FINANCE & INSURANCE Q&A: New Chrysler Financial chief courts dealers

Klaus Entenmann, the new head of Chrysler Financial, wanted to start off right with Chrysler group dealers.

Entenmann, 47 and a native of Germany, moved to Detroit last month to take over his new duties after three years running the captive finance company's commercial truck division in Chicago.

First, he snapped photographs of Chicago architecture, assembled the images in a collage and sent signed copies of his creation to the members of the Chrysler group dealer councils.

His next move was to set up the Business Vehicle Finance division to help Chrysler group dealers win more commercial fleet business.

Entenmann talked about his goals in his new job with Staff Reporter Donna Harris.

We are testing flexible financing. We have a relationship with two banks that help us in buying subprime business. It is important to have a solution in place to cover this area. We want to be more aggressive. We are setting up flexible financing to get more deals through. We hope to roll it out in the summer.

We are also being more aggressive in the used-car finance business. About 50 percent of the trucks we finance are used, and 25 percent of the cars we finance are used. This has to be higher. A captive finance organization has to support the dealers in moving iron.

We also want to make dealers more aware of our relationship package (offering discounted interest rates for preferred dealer customers who send Chrysler Financial more business). Dealers who support us with retail get a better deal on wholesale finance.

We've rolled out an advertising campaign in trade magazines to make dealers more aware of the package.

We must make sure consumers understand credit. If we need to help them at the point of sale, we will do it.

We have an educational Web site that helps people know what their credit score is and how it affects the credit application. We'll be concentrating on that for the next six months.

There are always waves in the industry. You have ups and downs. What's in today is out tomorrow. Leasing is out. Sooner or later it will come back, though not in the same magnitude.

The only culture shock was the lawsuits. In New York, which has a vicarious liability law (in which the owner of a vehicle, even if it is a lessor, can be held accountable for a damage award after a crash), you can get sued if a drunk driver pulls out of a parking lot and hits someone. You can get sued because he was drunk. That's stupid.

In Germany, selling cars is a profession. People take three years to learn the business. Better trained people stay longer with the brand. Turnover is low.

There is a focus on price, on the best deal. We miss selling the quality. It's all about the payment.

I try to explain there is value behind every customer. If we lose the customer, we are not just losing one deal. If we lose them once, we lose them forever.

We have projects to train F&I people. I think training is key.