Nothing could describe the month of July better than a headline I read in CNW Market Research’s July 16 newsletter. It read: “Time to Panic: Industry Pushes Into Auto DefCon4.” I wonder what the headline would have read if the newsletter was released nine days later.
This month marks Bobit Business Media’s first PowerSports F&I Conference. For those not attending, I’d like to give you a taste of what you’re going to miss.
Reality checks are always difficult to swallow. You want to hear the truth, but at the same time you really don’t. That’s what I wrestled with when one of my readers reminded me that F&I is really a reactionary department.
This year will be my third F&I Conference and Expo. Whenever I talk about the two previous shows, I can’t help but tell the story about how one attendee at the 2006 show raised his hand during a compliance workshop and said, “I’m afraid to go back to my dealership.”
Executive Editor Gregory Arroyo introduces the first PowerSports F&I Conference to readers.
I was on the F&I Forum the other day when I came across a topic post titled, “A Brave New Finance World.” And I have to tell you, after reading it I had to shake my head in disgust.
Have we as an industry forgotten about the fifth component of the lending Cs? You know, character. It’d be a shame if F&I managers lost the ability to call up a buyer or lender rep to fight for their customer. Isn’t that what made this industry fun?
“It’s the same but different” is how one source described the difference between automotive F&I and powersports F&I. Another placed a choice adjective before the word “stepchild” when describing the segment. What I see is opportunity.
So much has been made about the time a customer spends at a dealership buying a vehicle. I understand the reasoning. Give customers too much time and you risk them having second thoughts.
It’d be easy to dedicate this entire editorial to all the recession talk. It’d definitely be a good read, but would it help?
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