COMPLIANCE
This is the common name for the folder or physical file where all original, signed documents for a vehicle sale or lease are stored for compliance and auditing.
What is the Deal Jacket?
Often mistakenly called an "extended warranty," this contract provides broader coverage for mechanical, electrical, and high-tech components.
What is a Vehicle Service Contract?
The amount of money paid to the dealer by a financial institute for completing funding on a vehicle purchase.
What is Dealer Reserve?
If a credit report shows a score below a certain threshold (often 600), a lender will likely require this "stipulation" to prove the customer's ability to pay.
What is POI (Proof of Income)?
This dreaded event occurs when a lender refuses to fund a contract as written—often due to a missing signature, unverified income, or a change in bank tier—forcing the customer to return to the dealership to sign a new set of documents.
What is a Resign?
To comply with ethical standards and fair lending practices, an F&I Manager must present 100% of these items, to 100% of customers, 100% of the time. Otherwise known as the 300% rule.
What are all available F&I products (or the F&I Menu)?
Often overlooked in a rush to print paper, this critical face-to-step involves asking discovery questions about driving habits and past ownership to build a "hook" for every product on the menu.
What is the Interview?
This acronym represents the total F&I profit divided by the total number of units sold.
What is PVR (Profit Per Vehicle Revenue)?
These are the three primary national credit bureaus that provide the reports F&I managers use to secure financing.
What are Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion?
This critical accounting metric tracks the number of days between a customer driving off the lot and the dealership actually receiving the cleared funds from the lender.
What is CIT (Contracts in Transit)?
This IRS/FinCEN form must be filed if a customer provides more than $10,000 in cash or "cash equivalents" in a single or related transaction.
What is Form 8300?
This product protects the customer from "negative equity" if their vehicle is totaled and the insurance payout is less than the loan balance.
What is GAP Insurance?
This metric measures the average of customers who purchase at least one F&I product.
What is PPD (Products Per Deal)?
This credit event remains on a consumer's report for up to 10 years and often requires a "discharge" letter before a lender will consider a new loan.
What is Bankruptcy?
This legal process involves submitting the Manufacturer’s Certificate of Origin (MCO) or the previous owner's assigned document to the DMV to officially record the new owner and the lender's lien.
What is Titling?
This deceptive practice involves having a customer sign a contract before it is fully completed—an action that is strictly illegal.
What is signing a blank (or "open") contract?
a specific word track when a customer says "I want to think about it" to identify if the issue is the product, the company, or the money.
What is Objection Handling?
This is a measurement of the Lender's Finance Charge over the course of a loan.
What is APR (Interest Rate)?
Most lenders will decline a deal if this ratio—comparing the customer’s monthly debt obligations to their gross income—exceeds 45-50%.
What is DTI (Debt-to-Income)?
This is the formal action an F&I Manager takes—either physically mailing or, more commonly, digitally uploading the contract and stips—to officially request that the lender review the deal and release the loan proceeds.
What is Funding?
Under the Risk-Based Pricing Rule, this disclosure must be provided to the consumer as soon as "practicable" but before the installment sale agreement.
What is the Credit Score Disclosure?
This is the term for the customer's monthly payment before any F&I products are added.
What is the Base Payment?
This crucial ratio, calculated by dividing the total amount financed by the vehicle's wholesale or invoice value, determines if a lender will "buy" the deal.
What is LTV (Loan-to-Value)?
If a customer’s credit pull shows a score of "N/A" or "0" because they have no open tradelines, no history of borrowing, and no public records, they are commonly referred to as having this type of score
What is a Ghost Score?
This is the specific "behind-the-scenes" command used to officially move the vehicle out of the dealership's active inventory and move the front-end and back-end profit into the accounting.
What is Finalizing the Deal?