Every aftermarket provider and administrator wishes 100% of their business was conducted electronically today. When I talk to non-automotive people about how most car dealerships today prepare finance contracts and aftermarket product contracts on 3-ply forms on an impact printer, they don’t believe it. Almost every industry has moved away from pre-printed 3-ply forms that require manual processing by a third party. So will that ever change at car dealerships? My answer is a clear and unequivocal - YES!

The best e-contracting platform is one that aggregates aftermarket product providers so the dealer can go to one place where he can obtain access to whomever he does business with, and every dealer I talk to desires this type of process because it is their belief that it is faster and easier than putting that 3-ply form into their computer like they do today.

As with most things in today’s economy, the cost for this type of platform is a consideration that is a must. A great approach to reduce expenses for the dealer is to have the administrators and providers assist in covering (or reimbursing) a portion, if not all, of the nominal fee that is associated with running the platform. By doing this, the dealer and provider and administrator secure the “value added” concept because for the administrator and provider, every contract that can be delivered electronically adds value, and of course if the dealer does not see the value in it, there is no value for anyone involved.

Now, to convince a dealer and his F&I Manager that e-Contracting is the way to go, I could go through and list all of the benefits that exist for preparing aftermarket products in an electronic format, but in my opinion the F&I Manager may not necessarily buy into the idea, especially if he/she can stick a 3-ply form in their impact printer that was developed in 1963 and get it done quicker, then that is what they are going to do.

The dealer may fully acknowledge that electronically processing contracts will eliminate errors, additional double or triple data entry in other parts of the dealership, and result in more legible and professional appearing forms. But the bottom-line is you need to deliver all of these benefits (then some), AND make sure the process is faster for the F&I Manager than using the 3-ply form, because for the F&I manager, the other benefits just don’t seem to apply to them and thus they see minimal benefit in using it.

So, we need to deliver value to the administrator and provider while making it an easier and faster process for the F&I Manager at the dealership. Is this like solving for world peace or world hunger? No. It is just a matter of the proper work flow management, supported by the right technology.

Based on feedback I have acquired from the market, I think there is a ‘secret sauce’ that can make this happen - so that every dealer will move away from 3-ply pre-printed forms that are error prone, and often require redundant data entry, yet at the same time not forcing the dealer to go to multiple websites. The ingredients of the secret sauce are as follows:

• Whatever you do, the process needs to be faster than what the dealer does today.

• Dealers are not going to go to multiple web sites because they do business with multiple providers – It is just way too time consuming.

• Don’t make a dealer get a rating for a product unless they need to. If a dealer consistently sells a 1000,000 mile wrap product on all new cars – they should not need to go get a rating on that product. They should just validate the data and print the contract.

• If a rating is needed, it must be fast. For example some providers will supply a rating in as little as 5 seconds or less, while others can take up to 45 seconds (or longer) and I can tell you now – that dog does not hunt. By having a variety of providers available on the platform, you can eliminate those “sleeping dogs” and move the process along in record time. Because lets face it, if a rating is really needed, the process needs to be fast, fast, fast.

• If a dealer is selling multiple products from multiple providers, do not make them review and validate all of the same data on every product – the dealer should never have to validate and review data for any product or provider more than once.

• Make sure the dealer has a good printer and good internet connections. It is amazing to me that a dealership can have millions of dollars invested in IT but they try to save a buck by having a slow internet connection. Successful dealers need the right tools to be successful and the Internet is a critical tool for dealers to have today.

We at F&I Express are practicing these very concepts and have not only been successful with dealership growth, we have successfully signed on with over 15 administrators and providers, and are finalizing a product called F&I Express 3.0 which will enable dealers to use that ‘secret sauce’ by preparing an electronic contract, with no errors, no redundant data entry, with the administrator/provider having a real time transmission of the contract data… and all in less time than it takes the dealer today with the 3-ply pre-printed forms.

I have no question that this is what is needed, this is where the market is going and that at a certain point in the near future – administrators and providers can dramatically reduce their print costs and dealers can throw out their Oki-data impact printers. Amen.