Group 1 F&I upgrades improve profits

GRAPEVINE, Texas — Over the past two years, Group 1 Automotive Inc. has revamped its finance and insurance operations with new technology and training to help the retailing giant sustain a consistently high F&I performance.

Since 2015, same-store F&I gross profit per vehicle for Group 1, the nation's fourth-largest dealership group, has exceeded $1,500. In 2018, it reached $1,707.

An effective staff, consistent training and an appealing F&I product lineup are keys to F&I success, said Keegan Savell, Group 1's regional finance director for the Dallas-North Texas market. But recent changes also helped the dealership group continue to move the mark: a digital menu and an internal compliance training platform.

Compliance has always been a mandate for the company, but "we've taken additional measures to make it even more of a priority by launching our own internal compliance," said Savell.

Two years ago, the Houston-based dealership group introduced its learning management system, which includes compliance modules and assessments.

"No F&I manager will ever deal with any paperwork, deal with any customers until they have [completed] our compliance training," said Savell.

The training typically takes a few days, and employees must score at least 85 percent to pass.

Group 1 also sends employees to third-party training schools.

As laws are added or changed, the company sends F&I managers a training module that they must complete within a certain time frame in the learning management system.

Since Group 1 launched the compliance system, audit scores have improved. Even among tenured employees, the training was "really eye-opening to them, and it helped kind of brighten a light to how important this is for our consumers to protect their information," Savell said.

General managers at the stores also audit a few deals each week, Savell said.

"Compliance is a huge piece for us," he said. "It's a zero-tolerance policy for us. You won't be employed with Group 1 if you can't follow the compliance and laws that are out there."

Also about two years ago, Group 1 implemented Darwin Automotive's digital F&I menu. Unlike the traditional paper menu, Darwin's menu takes customers through a series of questions and informational videos on a tablet. Most F&I managers hand the tablet to the customer to give them more control.

"Consumers do like working with it. They love the whole tangible feature where they can grab an iPad and they can pick and choose which F&I products they want versus having an F&I manager saying, 'Here are the options,' " said Savell. "It gives that consumer a tangible feature, which helps make it a lot more transparent to the consumer."

Switching to a digital menu has saved F&I managers time and streamlines F&I product sales with Group 1's vendors. The contracts are signed electronically and automatically sent and registered with the vendors. By the time customers leave the dealership, their policies are already active.

"Before, you would have to wet signature on a piece of paper. When we book the deal, we have internal accounting centers that then register the policies," Savell said.

The electronic signatures will also help as Group 1 rolls out more digital initiatives, such as Acceleride, its online car-buying platform that will be available at all the group's U.S. stores by the end of the summer.

Group 1 ranks No. 4 on Automotive News' list of the top 150 dealership groups based in the U.S., with retail sales of 170,517 new vehicles in 2018.

New technology and training at Group 1 Automotive Inc. has helped the nation's fourth-largest dealership group sustain high performance in its finance and insurance operation.