Special Fianance Superstar - February 2008

Brock Rueter

Describe your duties as a (Special) Finance Director for Wheel City...
I touch probably 90 percent of all Special Finance deals in the dealership. I’m in the sales tower, desking deals, hanging paper, working on advertising and training sales associates.

What is one thing you can’t live without at work?
My funding clerk. She is a rock star and my right arm in staying on top of stips.

How do you keep your average days to fund at a low 4.8 days?
We stress the importance of getting our money as fast as possible. If you take your thumb off of funding you can have $750,000 outstanding in a real hurry. We also have incentives in place for our funding clerk to get deals processed in a timely manner, and our sales department pay is impacted by how quickly stips are received.

Other than yourself and your funding clerk, what makes your department excel?
We run the entire dealership as a team and strive for excellence in every department. We take advantage of the education and information provided by our fellow 20 group members, our finance companies, and other peers within our industry.

Even the best people need support to excel; what does your dealership provide for them?
We have an onsite BDC to support appointment setting of our Internet leads and more. We have been slowing increasing our direct mail efforts. We have a display in the center of our largest local mall with an interactive kiosk so customers can apply for financing directly on our Web site from the mall. Additionally, we are currently using a locally produced infomercial with local entertainment personalities.

Your dealership takes a very proactive role in working with finance companies; can you describe that?

Stats: Brock Rueter Finance Director 10 Years Dealership Experience 4 Years in Special Finance “Brock’s greatest strength is definitely the integrity he brings to the department. As an owner, it is important to me to know I have someone who understands that compliance is every bit as important as volume.” – B.A. Nerison, dealer, Wheel City Auto Wheel City Auto Sioux Falls, S.D. Average SF Deal per Month 65 SF Average Days to Fund  4.8 SF Sales to SF Leads  30% SF Sales to Total Sales  35%

We do take a sincere interest in our finance partners. I try to meet with each finance source each month. The finance companies with field reps are the best for this process. I ask them to bring as much information as possible regarding our portfolio. We review beacon scores of approvals and declines. We review charge-offs against the original deal to see if there were any red flags that we should have seen. If we have a portfolio that is struggling with some late payers, we will call the customers and encourage them to follow the plan we discussed with them and try to get them to make their payments as agreed.

This monthly meeting has another significant benefit, doesn’t it?
Just a little one that can translate to big dollars. By constantly staying in touch with our finance companies, we are more likely to be aware of subtle changes to their programs. The smallest change in a program could cost you thousands of dollars in unearned revenue.

Working with customers who don’t understand the sales or finance process in Special Finance can be very difficult; why do you keep doing it?
The challenge! It’s fun matching the right customer to the right car to the right finance company. It can be very rewarding to help your customer achieve their goals, the dealership achieves their goals, and that in turn creates opportunities for the rest of us at the dealership. I wouldn’t trade it for anything in the world.

Totally random question. If you could vacation anywhere in the world, where would you go?
Western Europe. It would be fascinating to see all the beautiful architecture in person and get a better understanding of all the cultures prevalent in such a small area.

Vol. 2, Issue 1