It is widely accepted that a dealership should be able to support a customer with F&I products after the sale of a vehicle but that is not necessarily to say that the dealership should handle it first hand, in fact the recommendation is really that this aspect of the business is outsourced to a company which is dedicated to the finance and insurance industry. It is understandable why many dealerships, especially smaller ones, will look to handle this in house, there is after all a feeling that in doing so it offers a better experience for the customer, but the reality is that outsourcing this is always going to be the best move, and here is why.
Resources
From a purely logistical standpoint it makes little sense for a small dealership to have to invest the time and the money in getting the resources and the training to deal with things like insurance and finance. Beyond this you will have ensure that each day you have both staff for sales and for f&i and given the number of vehicles you are likely to sell each week or month, that is just a false economy to have staff in specifically for that. Even if you have multi-skilled staff, dealing with f&i is time consuming and how is watching the showroom whilst a member of staff is busy with that?
Professional
It is far more professional looking for a business to give a customer a smooth sailing process when they are dealing with their finance and insurance and that is why if you are able to hand them off to a high quality outfit, it is also going to reflect well on you. What many forget about outsourcing is that you do this to a company which are experts in what they do, deliver that for your customer and you are going to come out of it looking great.
Focus
You are in the business of selling cars and other vehicles and that is exactly what you and your staff should be focused on, and nothing more. This focus is what will make money and keep the dealership going and it is essential that this is your only focus. Perhaps there will come a time in the future where you look to have your very own f&i department, but for now just keep things purely focused on ensuring that you deliver the very best experience for the customer, and make sales the most important factor.
After Care
Dealing with f&i is not just a 5 minute job, there is also the after care and if customers have an issue they are going to be coming back to you looking have it resolved. This s a time consuming hassle which you just don’t need and that is why it will be so important that you just let the experts who have the resources deal with this.
Always outsource this kind of aspect of the sale, it will be better all around.