P&A Online

February 17, 2010

Welcome to P&A Online, a monthly eMagazine dedicated to the interests and concerns of providers and administrators of automotive finance and insurance products.

P&A Online is your source for industry news and updates as well as original feature articles to keep you well-informed of best practices and trends.

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Changing Warranty Terms: Impact on Service Contracts

Warranty terms for manufacturers have been increasing, and these changes, while lowering the claims paid under the service contract, can distort the results for administrators.

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The Menu Dilemma

Very few providers can say that their rates are available electronically through every menu system on the market. In fact, to my knowledge, the answer is none.

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Service Drive Customers Are Good Candidates for VSC Sales

Many customers are willing to consider a VSC after the initial vehicle purchase. The StoneEagle Group's web-based solution gives service advisors the tools

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Tapping into the Power of the Electronic Menu

For product providers and administrators, the benefits of a menu go far beyond the additional products sold in the F;&I department of auto dealerships. Menus provide an excellent medium for plug-in web services for product rates and bi-weekly payments. In addition, the menu can be an entry point ...

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Interdependency: The Key to Growth in the New Decade

As a new decade begins, we are experiencing unprecedented challenges in the economic environment. These include constraints in the capital markets, consumer hesitancy

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Open Dealer Exchange Acquires Provider Exchange Network

Dearborn, Mich. - Open Dealer Exchange, LLC has acquired the Provider Exchange Network (PEN) from MenuVantage, LLC. This popular network service enables F;&I product providers to transmit rates and receive contract information from any participating dealer system. The service is currently in use by 60 leading providers of finance and insurance products such as service contracts, [...] Read Full Story

Toyota May Lengthen Warranties to Keep Customers

ORLANDO, Fla. - Toyota Motor Corp. may offer incentives or increase the length of its warranties as it tries to recover from an embarrassing string of safety-related recalls, The Associated Press reported. Group Vice President Bob Carter said the company has not decided exactly what it will do after it gets past the recalls, which include [...] Read Full Story

GMAC Returns to Capital Markets, Raises $2 Billion

GMAC Financial Services received a major cash infusion this week, raising $2 billion through a bond issue Wednesday, Feb. 10, CEO Michael Carpenter told Automotive News. The transaction represents the first time GMAC has been able to access the capital markets since May 2007 and is a major step toward profitability, Carpenter said. The bond sale [...] Read Full Story

Xzilon to Use F&I Admin's SCS Auto to Deliver Fully Automated Solution to Dealers and Customers

CHICAGO ─ F&I Administration Solutions, LLC has signed Xzilon, Inc, a California-based provider of appearance protection products, to its SCS Auto administration solution. “We needed a solid administrative system that was able to deliver a fully automated solution for both our supply chain and our customer contracting. At the same time we needed to ensure that it could [...] Read Full Story

Toyoda Will Skip Testifying Before U.S. Congress

Toyota Motor Corp. President Akio Toyoda plans to skip testifying before the U.S. Congress about the company’s recalls, potentially heightening criticism of his handling of the carmaker’s crisis, Bloomberg reported. Toyoda said he hasn’t decided on his schedule for his U.S. visit. North American President Yoshimi Inaba will attend the hearings in Washington this month. [...] Read Full Story

Toyota Boss Says Automaker Grew Too Fast; Outlines Quality Reforms

TOKYO - Conceding that breakneck expansion led to Toyota Motor Corp.'s current recall crisis, President Akio Toyoda outlined reforms meant to get quality back on track, including more active use of the car's so-called black box crash data recorder, Automotive News reported. Toyoda, grandson of the carmaker's founder, also indicated he won't sit before U.S. Congressional [...] Read Full Story

Daimler Set to Extend CEO's Contract, Source says

FRANKFURT - Daimler AG's supervisory board is set to approve a three-year extension to CEO Dieter Zetsche's contract on Wednesday, a source familiar with the matter told Reuters. Though some German media had speculated about Zetsche's future, his internal standing was never in doubt and some company insiders believe his contract could be extended beyond 2013. [...] Read Full Story

AutoNation CEO: Toyota Slow to Share Scope of Problem

ORLANDO, Fla. - The nation's largest Toyota dealer Saturday said the automaker's executives in Japan may have been slow to share with American counterparts the scope of the problems that triggered a recall of more than 8 million vehicles, The Detroit News reported. Mike Jackson, chairman and chief executive of AutoNation Inc., said that disconnect [...] Read Full Story

Ford Turnaround Pays Dividends for Dealers

DEARBORN, Mich.- Ford Motor Co. says its turnaround is paying big dividends for its dealers, who it says saw their profits skyrocket in 2009, reported The Detroit News. According to the automaker, profits for Ford dealers were 15 times higher last year than they were in 2008. Profits at Lincoln-Mercury franchises increased tenfold during the [...] Read Full Story

NHTSA Investigates Toyota

WASHINGTON - The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said it was quickly investigating hundreds of new complaints about recalled Toyota Motor Corp. vehicles, as the automaker sought to contain the fallout on several fronts, The Detroit News reported. NHTSA reported that it has now received complaints alleging 34 deaths linked to sudden unintended acceleration in [...] Read Full Story

Toyota’s Acceleration Complaints Cite 34 Deaths

Toyota Motor Corp. vehicles have been linked to 34 deaths by consumers filing complaints with the U.S. government over unexpected acceleration, according to the Transportation Department, Bloomberg reported. The total jumped by 13 fatalities since Jan. 27 as nine more filings were added to a database the department’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration uses to [...] Read Full Story

GM Saving $10.7 Billion Means Cash for Truck Upgrades

General Motors Co. said it has slashed $10.7 billion from annual costs, freeing up money for marketing and vehicle upgrades while boosting CEO Ed Whitacre’s push for a 2010 profit, Bloomberg reported. The expense cuts include reduced interest payments from the elimination of debt, the offloading of union retiree bills and $6.7 billion from steps [...] Read Full Story