Figures that include six digits and a comma typically catch the attention of dealership management.
EFG Companies recently calculated that the average EFG trainee generates an additional $204,605 per year in F&I income through a 22-percent performance increase. To help sustain this performance increase, EFG Companies announced the launch of EFG Learning Opps Through Virtual Engagement (LOVE), a dynamic digital portal designed to boost F&I Producer knowledge, reinforces training learnings, and reduces the cost of a poor hiring decision for a dealership.
EFG Companies acknowledged that many dealer principals and general managers complain that their past experience in sending F&I producers to training only impacts per-month results in the short term. In addition, when training is not reinforced in the dealership, improvements are quickly negated by diminishing returns.
EFG Companies conducted a six-month analysis of the true impact of its industry-leading, behavior-based F&I training combined with its in-store engagement model. The company compiled a series of metrics, both pre- and post-training, with both the trainees and their dealership management.
EFG trainee performance showed:
• EFG’s guided-discovery training represented $204,605.00 in additional F&I income per producer per year, based on 80 turns per producer per month.
• Average trainee F&I performance increased 22 percent.
• PRU increased from $967 to $1,180 on average.
“It’s clear that using multi-sensory learning methods with interactive tools better enables F&I managers to effectively deliver measurable results to a dealership’s bottom line,” said John Pappanastos, president and chief executive officer of EFG Companies. “That’s why we developed EFG LOVE for our F&I class graduates.
“This analysis proved that our proprietary behavior-based approach to F&I producer development can generate more than $1.13 million in average F&I revenue per producer per year,” Pappanastos continued. With an average training cost of $2,000 per producer, the dealer sees a 100-times return on the initial investment in the first year.”
In addition to fortifying the lessons learned from EFG’s in-classroom training, EFG LOVE can equip dealers with information and best practices on how to both sell to, and employ, the soon-to-be largest generation in the workforce with the most buying power — millennials.
EFG Companies pointed out that numerous industry studies have shown that retail automotive faces a recruiting and staffing crisis. The 2017 National Automobile Dealers Association Workforce Study reported that retail automotive suffered from a 43 percent turnover rate, an 88 percent attrition rate among female new hires, and a below average rate of millennial new hires when compared to other industries.
And 65 percent of dealers state that recruiting and hiring is their No. 1 challenge — greater than customer acquisition or generating revenue.
In EFG’s more than 40-year history, the company has placed hundreds of top performers at automotive dealerships across the country. This has resulted in the deliberate build-out of a core-competency sourcing model to identify the core qualities of Top Performers.
EFG LOVE pairs this top performer profile with industry statistics and trends to better enable dealers to develop high-performing teams.
“EFG LOVE helps shorten the onboarding time for new hires, keeps employees motivated and accelerates the knowledge growth needed for a successful career,” said Steve Roennau, vice president of training and compliance with EFG Companies. “We created the content to enable the user to self-select actionable lessons in multiple digital formats.
“The more a producer can easily select materials that help them overcome their daily challenges, the more they will display the successful behaviors that they learned in our training,” Roennau went on to say.
EFG closed by mentioning turnover and failure to recruit high-performing professionals directly impacts a dealership’s bottom line. For example, a single poor hiring decision in F&I can easily result in up to $75,000 in lost profit due to onboarding costs and lost production, according to its analysis.
To see one of the many training videos featured on EFG LOVE, visit this website.
National Auto Care Corp. is changing hands again.
The provider of F&I products, administration, consulting services, training and marketing support to independent agents, insurance companies, financial institutions, third-party administrators and credit unions, has entered into an agreement to be acquired by Lovell Minnick Partners, a private equity firm specializing in financial and related business services companies.
Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed, according to a news release distributed on Monday. The announcement did indicate that the transaction is expected to close in the third quarter of 2018.
NAC, established in 1984 and acquired by Trivest Partners in 2012, is headquartered in Jacksonville, Fla. NAC is one of the longest operating providers of products such as vehicle service contracts, guaranteed asset protection, limited warranty, tire, wheel and a full suite of ancillary protection products nationwide.
Through its independent agents, NAC supports more than 2,300 partners that distribute its products. These partners include automobile dealers, credit unions, financial services companies, recreational dealers and other strategic partners across North America.
“NAC is the premier national market leader in developing innovative products that help protect consumers from a wide range of risks that can arise with vehicle or powersport ownership,” said Trevor Rich, a partner at LMP.
“We look forward to partnering with president and CEO Tony Wanderon, who is an accomplished veteran and innovator in the automotive protection industry, and his experienced team at NAC, as our investment positions the company to aggressively pursue acquisitions that complement its strong growth trajectory.”
