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Hey everyone,
Little-known fact: The CDG Job Board remains the top free platform in automotive for posting and applying to jobs.
Here are some of the top jobs posted recently:
Lenz Truck Center, Finance Manager, Wisconsin
Dean Team Automotive Group, Comptroller, St. Louis, MO
Ron Marhofer Auto Family, Used Vehicle Sales Team Leader, Ohio
Interested or know someone who might be?
Check out each listing here.
— CDG
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Welcome to the Market Pulse—your no-fluff cheatsheet to auto retail, built to help dealers price right, stock smart, and stay ahead.
Overall, F&I satisfaction is slipping: Satisfaction dropped from 84% in 2023 to 79% in 2025, showing the trade-off between higher grosses and longer, tougher experiences.
Longer wait times are dragging the experience down: 64% of shoppers reported waiting to see the F&I manager in 2025, up from 59% in 2023.
Younger buyers are struggling the most with F&I experiences: About 22% of all shoppers felt overwhelmed, rising to 34% for Gen Z.
Still, shoppers are increasingly saying yes when processes are well executed: The share of buyers choosing 3–4 F&I products doubled to 20% in 2025.
(Source: CDK Global / JM&A)
F&I wait times are still hindering the car-buying experience for shoppers.
A recent CDK study shows longer waits are dragging down satisfaction, with 64% of shoppers waiting to see the F&I manager, up from 59% in 2023.
Not a good look, given that customers who wait 30+ minutes are 25% less likely to recommend the dealership.
More importantly, that strain is showing up most with younger buyers, as 22% of all shoppers (34% for Gen Z) reported feeling overwhelmed during the process.
The good news: There’s a clear payoff when the process works, and 71% of customers who described their F&I experience as easy said they would return.
NOTE TO DEALERS:
If the F&I manager is tied up, try having salespeople handle pre-delivery tasks—pairing Bluetooth, walking through tech, or setting up apps.
Dennis Gingrich (Sales and Finance Director at the Niello Company) says this doesn’t cut actual wait time, but it does cut perceived wait time.
His team isn’t formally incentivized to do it, but they try to use the downtime whenever possible to keep buyers engaged.
More buyers are choosing multiple F&I products as VSC and GAP demand rise.
Even though wait times remain a pain point, buyers are still saying yes once they reach the F&I office.
CDK reports most shoppers are choosing 1–2 products (41%), while the share buying 3–4 has doubled to 20% compared to 2023.
And JM&A data points to vehicle service contracts and GAP insurance driving much of that growth.
As Gingrich explained, VSCs are the highest-margin item on the menu, and finance managers often lean into them as repair costs keep climbing. But customers are leaning in too, since rising parts and labor costs make unexpected repairs harder to absorb.
All while GAP is gaining traction, as negative equity returns and costly collisions lead to more total losses.
WHY IT MATTERS:
When F&I managers think like consultants by keeping menus clean and explaining why each product matters, buyers are more likely to say yes and come back.
That means cutting overlap, bundling smartly, and leading with high-value protections like VSCs or GAP.
Simple choices + clear advice = long-term trust and repeat business.
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We asked Gingrich about his team’s dos and don’ts for moving the needle in F&I.
Here’s what he shared…
Do: Make service contract penetration non-negotiable.
Gingrich said his group sets a 60% penetration target for finance managers and ties pay directly to it. Hitting the mark adds another 4% to the total gross they generate for the month, making service contracts a core piece of their compensation.
But with such a hard line goal, how do they prevent bad behavior?
His response: By putting guardrails in place. For example, leases are excluded from the calculation to keep the target realistic, every product has a price cap, and compliance audits happen quarterly.
Dennis Gingrich
That way, managers are motivated to sell, but not pressured into cutting corners.
Do: Measure the most important metrics.
Gingrich’s F&I team lives and dies by two measurements:
F&I profit per vehicle retailed (PVR): The revenue generated by the F&I department
Products per deal: The F&I manager’s ability to cross-sell multiple products to each customer.
“It's the foundation of every compensation plan... Those two metrics are a measure of a good F&I manager.”
The reason: These metrics are the most direct and impactful indicators of the F&I department’s contribution to dealership profitability (30-50% of a dealership’s total profit), operational efficiency, and long-term success.
Don’t: Settle for providers that only drop off brochures.
Gingrich added that too many agents show up with flyers instead of real sales training.
“I would want my provider to not tell me about the products, but take me through what a good F&I sales pitch looks like, along with some objection handling,” he said.
If your current provider won’t do this, he advised either finding one who will or hiring outside trainers and pushing managers to role-play word-for-word.
I hear dealers say buyers don’t want F&I add-ons, but the data shows they’re still saying yes to VSCs, GAP, and more.
The only difference is execution.
Because F&I is like game day: every handoff has to be clean, every pitch has to land, and there can’t be any off days.
One sloppy effort and there goes both the deal and the customer.
What’s the #1 lever for improving the F&I experience in 2025?
Missed Monday’s episode of Daily Dealer Live?
Presented by:
Kilway on Power Dealer AI Prompts, AutoGenius on Untapped Markets
Featured guests:
Jarrod Kilway, VP of Digital Ops at Casa Auto Group
Ben Hadley, Founder of AutoGenius
