Don't pick and choose which parts of F&I compliance policy to follow

Write a finance and insurance compliance policy and then follow it in full, advises Shannon Robertson, executive director of the Association of Finance and Insurance Professionals. Don't cherry-pick practices within it, he says.

Robertson says the association often encounters dealerships that have ostensibly instituted the National Automobile Dealers Association's Fair Credit Compliance Policy & Program, a system for avoiding price discrimination by charging consistent margins on dealer reserve, with deviations documented and permitted only in specific circumstances. However, those dealers will follow only some of the playbook.

Robertson says stores might skip parts because dealers think some elements are more important than others. Sometimes, they do so because they anticipate employees won't follow certain rules. For example, he said, a dealer might think, "My employees will never fill that form out."

He called that shocking. "I think, 'Don't you own the business?' "

Robertson also advises against giving a single employee — such as a longtime staffer or a worker who needs help closing — a pass on the rules. Come audit time, the dealership will find itself exposed, he says.

"Consistency to the process is what protects the dealer," Robertson said. "If you're not allowed to do it, you don't do it."