For a long time, F&I has been treated like the last stop. Customer picks a machine, agrees to the numbers, then gets walked into the box and that’s where we try to make our money. That worked when the dealership controlled most of the information. It doesn’t necessarily work the same way now.
Today’s customer has already done a ton of homework before they ever show up. They’ve watched walkarounds, read forums, maybe even decided ahead of time whether they believe in extended coverage or think it’s a waste. Same thing with GAP and prepaid maintenance. By the time they get to your store, many aren't hearing about these things for the first time.
So when everything gets saved for the F&I office, it feels late. Up front it was all about the unit and the excitement of buying, then all of a sudden it turns into contracts and protection products. That disconnect is where a lot of deals can lose momentum.
The stores that are figuring this out are bringing F&I forward, earlier into the process. Not in a pushy way, just in a natural way. Sales is talking about ownership, not just price. Simple stuff like mentioning what it costs to replace a display, or what happens if the unit gets totaled, or how people are using prepaid maintenance to keep their bikes or side by sides in great condition. It’s not a pitch, it’s just part of the conversation.
Same thing on the website. If your site only talks about units and payments but never touches on protecting the purchase, you’re missing a big piece of the story. Customers are forming opinions before they ever submit a lead. If you’re not part of that, someone else is.
And then when they do get to F&I, it doesn’t feel like a different world or even a different department. It feels like the next step in something that’s already been set up. The questions are easier. The objections are softer. The close feels more like a decision than a battle.
If F&I only lives in the back office, you’re always going to be playing catch up. The opportunity now is to make it part of the full buying experience, from first click to final signature. The stores that do that aren’t just making more per deal, they’re making it easier for their people too.
Another piece of this, and potentially the harder one for most stores, is trust. Even if you move F&I earlier in the process, if the customer doesn’t trust how it’s being presented, it still falls apart. That’s a whole different issue many dealerships are dealing with right now.
Check out parts 2 & 3 of this blog post, later this month...
.svg){kind=small}