NAC has invested significantly in the development and implementation of proprietary and third-party technology during the past four years, empowering its dealer and distributor partners with digital contract remittance and customized support services.
In addition, the company provides its distributor partners with a unique variety of support services and incentive programs that drive customer loyalty and strengthen their agency value.
“LMP has strong experience investing in service-oriented businesses across the finance and insurance value chain that will prove invaluable as NAC builds upon our flexible and customized solutions to support our agency distributor partners in driving sales and profitability,” Wanderon said.
“We believe LMP’s expertise in identifying and negotiating strategic transactions will add significant value to our acquisition strategy,” he added.
Troy Templeton, managing partner at Trivest Partners, described the relationship with NAC cultivated since 2012.
“Since our investment six years ago, NAC has grown to be one of the premier providers in the F&I space, and we are extremely proud of our partnership and investment in such an exciting company,” Templeton said.
“We are confident that NAC and the management team are well positioned for continued growth and success through their partnership with LMP,” he went on to say.
Houlihan Lokey served as financial adviser to NAC and Trivest, and Sandler O’Neill was adviser to LMP. Madison Capital Funding and NewStar Financial are providing debt financing for the transaction.
Late last week, RouteOne announced that C&F Finance Co. is now an available e-contracting finance source for dealers utilizing the RouteOne platform.
The move was made in an effort to augment the digital exchange of critical contract documents and data between dealers and finance sources to increase efficiency and reduce contracts in transit.
C&F Finance, headquartered in Richmond, Va., is a leader in indirect auto financing, providing vehicle finance in multiple states throughout the U.S. Officials highlighted C&F benefited from a streamlined technical implementation process due to the e-contracting certification that its loan origination system (LOS), defiSOLUTIONS, had previously undergone with RouteOne.
“We are excited about partnering with RouteOne and offering e-contracting to our dealers,” C&F Finance executive vice president and chief credit officer Shawn Moore said.
“Cutting down funding time and gaining efficiencies will greatly add value to our funding processes,” Moore continued. “We’re certain our best in class service will be further enhanced with this feature.”
RouteOne is one of the industry leaders in e-contracting, booking more than 10 million e-contracts to date. RouteOne has more than 7,200 active e-contracting dealers and more than 50 finance sources in its rapidly growing e-contracting customer base.
“We strive to continually deliver our customers solutions that streamline and solve challenges in the auto finance industry,”, RouteOne chief operating officer Brad Rogers said. “e-contracting is a solution that benefits all parties involved: dealer, finance source and consumer.
“C&F Finance is a welcome addition to our e-contracting platform, and we are pleased to offer their services to our dealer base,” Rogers went on to say.
Dealers interested in e-contracting should contact their RouteOne business development manager at (866) 768-8301 or www.routeone.com/salesteam.
Now all three major credit bureaus have made a move to bolster their offerings within the alternative-data space.
On Monday, Equifax announced that it has acquired DataX, a leading specialty finance credit reporting agency and alternative data provider to finance companies nationwide.
Through DataX, Equifax highlighted that it can help finance companies expand credit access and broaden financial inclusion for more consumers, specifically in underbanked populations. DataX’s data assets complement the Equifax core credit database adding alternative credit and payment data, analytics and identity solutions on underbanked consumers to the installment loan, rent-to-own and lease-to-own markets.
Additional offerings include credit reporting, ID verification, bank account verification and custom risk services.
“Giving consumers fair access to credit has always been a key economic driver for upward mobility, and this acquisition will help more consumers gain access to credit and capital,” said Trey Loughran, president of United States information solutions at Equifax.
“The combination of DataX’s data with Equifax’s unique and robust data assets will add more depth to consumer’s profiles and will help lenders expand borrowing options,” Loughran continued.
Loughran went on to note that the acquisition of DataX complements other unique Equifax data assets that help provide greater depth and reach to those seeking credit such as The Work Number, one of the nation’s largest centralized repository of payroll data, managed by Equifax.
“Only 39 percent of Americans are able to cover a $1,000 emergency expense, which means the majority of people at some point will need some type of financial assistance,” said Jon Geidel, president of DataX.
“For more than 14 years, DataX’s mission has been to support our partners to find more reasons to include underbanked consumers. Joining Equifax complements our mission and affords consumers better access to the credit they deserve to meet their financial needs,” Geidel went on to say.
DataX and its employees are now part of the Equifax Banking and Lending division, according to Monday’s announcement.
The Equifax acquisition continues an alternative-data trend that stretches back to last November when TransUnion purchased FactorTrust.
And this past March, Experian highlighted how the acquisition of Clarity Services expanded its services in the alternative-data space.
