“OH! THE PLACES YOU’LL GO!

You’ll be on your way up!
You’ll be seeing great sights!
You’ll join the high fliers
Who soar to high heights.”

Dr. Theodor Geisel, aka Dr. Seuss, must have been talking about the car business, right?

You’ve been to some odd places during your career (and so have I). Oh, the places you’ll go and the things you’ll see.

In order to “see,” step one is that you have to look. You have to look at what is going on inside your dealership, continuously and without fail.

For example, when is the last time you pulled 10 deals (and I would look at “re-contracts” for this exercise) and looked for valid signatures on all of the documents? Do they look the same? In other words, did the same person sign or perhaps, could someone else have interceded and quickly scratched out a signature? Your F&I department is supposed to protect the dealership. It can be “difficult” to get that customer back in to sign one more piece of paper because the manager forgot to ask (because of being in a rush). These behaviors should not be tolerated.

Are there any strikeovers or numbers written on top of other numbers? Have all of the changes been initialed by the customer? Does the Buyer’s Order match the installment sales contract? Does line 5 on the Retail Installment Sales Contract (RISC) match the unpaid balance on the Buyer’s Order?

You should have a process to check these things. Someone should be performing an audit on your deals so that you can “see” what is happening.

You manage what you monitor.


“You won’t lag behind, because you’ll have the speed.
You’ll pass the whole gang and you’ll soon take the lead.
Wherever you fly, you’ll be the best of the best.
Wherever you go, you will top all the rest.”


Consider listening to Dr. Seuss (and to me) and you WILL top all the rest.

 

 

Tom Kline of Better Vantage Point is originally from Virginia Beach, Virginia.  He is a dealership compliance expert helping dealers navigate the risks associated with customer issues, employee problems and regulatory matters.  He may be reached at 757-434-7656.