F&I and Showroom, October 2016

www fi magazine com 14 F I and Showroom October 2016 INDUSTRY SPOTLIGHT A As a wave of new tools designed to digitize the car buying process crashes into the industry the question posed to an F I product provider rep three software makers and an F I director was this Does this mean the F I process has to move online Thats how F I Administration Solutions Kumar Kathinokkula opened Presenting F I Products Online a panel discussion held at the P A Leadership Summit in August The session featured representatives from American Guardian Warranty Services IAS Cox Automotive and The Impact Group as well as Justin Gasman the F I director for Boulder Colo s McCaddon Cadillac Buick GMC Representing Cox Automotive Brett Pomerantz boldly asserted that consumers will self close themselves if they read about F I products online He used Amazon com as an example noting that a significant part of the ecommerce sites sales are the result of clicks generated by the Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought section of its checkout screen I think thats a pretty good model for us to think about he said You didnt come to the dealership to buy a warranty but if we took the time to educate our customers about why they should buy some of these products they would come in with a better view and perspective The Impact Groups Mark Thorpe was quick to respond Were at a moment in time where car grosses are at an all time low and F I profits are at an alltime high he said And we think this is the time to take some of this interaction out of the hands of F I managers and to do it virtually Pomerantz was unmoved My belief is that the consumer thats coming in with a No our job is not to make them say Yes its to educate them and give them a better experience so they do want to say Yes But they wont say Yes if we dont ask them to Gasman interjected Weve got a better selling plan than they have a buying plan THE ONLINE PUSH There are a number of well funded firms looking to do away with the dealership experience including online pre owned retailers Shift Technologies Beepi Vroom and Carvana Collectively theyve attracted more than 850 million in venture capital funding The big news heading into the summit was Amazons entrance into the car shopping world which Kathinokkula referenced to open the discussion Amazon came out with the Hyundai EXAMINING THE BRICKS TO CLICKS PUSH Tech vendors believe the industry needs to respond to customer dissatisfaction with the F I process but not everyone believes moving the process online is the answer BY GREGORY ARROYO Moderated by F I Administrations Kumar Kathinokkula the P A Leadership Summits Presenting F I Products Online panel discussion featured l r Matt Nowicki of IAS The Impact Groups Mark Thorpe Cox Automotives Brett Pomerantz Dan Lievrouw of American Guardian F I Director Justin Gasman The Impact Groups Mark Thorpe explains his concerns about the online F I push to Cox Automotives Brett Pomerantz during the P A Leaderships Presenting F I Products Online The Next Ups Tom Cuzzo points to the companys new Transact tool which allows sales managers to see which F I producers are available once a customer is ready to be turned over to F I