Asbury increased its F&I per-copy average 3% to $1,436 in the second quarter. But total F&I gross profit fell due to a 'Choppy' retail environment, officials said.
Asbury Automotive Group reported this week that it’s F&I operations realized a $55 per-copy increase in the fourth quarter, with the group averaging $1,426 in gross profit per vehicle retailed during the end-of-year quarter.
Training, improving the performance of the group’s bottom-third producers and increased product penetration were drivers of the group’s Q3 per-copy increase, which stood at $1,362.
Asbury Automotive executives were confident that the dealer group’s internal caps on dealer markup and its fixed F&I product prices will keep it safe from any actions by regulators.
The tablet-driven, fixed-price F&I process at Asbury’s Q Auto stores didn’t perform as well as the traditional F&I process employed at the group's core stores, but officials said they are happy with the new format’s progress.
Fourth-quarter F&I net per vehicle retailed rose $30 from a year ago to $1,374 for the public dealer group. That performance helped drive record earnings during the quarter.
F&I gross profit per retail unit grew to $1,337 on a same-store basis for the publicly traded dealer group, but the performance of the operation’s parts and service segment was the big story in the third quarter.
The dealer group reported a 21% increase from last year’s adjusted income from continuing operations, as well as a 12% increase in total gross profit.
The group reported during it quarterly conference call that earnings per share were up 34% from the year-ago quarter, an all-time record for the group. On the same day, Executive Vice President and COO Michael Kearney announced his retirement.
The dealer group not only endorses the association’s fair lending plan, it plans to implement the program in the next several months, officials confirm.
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