Sometimes we are our own worst enemy - 2

by Gil Van Over

This week’s news flash was not published in the conventional news media, rather in one of the online forums I periodically lurk on.

The poster, a finance manager, was extremely upset over a scenario at his dealership that day. The conflict was with a sales manager and the topic was whether to deliver a potential straw purchase.

The finance manager was adamant that the deal not go through while the sales manager was just as adamant that the car started moving down the road. The General Manager’s response? Defer.

This scenario could just as easily been the finance manager holding up a deal because of other potential bank fraud, such as power booking, credit application fraud or manufactured stipulations.

The sales manager kept pushing the “we’re all here to sell cars” theorem while the finance manager valiantly resisted with the “I ain’t doing the perp walk for anyone” argument.

In the end, the General Manager did not take a position, but rather deferred to the dealer’s attorney.

What should he have done?

I am not an attorney, but do occasionally get these type of phone calls, asking my opinion.

With the assumption that the information relayed by the poster was the complete story, my recommendation would have been to let the lender know the complete story and if the lender decides to buy the deal, document the decision and move forward (if the lender knows about the transaction, it is not technically a straw).

Otherwise, do not sell the car to a straw purchaser.

Sometimes we all need to just get back to the basics - AFI


Gil Van Over is the President and founder of gvo3 & Associates, a nationally recognized F&I, Sales and Red Flag Rule compliance consulting and training firm (www.gvo3.com).


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F&I Training Cash Conversion Video

Here is a good technique for cash conversions that is worth a look - but someone please tell this guy to throw away that chair!!!




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Cash For Clunkers

by Troy Spring

With all the "Cash For Clunkers" madness going on, (I have not talked to one manager who wasn't at least a little frustrated with all the paperwork and effort it takes to do a deal.) I thought it was especially a good time to talk about this subject.

The major reason is how much a mistake cost the Dealership and Owners in time and cash flow. If a mistake is made and you have re-submit at the "end of the line" and it the cash flow losses will add up quick. With the additional hours it takes to make a deal, the additional mental fortitude it takes to cross all the T's and dot all the I's for this program it is easy to get frustrated and disenchanted.

Many managers with that aggressive A type personality which makes them great at the job of selling and delivering cars on a daily basis are finding that channeling the B type personality and the anal retentive side of the brain is hard work, I know I would would be one of them if I was to sit in that seat. So it is without any reservation I say that this could cost people their jobs making mistakes and not getting funded by the government on deals that were contracted and spotted with $4500 on the line.

So slow the process way down, Ask for help, have someone double check the work before you click submit, make sure you take a little time to yourself and get refreshed (maybe take your day off) and not getting to overloaded and "fried". Notice: Fried and Fired use the same letters!!!!! If you are "Fried", you (or your managers) will make mistakes, a lot of them. This will only lead to you becoming more fried, and lead to getting fired because of all the meetings, efforts, yelling, etc it will take to clean up the mistakes while trying to conduct new business. It will be a vicious cycle that will not end for a lonnnggggg time.

Have a plan to do it right the first time and you will find you have a boat load of more time on your hands. With that extra time you will find you will sell more cars, deliver more cars and be much happier.

Thoughts from the author:

I agree it isn't rocket science but it was written from the heart ( after hearing some of my dealers frustrations) and thought it if it helps one dealer have less cash flow issues because he is waiting on $200k from the government for a month longer than he needs to, one guy to not lose his job over it, one manager to say, hmmmm good thinking from an outsiders point of view (in the heat of battle you can't always see every angle) than I will be one happy guy for the risks I took writing this. Troy Spring


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