This week, GWC Warranty announced the inception of a newly created major account management team.
The provider of used-vehicle service contracts sold through dealers indicated this new team of five highly skilled and experienced account managers will be led by area vice president Cynthia Bodden and will service GWC Warranty’s largest dealership partners.
GWC Warranty insisted its highest volume dealers will receive an even greater level of individualized service focused on delivering value that can help these dealers sell more vehicles and be more profitable.
“At GWC Warranty, we have spent the past 20-plus years providing dealers a best-in-class service experience,” GWC Warranty chief revenue officer Brian Stach said. “Over that time, we have seen how our largest dealer partners require a unique and personalized level of service.
“In an effort to provide such without sacrificing the best-in-class experience we provide all GWC dealer partners, we proudly introduce our highly specialized major account management team,” Stach continued.
Robert Chandler joins GWC as the major account manager for the Northeast United States. A University of Massachusetts graduate, Chandler has nearly 15 years of experience in the automotive and finance industries with companies such as Dealertrack, Hitachi Capital of America and Allstate Dealer Services.
David Hartmann, the major account manager for the Central United States, has 20 years of sales experience, including over a decade in the automotive and F&I industries with large franchise dealerships.
Joseph Kontz has been hired as the major account manager for the Mid-Atlantic United States. Kontz has spent the past nine years in the automotive industry as a franchised dealer sales representative and an F&I executive with Zurich Insurance.
Alicia Murray has joined GWC as the major account manager for the Southeastern region of the United States. Murray brings more than two decades of sales and management experience to GWC, including more than 15 years in the automotive industry as an F&I manager at a franchised dealership and a dealership training specialist with Ally Financial Dealer Products & Services.
Chad Staples is now the major account manager for the Western part of the country, having spent nearly a decade in sales and account management, including several in the insurance and automotive industries.
Reynolds and Reynolds enhanced its relationship with the Penske Automotive Group this week.
The two companies announced they extended their exclusive agreement for Reynolds to provide the Reynolds Retail Management System to all Penske franchised dealerships in the U.S. and Puerto Rico.
Under the new agreement, Penske intends to integrate electronic document management to improve workflow and efficiency and install the Reynolds docuPAD system in F&I departments across more than 120 Penske dealerships. Reynolds docuPAD system is an interactive tabletop tool designed to engage customers and improve the F&I process by creating a consistent presentation, safeguarding compliance, and improving effectiveness of the F&I process.
“We have had the privilege of doing business with Roger Penske for some 30 years now,” said Bob Brockman, chairman and chief executive officer of Reynolds and Reynolds. “We all take a lot of pride in working with their team, and everyone here is committed to delivering the best possible products, services and results to them.
“The standards they hold are high, and we look forward to the opportunity to continue to meet those standards,” Brockman continued.
Roger Penske, chair and chief executive officer of Penske Automotive Group, shared his reaction about the development.
“We are pleased to extend our relationship with our long-term partner, Reynolds and Reynolds,” Penske said. “The Reynolds Retail Management System is fully integrated into all of our U.S.-based auto dealerships providing our teams with consistency and some of the best products in the industry.
“We look forward to taking the next step with Reynolds as we implement the docuPAD system and working with their team of talented individuals to improve our operations,” he went on to say.
Back in October 2015, AFS Acceptance chief executive officer Dov Szapiro explained why his company’s decision to sell 65 percent of its equity to Mexican finance institution Credito Real “could not have occurred at a better time.”
Now this summer, a rebranding initiative and expansion strategy are in full swing for the subprime auto finance provider.
A little over two years after being acquired by Mexico City-based Credito Real, AFS Acceptance recently announced it will be changing its name to Credito Real USA Finance (CRUSAfin) as Credito Real begins to expand its brand in the United States.
“We have been very fortunate to have a parent company like Credito Real. With their unwavering support of our platform and the financial resources to back it up, we are now in a good position for growth and we will be leveraging the Credito Real brand to help us achieve new heights,” CRUSAfin chief executive officer Scot Seagrave said.
“Competition is fierce, but I am confident we can provide unique opportunities for our growing dealer base and continue to work closely with our customers by helping them improve their credit through our ‘Better Credit is a Better Life’ initiative,” Seagrave continued.
CRUSAfin offers products for both its franchised and independent dealership partners.
“Working to help dealers find solutions for their traditional subprime customers as well as their customers currently in an open bankruptcy has been our focus over the last several years, and we will continue to grow these market segments,” Seagrave said.
Through a network of dealers across the U.S., consumers can find the vehicle they want and the financing they need.
