Darwin Automotive, a leading F&I software provider for the automotive industry, recently announced the release of Darwin Direct. Dealerships can now empower customers to purchase, contract, e-sign and pay for F&I products 24/7, 100 percent on their own, absent any human involvement from the dealership. JM&A Group, a national leader in F&I consulting, is currently piloting Darwin Direct through its dealer customers.  In addition, Darwin Direct will soon be piloted by other major F&I providers.

“Darwin Direct provides our dealers with an F&I growth opportunity that is exactly what the industry needs right now,” said Scott Gunnell, vice president sales operations & strategy with JM&A Group. “It is designed to combat the ongoing issue of margin compression and the lost opportunities from customers leaving the dealership without purchasing F&I products. Customers can now access and purchase F&I products from the dealership whenever and wherever they chose; a shopping mall, the service drive, customer’s home, their smart phone, you name it. The profit potential is significant.  We are excited about the future and this kind of opportunity where our dealers’ customers can enjoy an excellent experience as part of the vehicle-buying process.”

Over 3,000 dealerships have enrolled in Darwin Automotive’s leading F&I software in just the past two years. Driving their substantial growth is their ability to provide a prescriptive selling process for F&I protection aimed at today’s car buyer.

“I believe a significant part of our industry wants to offer customers more self-serve functionality similar to Amazon, so we have launched Darwin Direct. For years dealers have stated that lost F&I sales are a huge hole in their business. As F&I is so important to overall profitability, it’s an absolute must to go after these sales in a way that is easy for consumers to do on their own,” said Phillip Battista, CEO, Darwin Automotive.

According to Battista, currently, OEMs market extended service contracts to consumers and, if the customer chooses to buy, the OEM gets 100-percent and the dealership gets nothing. “Dealers are losing out on a tremendous amount of F&I revenue. Now they can market and sell F&I products directly to consumers 24/7. Price and payment is completely integrated with Service Payment Plan, Inc., which even offers 0-percent financing for 24 months. Our dealers enjoy substantial gains in F&I profit because we provide a process that resonates with the typical consumer and delivers their options for F&I protection in a way not previously seen,” Battista added.

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Darwin Automotive