximately Sept. 28, 2016 through July 14, 2017, the two men were engaged in a scheme to defraud JPMorgan Chase out of more than $700,000 and New Rochelle Hyundai out of more than $500,000.
As part of their scheme, they illegally sold vehicles owned by New Rochelle Hyundai through Global Auto Sales, a dealership owned in part by Viloria, and kept the proceeds of these sales.
Officials said Castellano and Viloria perpetrated this scheme by listing, in New Rochelle Hyundai’s records, details of vehicle that were not owned by the Hyundai dealer. By doing so, the dealership’s bank, JPMorgan Chase, made business funds available for the purchase of these vehicles. That cash flow into New Rochelle Hyundai accounts helped to cover up the actual theft of vehicles that Viloria and Castellano were selling on the side, according to New York authorities.
In addition, the district attorney charged Castellano with stealing approximately $300,000 by depositing checks made payable to New Rochelle Hyundai into his personal bank account. These checks were supposed to have been received by New Rochelle Hyundai for the sale of vehicles owned by the dealership.
Officials added Castellano also failed to pay taxes on this money for tax year 2017.
The case is being prosecuted by the Economic Crimes Bureau of the Westchester County District Attorney’s Office.
Dealertrack is heading to Las Vegas for annual events hosted this week by the American Financial Services Association (AFSA) and the National Automobile Dealers Association (NADA) armed with a half dozen new-product enhancements and enriched partnerships to highlight.
These latest partner integrations and enhancements include:
— Dealertrack partners with Darwin: Darwin brings the latest in analytics and mobile technology to Dealertrack’s platform. The result is less keystrokes and more deal data from Darwin’s final menu, telling the dealer which aftermarket products were accepted and which were declined by the customer and how those choices affect monthly payment, term of loan and cash down. All this information can flow seamlessly into Dealertrack’s one online deal jacket to ensure deal compliance.
— F&I insights reporting powered by StoneEagle F&I: Dealertrack is partnering with StoneEagle F&I, a provider of innovative solutions for the automotive retail industry, to bring SEcureMetrics F&I to the Dealertrack platform. This partnership can allow dealers to analyze the deal and see new ways to grow profits using insights that will be presented within the online deal jacket. SEcureMetrics F&I is easily customizable and can arm dealers with actionable insights to help improve efficiency, drive performance and increase potential profitability.
— Dealertrack partners with National Credit Center (NCC): Dealers now have access to an enhanced financing process through an all-new partnership with National Credit Center (NCC). NCC credit bureau service will integrate directly into Dealertrack’s online deal jacket, improving the finance process for dealers to make smarter and immediate credit decisions. Key features and enhancements include Military Lending Act (MLA) inclusion on reports and Smart Default capabilities (coming in March 2020) that can give deeper insights to secure better finance terms and to automatically pull an additional bureau if a higher score is available. This improved financing process increases the value dealers derive from Dealertrack’s credit application network.
— New CRM integrations: Committed to mapping to a dealership’s unique workflow, Dealertrack will offer enhanced integrations with several CRM providers to now push a completed credit application directly from their CRM to Dealertrack, helping save time and reducing the need for data re-entry.
— Enhanced compliance checkpoints throughout the deal: Dealers can protect profits and ensure mishaps are mitigated through real-time updates and checkpoints along each step of building one complete digital deal jacket. Dealertrack’s annual Compliance Guide is also going paperless in 2020, so dealers can easily access and share updates.
— Paperless deal submission: Dealertrack’s unique Digital Contracting capabilities now include local file upload so dealers can now add stips and documents in multiple ways. Additional enhancements, such as built-in verifications, live funding checklists and point-of-sale capture allow dealers to submit more accurate contracts for same day funding to a growing list of leading lenders.
One Dealertrack user shared his experiences with some of these enhancements.
“From a customers’ viewpoint, the less time they have to spend at the dealership, the better,” said Will Pollard, finance director of Tim Short Auto Mall in Corbin, Ky.
“On Dealertrack uniFI, we’re now able to connect the entire deal workflow through one single platform, minimizing back and forth and enhancing employee productivity for faster funding and happier customers,” Pollard continued in a news release.
Cheryl Miller, senior vice president and general manager of Dealertrack F&I Solutions, elaborated about what the company is trying to deliver to finance companies and dealerships.
“At Dealertrack, we believe in the course of doing business dealers should never have to turn their back on a customer to access the information needed to structure a payment, secure financing, calculate taxes and fees, or jump between technology solutions,” Miller said.
“By leveraging the power of partnership, Dealertrack is giving dealers the flexibility and connectivity they need to drive a seamless workflow for faster funding and a renewed, more fully engaging customer experience,” Miller went on to say.
For more information about Dealertrack and to schedule a demo at NADA 2020, visit https://us.dealertrack.com/ or visit the company Booth No. 2336C.
