From recording transactions to coaching managers, AI is redefining workflow in dealership finance and insurance.
The process of dealerships offering customers finance and insurance options has traditionally centred on a menu presentation and the approach of the individual manager in the chair.
That model is evolving as dealerships adopt new technology, particularly artificial intelligence, to support compliance, cybersecurity, workflow efficiency and customer experience.
Providers say the goal is not to replace the F&I manager, but to create structure around the presentation, reduce friction and give dealers better visibility into performance and training needs.
Derek Sloan, President of Sym-Tech Dealer Services, said the company’s technology focus has long been rooted in improving the customer buying experience in the F&I office.
“Customers hate the F&I process, hate step-selling, hate a wasted amount of time, hate the fact that they don’t even know what they’re buying,” said Sloan. “They hate all of it.”
Sloan said Sym-Tech’s daveplus software platform is designed to make the process more efficient for both customers and F&I managers through menu presentations that can be tailored to customer needs.
“Our daveplus platform is really designed just to make the process for the customer experience and the F&I manager that much more efficient with menus that are custom fit to the customer’s needs based on them answering several questions,” said Sloan.
“It’s self developmental,” said Sloan. “If you’re an F&I manager you have a 24-hour coach that’s helping you to fill in some of the deficiencies but also builds personalized curriculum and builds training modules as well.”
Sloan said the platform supports a more targeted approach rather than presenting products in a blanket format. “It’s able to do a prescription type of approach rather than a blanketed approach,” said Sloan. “It offers a relevant solution for the customers.”
Sloan said technology can also help customers feel more in control of the decision-making process.
“It gives a better experience, relevant products and allows customers to make decisions on their own, pick and choose their options rather than feel they’re being sold to or being dictated to what they need to choose,” said Sloan.
Sloan said Sym-Tech recently launched Coach AI, an artificial intelligence platform designed to support training and development by recording business office conversations with customers, summarizing them and generating coaching feedback.
“It’s self developmental,” said Sloan. “If you’re an F&I manager you have a 24-hour coach that’s helping you to fill in some of the deficiencies but also builds personalized curriculum and builds training modules as well.”
Sloan said the objective is to create consistency across multiple F&I managers within a dealership. “They’re not held hostage to one representative that is just really good,” said Sloan. “You can have five F&I managers in the store and have five different processes. It allows them to duplicate properly.”
Will Wheaton, Vice President of Sales and Marketing at First Canadian Financial Group, said AI is being layered onto the company’s existing F&I selling software platform, FC Drive.
“We have a selling software, FC Drive, that was launched just before COVID and have been adding on new features that are used to present our products,” said Wheaton.
Wheaton said the system can record the conversation and capture the screen presentation with the consent of the consumer, producing a transcript that documents what occurred in the transaction.
“We have the ability at the dealer’s choice and with the consent of the consumer to record the conversation and a screen capture of the presentation to produce a transcript,” said Wheaton. “Then we know what has happened in the transaction.”
Wheaton said recording transactions can provide compliance support and clarity. “Recording the deal, as long as the customer is okay with it, helps keep the dealership really solid as far as compliance goes,” said Wheaton.
He said AI can condense lengthy conversations into a shorter summary that helps dealers manage the department more efficiently. “With the use of transcribing technology and AI the conversation can be whittled down into a one-page summary highlighting what happened,” said Wheaton.
Wheaton said First Canadian has also trained AI around what it considers an ideal F&I turnover, producing a numerical score that can highlight where improvement is needed.
“So we know where there’s been issues or if the F&I manager needs a little more training,” said Wheaton. “Or the store can use it if there’s a finance director that wants to take a look at the deal and use that to help manage the department.”
Wheaton said technology also supports presentation speed and structure, including the ability for managers to pre-build bundles. “The role of the F&I manager is probably going to stay the same, it’s just being helped by the technology to make their job easier and help with the customer because you have a more structured flow,” said Wheaton.
Raj Bissoon, Vice President of Strategy, Product and Marketing at iA Financial Group (iA Dealer Services) said AI is helping support and expedite the sales process while creating a stronger audit trail.
“Where historically you’d have a one-size, fit-all sales presentation, F&I managers are able to use data and AI and have more of a targeted presentation,” said Bissoon. “It’s educating and informing customers to be able to make better decisions.”
Bissoon said the intent is to supplement human interaction rather than replace it.
“It’s not looking at AI to replace human interaction but really to supplement it,” said Bissoon. “It’s really looking to create incremental improvement in the sales process and sales execution, including document signing and creating operating efficiency.”
Bissoon said dealers are adopting digital contracting, workflow automation and e-document management to reduce administrative tasks and streamline operations.
“Dealers are focusing on streamlining operations, supporting sales through digital contracting, automated work flow and e-document management,” said Bissoon.
Bissoon said these tools can reduce transaction errors and help ensure regulatory compliance, while also improving product awareness and presentation consistency.
“It’s creating a more consistent product presentation and putting the F&I manager in a better position to make sure the customers have better product awareness,” said Bissoon. “Ultimately what that’s driving is creating a better environment so that the end customer can make a more informed decision.”
Chantale Corbeil, Head of Public Affairs at iA Financial Group, said the company launched ancillary products in British Columbia that comply with the province’s 2024 regulatory framework. Corbeil said the company intends to launch several F&I products in Quebec this year in response to Bill 30, which regulates which products dealers are able to sell to customers, which will come into effect in July.
Across providers, AI is being positioned as a tool to document presentations, reinforce training, strengthen compliance and support a more transparent customer experience in the dealership F&I office.
