“F&I” is the dealership’s finance and insurance desk. They handle things like your car loan or lease and may also offer add-on products like warranties or insurance.
“Margin compression” just means the dealership is making less profit per car than it used to. When that happens, they have to make up the difference with other revenue streams like financing and service.
A “retention center” means the goal is to keep customers coming back. In this context, F&I helps build a relationship so you return for service and future purchases, not just to close the deal once.
“Fixed ops” means the dealership’s ongoing money-makers like service and parts—things that happen after the sale. If selling cars gets less profitable, service and parts help keep the dealership afloat.
They’re referring to the pandemic period when car buying and pricing were weird and not “normal.” The point is that dealerships can’t rely on those unusual conditions anymore—they have to execute their process.
Here, “throughput” just means how many deals the dealership can handle quickly. The point is that even if you’re selling a lot of cars, you still have to slow down enough to connect with customers.
“Relational” means you focus on building a real relationship with the customer instead of reading from a script. The host argues that this approach works better in the finance office because customers trust you more.
In the finance-and-insurance part of buying a car, customers often have concerns or push back on add-ons or paperwork. The idea here is that you’ll hear those concerns anyway, so you should handle them with a real conversation, not a script.
CSI scores are customer satisfaction metrics used by many dealerships to gauge how happy customers are with their buying experience. Higher CSI scores are often tied to better internal performance and can correlate with stronger repeat business and referrals.
F&I stands for Finance and Insurance. It’s the part of the dealership that helps you with the loan and the extra products that can be added to the deal.
A written process is a step-by-step plan that people follow the same way every time. It helps the team stay consistent instead of relying on whoever is working that day.
F&I means the dealership’s finance and insurance department. It’s where you talk about car financing and optional add-ons that can add profit for the dealer.
A “shiny object” is when people get distracted by something new and exciting. The point here is to make sure the new AI actually solves the real issues, not just looks impressive.
A customer interview is the part of the F&I process where the dealer asks questions to understand what the buyer wants. The point here is that the AI tool can spot when that step gets skipped.
Term
menu
Here, “menu” means the list of options the dealer offers the customer—like different coverage or add-ons. The host says the AI can detect when reps don’t go through that options list.
“Role play live” refers to interactive training where F&I staff practice real customer conversations using the AI tool. The idea is to simulate scenarios so reps can improve their process and objection handling before applying it in-store.
“AI band” here means the group that’s all about AI hype. The speaker is saying they’re using it for real process improvement, not just because it’s trendy.
PVR is a way dealerships measure how much profit they make per vehicle. In this segment, they’re saying the AI tool helped them earn about $400 more per car.
LIVE
All right, gang, welcome back to this episode of the dealer playbook podcast here at the
auto media marketplace booth together with iHeart Media Automotive. I have one of my
favorite people. Okay, the one and only Adam Marburger. Thanks so much for coming back
and joining me on the dealer playbook. Always like hanging out with you, my friend.
Dude, you know what? You know what I love about you? You have the ability to articulate
what you do in a way that not many people have. And it's not even the gift of gab because I relate
the gift of gab to like people that just BS. Yeah, you don't BS. You tell it how it is. But
why it's inspiring for me if I could just give you a genuine compliment is because I love
speaking with people who know what they know. And you know what you know, especially when it comes
to finance and insurance, the whole process, dealership operations, that's what we're going
to be talking about. I want to kick it off with this first question. With margin compression
across the store, why does fNI become more important now, not less?
