Is F&I Professionalism Dying?
As a Finance Director of a large corporate, domestic line store, it seems that the direction in the industry currently is moving away from professionalism "in the box". I am amazed that recently the trend has become to having sales managers uploading deals to banks, attempting to dictate back end profits as well as the front end, and generally convoluting the entire process. It seems to me that we should maintain strict separation of these areas for all of the obvious reasons. Payment packing comes to mind as well as wire fraud, etc. Is the almighty $$$'s causing many in the industry to lose sight of right & wrong? In my humble opinion this direction I am seeing in our area is some serious litigation waiting to happen. F&I in this market for the most part has become a second tier position. The current mentality seems to be that any closer can do it. Just put a monkey in the box, show them how to do the paperwork, and turn them loose! Easy Deal! The Director is just a glorified producer that has more experience and handles all of the heat from the producers, while taking turns as well and getting all of the problem deals bought. I would like to know if this attitude and direction is happening everywhere in the industry, or is it localized for our little area?
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