Dealer glossary
F&I
The finance office: arranging the customer financing and presenting the products sold alongside the vehicle.
Definition
Also called finance and insurance, the box
F&I is where the deal is financed and where the products that go with it are presented - service contracts, GAP, and similar coverage. It is a separate step from selling the car, and in most stores a separate person.
Two things happen here. The credit application goes to lenders and comes back with decisions, and the customer is offered products. Both need to be fast, because the finance office is where a sold customer most often becomes an unsold one.
The credit side is why lender network integrations matter. Re-typing a customer into a second system to submit an application is the kind of delay that costs deals.
Related terms.
Back gross →
The profit made in the finance office: F&I products, and the dealership share of the finance reserve.
E-contracting →
Signing and transmitting the finance contract electronically instead of on paper.
Dealer reserve →
The portion of a financed deal the dealership earns for arranging the loan, based on the difference between the lender rate and the contract rate.
See how this works in one system.
DealersCloud runs inventory, the CRM, desking, the books and your dealer website on the same records - so the things in this glossary stop living in separate places.
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