Menus, maintenance programs and certified pre-owned sales got the credit as all six publicly-owned new-vehicle dealer groups posted increases in their second-quarter F&I yields per vehicles sold.

Two of the six – Sonic Automotive and Lithia Motors – celebrated by declaring the first shareholder dividends in the “public” dealer segment. Sonic paid 10 cents a share this fall and Lithia paid seven cents. Both groups said they planned to maintain the payouts on a quarterly basis.

Although only Group 1 Automotive kept its yield above the threshold $1,000 mark, increases to record amounts were posted by several of the other dealer groups. Lithia Motors, based in Medford, Ore., and the only one of the sextet concentrated in medium-size markets, rose to $916; Sonic Automotive, of Charlotte, N.C., to $877; Asbury Automotive, Stamford, Conn., to $815; No. 1 AutoNation, Inc, Fort Lauderdale, Fla., to $804; and UnitedAuto Group, Bloomfield Hills, Mich., to $786.

B.B. Hollingsworth, Jr., chairman and CEO of Houston-headquartered Group 1, explained its second straight $1,000+ performance in a row by pointing to strong F&I sales at its newly-acquired Miller group of luxury import vehicles in the San Fernando Valley north of Los Angeles. He also noted that sales of certified pre-owned vehicles were steadily rising, as is service contract volume.

“We scored a segment record of $1,006 F&I per vehicle in the first quarter,” Hollingsworth said, “and our 71 stores generated $80.4 million in F&I revenues in the first half.” F&I income was up from $68.1 million in the first half of 2002, and amounted to 2.7% of gross revenues of $2.1 billion, he detailed.

Hollingsworth also indicated retail finance fees in the first half reached $31.3 million; vehicles service contract fees, $30.6 million; and “other” F&I revenues, $18.4 million. The breakout was 38 percent for loan and lease fees, 37 percent for service contracts, and the rest from GAP policies, maintenance programs, insurance and aftermarket products.

Lithia boosted its F&I yield from $902. Chairman and CEO Sidney B. DeBoer said the increase gave Lithia a second-quarter record and reflected stepped-up sales of service contracts and maintenance programs for the Medford, Ore.-based specialist in Big Three single point stores in midsize western markets.

Sonic Automotive, third on the overall F&I ladder in gross revenues, also wound up third in F&I yield. The Charlotte, N.C.-based network elevated its F&I score to $877 in the second quarter, compared to $845 a year earlier. A rise of 4.9 percent was due in large measure to a focus on extended service contract sales, according to COO Jeffrey C. Rachor.

June-quarter peak also was attained by segment leader AutoNation, Inc., whose yield rose $42 from a year earlier. Chairman and CEO Michael J. Jackson attributed the increase to a “consistent” use of menus and deployment from AutoNation’s Fort Lauderdale, Fla., headquarters of a team of specialists to shore up F&I sales and penetration at its 280 dealerships.

Stamford, Conn.-based Asbury Automotive outgunned AutoNation in the F&I yield derby, chalking up the segment’s largest year-to-year gain – 11.6 percent -- from $730. President and CEO Kenneth B. Gilman said Asbury’s brand mix, especially strong in luxury lines, “drove the F&I performance.”

UnitedAuto Group also enjoyed a big run-up in the F&I vehicle margin – from $747, or 5.2 percent. Luxury brands have drawn increasing attention at UAG, with the opening of an 11-brand mall in North Scottsdale, Ariz., that mostly sells higher-priced lines; the addition of 14 new luxury franchises to its Sytner group in the United Kingdom; and purchase of the Inskip luxury-brand mall in Warwick, R.I.

Certified pre-owned car sales are rising and are a major factor in the F&I areas, according to UAG Chairman and CEO Roger S. Penske. “So is the influx of trade-ins with extended service contracts and maintenance care, which increases their values and paves the way for more F&I sales.”

Sonic also made the financial headlines by making the largest acquisition of a dealer group, the 18-dealership Momentum-Advantage group based in Houston. Composed mainly of European brands, Momentum-Advantage is owned by Ricardo Weitz and generated about $800 million in revenues last year.