“In the process, they’ll step onto a path designed to improve their financial future by improving their credit,” Seagrave added.
Additionally, CRUSAfin recently implemented a program focused on helping unbanked customers.
“This effort falls right in line with our parent company's effort to achieve their mission of becoming the largest non-bank financial institution for Latin Americans in the world. We are excited to help them reach this goal,” Seagrave said.
In announcing its name change, CRUSAfin also revealed its new branding in line with Credito Real to support its evolution and expansion in the United States as a leading auto-finance firm. Credito Real was established over 25 years ago and also owns Credito Real Business Capital and Don Carro.
“CRUSAfin’s new brand identity reflects the company's commitment to provide its clients with flexible automotive credit services. The Credito Real USA redesigned website amplifies the company’s online presence and opportunities to current and prospective clients,” the company added.
The company’s new promotional video can be viewed here or at the top of the page.
Along with an integration with MaximTrak Technologies, Zurich North America also recently expanded its menu of services for dealers by adding service adviser training resources.
One of the largest providers of F&I products and consultative training for dealerships in the United States, Zurich is collaborating with Steve Shaw, a premier service adviser trainer, to deliver the training.
“We are very excited to expand into the service adviser training arena,” said Vince Santivasi, head of direct markets for Zurich North America. “The service adviser plays a vital role within an auto dealership, and Zurich has recognized a growing demand for consistent service training among our customers.
“This new collaboration with Steve Shaw offers service advisers a consistent process and the necessary tools to help dealerships maximize their profits in the service lane,” Santivasi continued.
Zurich’s service adviser training is designed to help enhance processes, improve repair order performance and motivate service advisers. Training topics to be presented include why customers buy, multipoint inspections selling system, creating presentations and menu selling, among others.
“Working hand-in-hand with Zurich, we are creating more opportunities for dealers to increase the bottom lines of their service centers,” Shaw said. “Dealerships that have fully implemented my training and selling system have seen a typical increase of .2-.5 labor hours per repair order.”
Shaw, author of Master of the Waiting Room, is a professional speaker and trainer to the automotive industry having trained thousands of service personnel over the past 23 years. His service adviser training program is in use by dealerships around the world and has proven to increase service selling power from the entry-level express adviser to the veteran consultant.
The new collaboration provides dealerships a variety of training options including:
— Full day, Zurich-hosted seminars. More than 40 events are already scheduled for 2018 in cities across the U.S.
— One-on-one sessions available in-store and via Skype
— Access to online training modules
While all franchised dealers are able to take advantage of Zurich’s full day seminars and one-on-one sessions, only Zurich F&I customers enrolled in its online training program are able to access the online service adviser modules.
Zurich F&I customers also enjoy reduced pricing on full day, Zurich-hosted seminars and the one-on-one sessions.
“Zurich’s expansion into service adviser training is just the latest offering in our training curriculum,” Santivasi said. “Our customers have asked for multiple training platforms, and we are delivering with in person seminars, on-site in dealership, and online opportunities to add value for our automotive dealer customers.”
To learn the locations and dates of the Zurich-hosted seminars near you, contact your Zurich representative or call (888) 884-7377.
Zurich is one of the largest insurance providers for franchised dealers in the United States and one of the top providers of F&I products and services. Learn more at http://zurichna.com/en/industries/auto/dealerships.
MaximTrak finalizes Zurich North America Integration
In related news, F&I platform provider MaximTrak Technologies recently announced an integration with Zurich North America.
This integration imports Zurich’s F&I product rates and forms into MaximTrak’s ETrak platform to digitize more of the F&I sales process. With this integration, Zurich dealer customers now have access to MaximTrak’s advanced sales systems, MenuTrak and FLITE.
The company explained ETrak is a secure and reliable solution for both the F&I department and customers. It can streamline the contracting process and can eliminate the time, cost and errors associated with paper contracts.
Dealers can now harness the power of Zurich’s interactive sales process while leveraging MaximTrak’s proprietary consumer risk analyzer and intelligent product scoring models. For dealers marketing Zurich’s vehicle protection products, this integration can help F&I managers close deals quickly and efficiently, while also improving the quality of the customer experience.
“The goal of our award-winning digital retail sales and F&I platform is always to bring greater transparency, flexibility, convenience and productivity to the F&I office and, by extension, to dealers’ customers,” said Jim Maxim Jr., president of MaximTrak, a RouteOne company, and chief digital officer for RouteOne. “This new integration with Zurich North America continues our relationship with leading industry technology and service providers to bring more value to auto retailers.”