I mean, because we need to maximize here, the fNI department, there's two things a
it's a retention center. Okay, so a lot of people I actually spoke on stage a little bit about this
yesterday is in the past, we used to look at fNI is okay, let's stay compliant. We've got to do the
transaction. We got to maximize the gross profit. But the reality is, fNI, our job is to do those
things. But we're to get our customers happily engaged in service. So they come back and buy
another car. It's an insult. So why is it important because of margin compression? Because we've got
to pick it up in fNI and fixed ops. And it's more important right now, because here, Disneyland's
over. I mean, we're way past the COVID era, right? We're way past that. We're competing at a high
level. And we've got to perform an fNI. And dealers are singing the same tune. I mean,
I haven't met a dealer, right? Well, all of my dealers are really focused on fNI. But
across the country, dealers are paying more attention to their fNI office now, I think,
than I've ever seen ever. Yeah. And I feel like, so this is true story. The last time I bought
a vehicle, not too long ago, I built a deeper relationship with the fNI manager,
then I did the person who was supposed to sell the car. And the next time I went and bought a
vehicle, I went right through the showroom floor and knocked on it. I just knocked on his window,
and I'm like, I'm back. Do you still have all my information? I'm like, I want that one. And
what I really appreciated is that he remembered who I was despite being at a massive volume store,
despite selling 850 cars a month. He was like, Hey, Michael, what's going on, bud? Yeah. And so I
also think like the throughput of what I'm hearing you say is like, yes, I can get them into service
that has that that has to happen. But it's going to happen through relationship.
It is. Well, in another thing too, back in the day, we were given fancy word tracks and scripts. So
you say this and I say that this and you say that and you're just going to close.
Doesn't work. Right? It's relational.
People make decisions based on previous experience. People make decisions in the FNI office
based on their previous transaction too. So what was that like? What was the FNI
department like at their previous experience? Right? A lot of times FNI people, we just want
to get the customer in and out and let's get down the road. It's we need to slow down a little bit,
get to know our customer because objections are real. They come, but they're a lot easier
to overcome when you build a relationship and you're selling based on what the customer truly
needs and what's right. It's about them and it's not about us. And if we can be relational in the
FNI office, which a lot of us are now, we're going to get higher CSI scores, retention goes up and
guess what else goes up? Profit profit. We make more money when we care. It's like this is the
age old thing. It's like money is the recognition that value has been received. You want more money,
provide more value. Yes. Right? Yes. That's what I'm hearing. So let me ask you this because I
know you're very involved in training. Yeah. And I can only imagine the number of dealerships that
you go in who have similarities and then have similar downfalls. What are you finding from
your vantage point through the lens of training is something that is often overlooked that needs,
that can't be ignored anymore. Well, okay. Wonderful question. And it's a very easy question
for me to answer. Yeah. When I see a performing FNI department, let's talk about the ones that
are getting it done. Got the culture. Got servant leadership throughout the house.
You have defined processes. Those processes are held accountable. So back this up.
Processes are not the sexiest thing to talk about. Just really not. Right? Right. It's the most
critical piece to the equation. So the dealers that are falling short do not have a written process
and it's not being held accountable. The stores that are winning right now are dialed in.
The processes are duplicatable. They're trainable. They're coached on and they're held accountable.
That's what's overlooked and that's what's missing from the stores that are under performing.
Why are people afraid of accountability? I don't know because it stings a little bit.
It really does. I mean, I have a coach. Yeah. Kind of afraid of her. You might know her.
Danelle Delgado. That's my coach. I'm kind of scared of her. Oh, what's up, Danelle? Yeah.
You know, I'm a little bit, you know, I'm not like, I am afraid of her, but I don't want to let her
down. But so there's certain things that we do in groups that we were held accountable. We have
a like-minded individuals that hold each other accountable. But it stings if you've never had,
if you've never participated. Are you saying that those beach visits aren't as delightful as they
look at your pictures? They're fun, but there's a lot of work. Hey, there is a lot of work there.
But going to the accountability piece, it's just people don't like, it's sometimes unnatural.
It's unnatural for some people to be held highly accountable.
Do you think it stems from just how we're all raised? Like some PTSD from like just being
razed by, like I'm trying to get to the root cause of why are we afraid of it? Is it because
are we afraid of change? Are we afraid of success? You know,
you know, I think change is pretty uncomfortable for most, right? Change is uncomfortable for most.
You know, and a lot of us too have bad experiences. So like I've worked, I started in 1999.
So yeah, yeah. Where's all your gray hair, dude? I've got it in the beer. You'll see,
give me two days, you'll see a lot here. But you know what, there's,
there's a lot of us that have been victims of having bad managers, right?
Sure. Drill sergeants mean, and so that right there can rub people the wrong way.
