Finance & Insurance

Stellantis' move to establish its own captive financing arm in the U.S. is welcome news to dealers who say it will give the company flexibility while being highly lucrative.

Companies that offer F&I training to dealerships say it’s crucial for employees to know how to sell products for each type of vehicle. 

"How do we create a faster F&I experience, one that is easy to understand, with programs that are not only competitive but help customers really understand the lending that they're getting into?" says Tanya Sanders, who was named the new head of Wells Fargo Auto in July.

Joel Levington, a lead credit analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence, talks about the importance of captive finance companies to their manufacturers on the Aug. 11 episode of "Daily Drive" podcast.

Despite the added challenges of the pandemic on sourcing inventory and original equipment parts for reconditioning, certified preowned sales are climbing, which is adding value and profitability to dealership F&I offices.

Justin Buzzell, corporate director of finance at #1 Cochran, said the Pennsylvania-based group "saw a little bit of a pinch" in the early days of the inventory crisis, which has mostly been the result of a shortage of semiconductor microchips.