Jean-Claude Silva, General Manager, and Ève Alary, Vice-President of Sales for Quebec.
Adapted from Affaires automobiles
Extended warranty provider KM+ is seeking a bigger role inside dealerships, moving beyond protection products into remote F&I support, customer follow-up and AI-assisted coaching.
The Quebec-based company has also been building its Ontario business, with employees based in Ottawa and an insurance partnership with Alberta-based Fortress Insurance Company. The expanded offering places KM+ in a competitive field where other F&I suppliers offer dealerships across Canada combinations of protection products, training, technology and operational support.
In an interview with Affaires automobiles, Jean-Claude Silva, General Manager of KM+, outlined how the company is broadening its business after nearly 15 years in the extended mechanical warranty sector.
Those products, distributed through dealership partners, remain at the core of its operations. However, KM+ is adding services designed to support other aspects of dealership F&I operations, including staffing, training and customer retention. The company also offers credit insurance products through Chubb.
One of the more significant developments is Novara, a new division that provides centralized, remote F&I support to dealerships. The service is designed to help dealers manage transactions when their existing F&I personnel are unavailable or additional capacity is needed. Remote staff can assist with product presentations and customer transactions, providing an alternative to relying exclusively on in-house personnel.
“It’s another way to help our partners,” Silva told Affaires automobiles, noting that the company is also developing additional customer-retention services.
KM+ also offers warranty-renewal outreach, with personnel contacting customers approaching the end of their factory warranty coverage to discuss additional protection options.
Adding AI to the F&I process
Another component of the company’s expanding offering is August AI, a conversation-analysis platform for which KM+ says it has secured exclusive distribution rights in Quebec. The technology records and analyzes conversations between dealership employees and customers, identifying customer needs, objections and missed opportunities. The resulting feedback is intended to help employees improve their sales presentations and customer interactions.
“How did I open the conversation? Did I ask the right questions? Did I listen to the customer enough?” said Silva, describing the types of questions the technology can help employees assess.
AI-assisted F&I coaching is becoming an increasingly competitive area, with several established suppliers introducing technologies that analyze customer interactions and provide performance feedback.
For dealers considering such systems, potential benefits include more consistent coaching and greater insight into how employees conduct F&I presentations. Recording customer conversations also raises questions about consent, privacy and how customer information is stored and accessed.
KM+ is complementing its technology offering with KM+ Academy, a training and coaching initiative aimed at developing dealership employees’ product knowledge and sales skills.
“There has to be human support behind all this,” said Silva.
Building its Ontario business
KM+’s expansion beyond Quebec provides another avenue for growth. The company has established a team in Ottawa and began working with Alberta-based Fortress Insurance Company earlier this year to support its Ontario operations.
Silva said the company had to adapt to different regulatory requirements governing warranty products in Ontario. Dealers in the province must ensure that extended warranties sold through their dealerships are properly insured or secured in accordance with Ontario’s Motor Vehicle Dealers Act.
Taken together, the additions reflect KM+’s effort to compete beyond its traditional warranty business. The company is entering a market where F&I suppliers increasingly combine protection products with technology, training and operational services, giving dealerships additional options when evaluating their F&I partners.