But then when you get the right, when I ran into the GM,
I pulled him aside to introduce him to one of my business partners. I haven't seen John,
his name's John Aronson. I doubt, I don't, he doesn't live on social. He probably doesn't
podcast, but I will tell you right now. I pulled him aside and gave him the best compliment ever.
I said, John, I speak on accountability all the time. You held me accountable at the highest
level when I was a rookie F and I manager and without you up my, you know what, all the time,
I wouldn't be where I am today. And I want to thank you for that. I thanked him sincerely,
because without him, it wasn't like, it was micromanaging. Yeah, he was a micromanager.
There was no question. But he loved me and he cared. He wanted, he wanted what was best for me.
And so he made sure I did what I was supposed to do. Is it one of those things where
you either have the right mindset or you don't? Like, I just think of like, what's,
what's separated you at that time? Because I know, I know your story. I know
the things you've recovered from, which is inspiring of its own case. But what was it in
you at that time that you were like, despite being micromanaged, I'm not going to use that
as an excuse to not put any effort in. That's a great question too. I will tell you in my 20s,
I didn't like the accountability. And I didn't appreciate the accountability.
And I didn't respect the accountability. In my 30s, I grew up, I think life events,
you kind of touch on life events, having kids getting a little bit older,
you grow into appreciating the accountability as you age, I think. That's what happened to me.
I just, my story, you know, my 20s, I was too immature and wasn't ready. And then as I got a
little bit older, I look at things a little bit differently. And then as you get older,
some of us take on more responsibilities. So when you're managing more and more people,
you understand, now you look back and go, oh, now I know why John did that. Oh, that makes sense to
me why he was so hard on me in this area, because he saw something in me. I didn't have that many
people back then that saw on me what he did. That's why he had his thumb on me like he did.
Yeah, it was actually a play of love, not micromanaging. Like he saw something in you and
he's like, well, I know what it's going to take. So it's almost like you're trying to make a man
out of your teenage boy and you're like, bro, you got a man up. Yeah, it just is what it is. Yeah.
And all of the parenting advice out there written by people who have never had any kids, by the way,
say, never say man up to your son. What do you think? You know, it's like, dude,
no, because I need him to understand that the way he's behaving right now is not
becoming of a man. Yeah, I don't care what anybody debate me on this until you're
blue in the face. You're not going to change my mind. I agree with that. But with be a man
comes great accountability. And I was thinking about this as you were speaking. I mean,
acceptance. It's the hamsters moving out of my promise. Acceptance of
not liking your current circumstances as a motivator to why you would want to change.
Right. Like, you're like, wait a minute, I hate losing all the time. Yeah.
You know, so like, I've been doing blood work now. You know me. You've known me for a while.
Put a lot of work into getting in shape and losing and all this stuff. Oh, shucks.
But it was the blood work that held me accountable. It was like, no, let's give you the data
on what you need to do. And but because I was so unhappy with my current state,
I paid attention to it. The accountability became a motivator for action because I was so unhappy
with my current state. And and then that led to the ownership you were talking about. I had to
take ownership and say, well, but look, for 20 years, I put effort into not taking care of myself.
Yeah. Now I have to own that. There's no way out of this mess other than owning it and taking
accountability. And I think there comes a time in your life where you just, for me and my story,
you get to a place where you get sick and tired of yourself and you get sick and tired of the
BS that you feed yourself to, right? Because there's nobody that can be us than yourself, right?
It's easy to be us yourself. And it gets to where you're like, you know what, I'm sick and tired
of this, something has to change. And I can relate to that at a very high level.
This kind of leads me to the next thing though, because I feel like in an effort to avoid
accountability to do the things that truly matter, we start looking for new tools, we start looking
for new AI, we start looking for all new things. So what are you seeing from an FNI perspective
when it comes to new tools, new AI, new this and this? Is it avoidance? Is it looking for
a shiny object to solve real problems? Like what are you seeing from your vantage point?
Well, AI is a word we're all thrown around nonstop. It's annoying. It's getting annoying. Now I am
an investor in an AI company and automotive. Me too. And I will tell you that this certain company,
this is not a shiny object. This is something that the big publics are embracing the massive
dealer groups are using this auto tool. And what it does, what's really cool, and I'm not going to
overly endorse it. I'm just going to go baseline here. Yeah, sure. It allows us to put our process
into the AI tool. So our process is into the tool. This tool records transactions.
