We have kept Dealers informed about the Australian Securities and Investments Commission’s bid to make significant changes to the way auto Dealers sell finance and insurance.
At the heart, these changes will be ensuring auto finance customers have been sold the right products for them at a fair price, i.e. no unsuitable products and none with inappropriate margins.
With ASIC pushing hard for change, questions are being asked about the role of the popular selling mechanism, F&I menu, in the future sales process.
F&I consulting supplie, Op2ma, has been delivering F&I technology for over 10 years to Australian Dealers, insurers and financiers.
No-one in the country has a larger cross-section of vehicle sales transactions with F&I products, with a database growing by over 25,000 records every month, so we asked them for some insight.
In terms of what the future looks like, Op2ma says we have to start simple. If the government continues to allow Dealers (and business managers) to sell finance and insurance products then they will always need some technology to help them deliver information to customers.
Regardless of the change in margins or change in products that can be sold, the best way to assemble this information in a customer-friendly manner is a menu. If the menu – like the Op2ma Multi-Dimensional Menu (MDM) – can track compliance through embedded sales process checkpoints and manage sophisticated business rules (governed by laws), then an advanced menu will produce consistent performance (within the boundaries allowed) with full-compliance reporting to satisfy the lawmakers.
Plus, if Dealers use technology like MDM – which is integrated with DMS and financier credit systems – they get massive efficiencies, so their people can do more with less, which is what the new landscape may look like. Volume could become the new catch-cry for all Dealers.
So will a menu survive?
We think it will. If the government wants more consistent outcomes for customers and Dealers will need more from less, then a menu is the best way forward.