Consumers appear to have a notable desire to purchase a vehicle amid the upcoming holiday shopping season. Their sureness that a finance company will underwrite the contract so they can take delivery doesn’t appear to be on the same level.
The latest Capital One Auto Navigator survey reveals only 26% of respondents feel very confident when shopping for a car. While this is a 6% increase over 2018, Capital One found that respondents attribute three reasons for being wary about their vehicle-purchase prospects, including:
— Low confidence to not having finances in order prior to visiting a dealership: 27%
— Not researching nor knowing what vehicle they want: 43%
— Past experience: 28%
In addition, only 24% of Capital One survey participants said they are “a boss” when it comes to negotiating during vehicle buying, a number that also saw a slight increase (8%) over last year (16%).
“Car shopping should be enjoyable instead of stressful, and with a little pre-work, consumers can ensure their decision complements their lifestyle and budget,” Capital One Auto Finance managing vice president Jeffrey Rabinowitz said in a news release.
“We found that 88% of consumers surveyed understand what it means to pre-qualify for financing, but only half are willing to try it,” Rabinowitz continued.
The survey of 1,004 U.S. adults ages 18 and older was conducted on behalf of Capital One Auto Finance using Engine Insight’s Online CARAVAN® omnibus. Of the 1,004, 693 do not work at a car dealership or ad/public relations company, have purchased a vehicle in the past, are planning to get an auto loan or ever had one. The survey was fielded September 5-8.
Additional findings from the survey include:
— Based on survey responses, finance is not only the consumers’ biggest concern during the car-buying process, but also the most time consuming and stressful.
— 75% of respondents put budget in their top three elements to consider when buying a vehicle.
— There is a division among the most important financial factors when purchasing a vehicle. The survey determined 28% of respondents looking for the lowest monthly payment, 27% focused on final sale price of the vehicle and 20% concerned with total cost of ownership.
— The most time-consuming task at the dealership is working with and signing paperwork with the finance department, according to 52% of respondents.
Based on survey responses, shoppers crave improvements to the vehicle-buying experience.
Capital One discovered 57% of respondents are looking for improvements to the vehicle-buying process, particularly transparency in financing options, negotiations and more clarity on dealer incentives and promotions.
To help, Rabinowitz suggested a tool offered by Capital One.
“With Auto Navigator, consumers can pre-qualify for financing with no impact to their credit score, and with our Auto Learning Center, they can research all aspects of car shopping,” he said. “This transparency allows consumers to feel more confident in their car-buying experience.”
Auto Navigator by Capital One provides a digital inventory of nearly four million vehicles from almost 13,000 participating dealerships across the nation. Auto Navigator further supports consumers by allowing them to see if they pre-qualify for financing with no impact to their credit score, saving them time before heading to the dealership.
Dent Wizard International rebranded one of its divisions this week in an effort to sharpen its image with dealerships, finance companies and fleet operators.
The provider of automotive reconditioning services and vehicle protection products introduced Evolution, Vehicle Protection by Dent Wizard, a branding of its F&I business unit. The company highlighted Evolution will become the over-arching umbrella for the its F&I vehicle protection division, which includes multiple ancillary products and services:
— AlwaysNu for road hazard tire and wheel with optional appearance coverages
— Ding Shield, service plans that cover dent repair and other vehicle protection services
— Nu Key, a vehicle key replacement benefit with roadside assistance
— Smart Shield, featuring Armor All products to protect the exterior paint and interior cabin surfaces on new and used vehicles.
Company leaderships insisted the new brand name will distinguish Dent Wizard’s vehicle protection products from the company's other core services, which include:
— Frontline Fast reconditioning services for pre-owned inventory
— ReadyLine Express reconditioning services for rental fleets
— KhS Global automotive hail response solutions
“As a multi-service provider, we have infinite possibilities," Dent Wizard chief executive officer Mike Black said. “With our product portfolio growing in size and scope, we felt it was time to brand the division as our commitment to innovation and excellence in customer service, which our partners have come to expect.
“Today, we deliver multiple products and services to more than 7,000 unique customers in North America. Many of our relationships stretch out 20-plus years,” Black continued.
We credit this longevity to our ability to quickly and expertly service our customers, adjudicate claims, manage risk and customize solutions to help our customers achieve their goals,” he added.
As part of the new branding, Lindsey Bird will transition from senior vice president to division president of Evolution Vehicle Protection.
“We understand the challenges and complexities that our partners face when it comes to both the selling and servicing of ancillary vehicle protection plans,” Bird said. “There is no one-size-fits-all. Every business we work closely with is unique and has their own set of opportunities and challenges.
“Our mission at Evolution Vehicle Protection is to lead the automotive protection markets by providing our customers with extraordinary products and services that are driven to increase F&I revenues and customer retention,” Bird went on to say.