It tells us when FNI people skip steps. It tells us when FNI people get a cash
deal five minutes before close and we don't do a customer interview and we don't do a menu.
So from a coaching standpoint, it gives us the ammunition to say, oh, it grades this,
this FNI person needs help here. This FNI person needs here. So a lot of dealers are embracing
the AI from an FNI standpoint. And here's another thing too.
These AI tools now, of course, I would love to be in every store every single day training,
but you can role play live with the AI tool, real world scenarios. So it's pretty sexy,
and I'm really, really excited about it. I'm not on the AI band. Well, I kind of am.
I'm not like I'm not trying to like change the world with you've moved through shiny
object to impactful. Yes, no, we're using it. We were we're getting almost a $400 lift in FNI
PVR with the tool $400 of transaction. We have the data $400 of transaction. So yeah, so yes,
I've adopted it. I've embraced it. And we are holding it accountable as an agency right now.
I love this. Okay, so as we as we move into my last question, what I want to know then is
for the the dealer principal, the general manager, sales manager listening to this,
if they were going to make one adjustment to start seeing to protect margins,
what's that one shift that they should be implementing in their store right now?
The shift to protect margins is to invest in the human capital within the four walls of the store.
Protect your good people, look to turn those that can't be turned. It's all about your people.
Coaching and mentorship on a never ending basis. I'm telling you, I see a lack of real coaching.
It's got to be it's it's the investment that we make into our human capital is going to change
everything. This resonates. I had our CTO on, of course, we're heavily invested in some AI stuff.
And he said one of the greatest misses would be investing in our skill sets,
like human skill sets still need to be developed. And this kind of resonates. You're saying something
that's adjacent to that. You're saying, yeah, invest in your people. Yeah, you need to invest in
your people. Because if you don't, someone else will. Fact, I wake up with the mindset every
single day, every day, Michael, somebody's out there wanting to take everything that I have.
There is somebody out there that wants, I've got some wonderful, I don't call them employees,
partners, teammates. There are people that want my team, of course, and I'm not allowing that
to happen. So I'm going to pour into my team, I love my team on a never ending basis. And it's
not just by bonuses and gifts and trips, it's pouring into them with real mentorship and
guidance and leadership. You will be a better person as a result of this machine versus,
you know, going through life on your own. I love it. Dude, Adam Marburger, how can
those listening and watching connect with you? Just find me online, you know, Facebook and LinkedIn.
I'm kind of, you know, LinkedIn, Facebook. I'm pretty easy to find and I respond to everybody.
So this is my pal. You see why I love this guy so much. Thanks so much for joining me on the
DPP. I appreciate you. Thank you. Good man. Hey, thanks for listening to the dealer playbook
podcast. If you enjoyed tuning in, please subscribe, share and hit that like button.
You can also join us and the DPP community on social media. Check back next week for a new
dealer playbook episode. Thanks so much for joining
About this episode
Margin compression is pushing F&I to matter more, not less—because it can function as “a retention center” that improves CSI, retention, and profit. The conversation centers on relationship-based conversations, repeatable F&I processes with real accountability, and using AI to flag skipped steps. Adam Marburger also argues dealers protect margins by investing in human capital—coaching and mentorship—rather than leaning on incentives or technology alone.
In this episode, automotive F&I expert Adam Marburger reveals how leveraging data and accountability is generating a nearly $400 lift in F&I PDR per transaction for dealerships. Discover how top-performing dealers aren't chasing the next shiny object, but instead focusing on human capital and systematic processes to protect and grow their bottom line.
What you will get from this episode:
Understand why F&I is now a retention *and* profit center for your dealership.
Learn how to identify and fix overlooked process gaps in your F&I department.
Discover how AI isn't just hype—it's a powerful tool for F&I accountability and coaching.
Strategies for investing in your team to drive consistent F&I performance and dealer growth.
Why accountability, even when it "stings," is the key to unlocking hidden revenue.
Adam Marburger, CEO at Ascent Dealer Services, brings years of experience in automotive retail and F&I training to help dealers optimize their profit centers.
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