Car buyers are waiting in stores more than 30 minutes to reach F&I managers, and it is taking its toll on customer satisfaction scores.
Car buyers are waiting too long to reach dealerships’ managers, and that wait time is hurting customer satisfaction, according to a study.
Sixty-five percent of car shoppers who participated in the 2023 Friction Points study by dealership software provider CDK and the National Automobile Dealers Association Academy said they spent 15 to 45 minutes in a dealership waiting for an F&I manager. Of that group, 59 percent said they waited more than 30 minutes.
“The No. 1 wait time is around price negotiations, but the second biggest wait time is waiting for F&I,” Anu Roberts, senior director of product marketing at CDK, told Automotive News.
“Presenting those menu options earlier is helping build a better trust and transparency with the customer”
Anu Roberts, senior director of product marketing, CDK
The study, conducted in November and reflecting 2022 data, was based on responses from 335 NADA member dealers and 1,150 U.S. consumers who bought vehicles in the six months prior. First-time car buyers represented 18 percent of respondents, with most participants from California, Texas, New York, Florida, Michigan, Ohio and Pennsylvania.
The wait time for F&I can add an “unreasonable” amount of time to the overall in-store sales process, Roberts said, noting most consumers defined unreasonable as anything longer than two hours. CDK’s study showed 46 percent of car buyers said their sales process took more than two hours. That’s up from 43 percent in 2021.
Car buyers’ dissatisfaction with wait time is a key concern for dealers and consumers alike, Roberts said.
“Dealers have told us that’s their No. 1 strategy for 2023 … improving customer experience,” she said. “And on the consumer side, customer experience is just as important as pricing.”
Providing a terrific customer experience was prioritized by dealers five times more than managing inventory to maximize profits, and they said the long wait times created a negative impact on customer satisfaction scores.
Thirty minutes “just to get to F&I — it just absolutely affects their customer satisfaction,” Roberts said.
Wait times for F&I as a pain point is not new, Roberts added, while noting she sees improvement in the sales process.
“I think it’s highlighting the fact that the F&I process maybe hasn’t improved as much as some things on the sales process have, with the introduction of digital retail … into the consumers’ journey and connecting that to the in-store experience,” she said.
Dealers are responding by adding staff, Roberts said.
Average dealership sales head count dropped to 11.3 people in 2022 from 15.4 in 2021, but overall sales head count remained steady. Meanwhile, the average F&I manager head count rose to 4.4 in 2022 from three a year earlier, CDK’s study showed.
“I don’t know if throwing more bodies at the problems … [is] the best way to alleviate those friction points,” Roberts said.
She recommended introducing F&I menu options to car buyers earlier in the sales process, including online, to improve customer satisfaction.
“Presenting those menu options earlier is helping build a better trust and transparency with the consumer,” Roberts said.
F&I product sales increase when menu items are introduced to consumers online, according to the 2023 J.D. Power U.S. Sales Satisfaction Index Study.
“That’s where I think there’s opportunity if you leverage the process and the technology better,” Roberts said, “and maybe moving that into a little bit earlier in the sale [while] also enabling your sales folks to have some of that discussion as well.”
