F&I Think Tank

Jane Vaden Thacher of Vaden Automotive Group provided an inside look of her dealership's F&I operations during her "Breaking down the Walls" presentation.

Rick McCormick of Reahard & Associates used a crumpled up piece of paper to illustrate a method of showing customers why buying GAP from their car insurance company is not always the best idea.

James Ballou of Dick Norris Buick GMC.

Justin Gasman of McCaddon Cadillac Buick GMC provided one of the crowd's favorite story where he converted a customer who was dead set on buying cash over to financing.

Jim Ganther of Mosaic Compliance Services educated the crowd on compliance issues.

Demitrios Lahiri of American Financial & Automotive Services, Inc. gave his presentation "Managing the Lender Function" while attendees enjoyed their lunch.

GP Anderson of Thielen Motors, Inc. gave his unique approach to selling in the F&I office during his "Entering the House of Happiness" presentation.

Attendees left many positive comments about the crowd interaction that was present throughout all the panels of the event.

The "F&I Top Guns" panel consisted of (l-r) James Ballou, Caz Cazaubo and Justin Gasman.

There were plenty of food options for attendees to enjoy throughout the day.

The female F&I manager focused event was moderated by Dina Wilson of Timbrook Automotive Group. It consisted of (l-r) Teasha McMillion, Angela Barrett and Diane Uzelac.

F&I Think Tank, an all-day event that preceded Dealer Summit took place on May 3 at the Sheraton Tampa Riverwalk hotel in Tampa, Fla.

Teasha McMillion of Water Tigress of Florida had a message to female F&I professionals of the future: “You are just as valuable as men. We do things differently, but we all have to do the same job in the end.”

Attendees lined up early to pick up their passes for the event.

Charlie Robinson of Resource Automotive - The Warranty Group kicked off the day with his "Where We Are in the Evolution of F&I Best Practices" presentation.

Attendees would often take out their phones to record or take pictures of the panels throughout the event.

The "Shark Tank" panel was moderated by Bob Harkins. The panelists included (l-r) Gerry Gould, Luis Garcia and Rick McCormick.

One of GP's presentation exercises had attendees on their feet.

Female F&I professionals accounted for a healthy percentage of attendees during the day-long event.

Caz Cazaubo of BMW of Sarasota shared his methods of selling to highline customers.

Attendees had plenty of times throughout the day where they could interact with each other and share stories.

The "Busting Compliance Myths" panel included (l-r) Micahel Tuno, Jim Ganther, David Robertson, Steve Roennau and Tom Hudson.

Luis Garcia, owner of Avid Insurance introduced many of the panelists throughout the day.