The MaximTrak platform is deployed domestically and internationally as a turnkey solution for creating engaging selling experiences that yield robust results. The company’s new FLITE ENGAGE, FLITE and a suite of solutions, can interface with RouteOne’s unified, comprehensive digital retailing suite of services that drive state-of-the-art consumer transactional experiences across a broad array of digital properties.
“As digital ecosystems transform the way auto dealers present, sell, and transact, it is imperative that we offer them access to leading F&I digital retail platforms,” said Marie Knight, head of direct markets and programs strategic services for Zurich North America.
“Our integration with MaximTrak will provide our auto dealer customers with advanced systems and interactive sales processes to improve the quality of the F&I customer experience,” Knight continued.
MaximTrak ETrak ca provide an electronic ecosystem that can combine direct provider integrations, indirect provider integrations, and fully managed rates, tables and business rules. These solutions enable dealers to digitize the workflow inside of their F&I office across providers, systems and processes.
The ETrak platform can build complex integration and business layer logic from many product providers into one rating and contracting interface that standardizes the workflow from the point of sale through registration and remittance.
“Now, dealers offering Zurich’s vehicle protection products — who choose to activate MaximTrak’s ETrak under this integration — will reduce customers’ time in F&I by as much as 15 minutes and benefit from an array of new presentation tools,” the company said.
Risk management firm KPA Services recently announced that it closed on the acquisition of California-based Auto Advisory Services (AAS).
The firm highlighted that its transaction that came to fruition on May 31 strengthens KPA’s F&I offering through the addition of new premium services, including on-site service drive audits and advertising compliance reviews, as well as an F&I compliance hotline that is designed to assist dealers with common day-to-day compliance issues.
“KPA is innovative, proactive and highly experienced,” said Rob Cohen, chairman and sole shareholder of AAS. “These are qualities I have yet to see in other companies purporting to offer compliance solutions to dealers. Put simply, KPA has become the clear leader in dealership compliance.”
KPA is a leader in cloud-based environmental health and safety (EHS) risk management solutions and closed-loop on-site audit services that mitigate potential accidents and the costly ramifications of non-compliance with state and federal EHS regulations.
In addition to EHS, KPA’s comprehensive automotive solution covers operational workflow as well as regulatory risks associated with F&I and human capital management (HCM). The company focuses on mid-market companies in the automotive, manufacturing, distribution and logistics, and insurance industries.
Since 1975, AAS has been providing California dealerships with highly specialized sales, finance, service drive and advertising compliance products and services. AAS personnel consists of extensively trained attorneys and former state agency inspectors and investigators.
“AAS has been an outstanding provider of sales and F&I services for more than 40 years, helping their clients reduce exposure to regulatory fines and litigation,” KPA chief executive officer Vane Clayton said.
“The addition of the AAS solutions to KPA means that the automotive market now has a single showroom to shop solution to solve all their operational, regulatory and compliance risks,” Clayton added.
LAUNCHER.SOLUTIONS, a technology provider specializing in subprime auto finance originations, announced a strategic integration partnership with General Forensics with the thought of helping finance companies to operate more intelligently.
Playbook, a General Forensics technology, integrates with LAUNCHER.SOLUTION's appTRAKER Loan Origination System seamlessly, giving finance companies the ability to make more informed collateral decisions and prevent power-booking and price gouging.
Company leaders reiterated appTRAKER Loan Origination System was created by subprime auto finance companies specifically for the subprime space. The integration partnership with General Forensics adds value to the platform by solving a long-standing problem in the industry: power-booking.
Playbook focuses on powerbook monitoring by showing finance companies exactly what collateral they are booking, which prevents over-funding and risky dealership behavior patterns.
“We are excited to have General Forensics as an integration partner,” said Nikh Nath, president of LAUNCHER.SOLUTIONS, “and proud to be able to offer our clients the opportunity to make more informed decisions, resulting in less potential risk for the lender.”
The integration partnership with LAUNCHER.SOLUTIONS gives General Forensics additional opportunity to expand its own presence in the marketplace.
“The Launcher team is a delight to work with. Everyone is sharp and responsive. The whole process of integrating Playbook with their backend was so easy for us,” General Forensics president Josh Wortman said.
Clients of LAUNCHER.SOLUTIONS now have the ability to utilize General Forensics' technology, Playbook, within appTRAKER Loan Origination System. With a clean user interface and intuitive workflow, lender efficiency is increased, yielding a quicker turnaround for their finance products to market.
Nath added that Playbook’s focus on collateral risk management is an integral facet of the automotive lending landscape that should not be ignored by any finance company.
“This integration partnership will prove to be a strong one for not only LAUNCHER.SOLUTIONS and General Forensics, but more importantly for lenders utilizing the systems,” Nath said.
