The good news is, there are a variety of tools available on the market to help your dealership manage every sensitive point in the deal process in a compliant way and document that you’ve done so. The combination of compliance tools to manage all the sensitive points in a vehicle transaction with personnel training and testing tools can help your dealership protect itself. 

Just having your F&I manager take “the new guy” under his wing to “show him the ropes” simply doesn’t cut it in today’s fast-paced and litigious world. Not only are both individuals likely to lose track of what they covered, but the dealer won’t be able to document completed training, nor subsequent employee testing over critical laws and regulations applicable to their jobs.  

Today, new technology solutions are available, enabling dealership managers to systematically communicate and document their policies and procedures, as well as to train and test their staff on various laws and regulations. Employees are required to read about and take tests on relevant compliance topics, ranging from understanding credit practices and spot deliveries, to information on privacy and safeguards rules. 

With some Web-based systems, the entire process is automated, enabling employees to complete the training on their own timetable, while allowing management to monitor their progress and document their completion of all required modules. Dealers can then be certain their employees have both read and understood all the material – and prove the training was completed. This can go a long way towards developing a culture of compliance, showing good faith to a jury and helping to avoid punitive damage liability in litigation.

With better compliance training, dealers are also likely to realize benefits, in terms of both reduced turnover and improved CSI scores. Many insurance companies also offer discounts on dealers’ premiums if they implement a comprehensive training program to reduce compliance risks. 
Automated training programs can be particularly powerful, when integrated with robust compliance solutions that can help dealers securely store, manage and retrieve deal information. By giving your training programs the benefits of consistency and auditability that the right technology can provide, and fully integrating them with your other compliance tools, you can sleep easier and keep the focus on selling cars instead of avoiding lawyers.

Vol 4, Issue 11