The Federation of Automobile Dealers Associations (FADA), the apex national body of automobile retail in India has announced the start of Dealer Satisfaction Study for Finance and Insurance to be undertaken in association with PremonAsia, a consumer-insight-led consulting and advisory firm based out of Singapore.
Manish Raj Singhania, President, FADA said, “With the annual Dealer Satisfaction Study, becoming the benchmark in understanding the dealer-OEM relationships, FADA is happy to take a step further to launch Dealer Satisfaction Study for Finance & Insurance Companies. The study will focus on key aspects of the relationship between Dealers and Finance & Insurance companies and therefore provide a platform to understand the nuances of this relationship. I am sure that the study will get overwhelming support from the F&I Sector as this is the first attempt towards understanding the issues faced by Auto Dealerships with companies in this sector.”
Amar Jatin Sheth, Treasurer & Director DSS F&I, FADA said, “In line with FADA’s stated objective of helping Dealers with all aspects of running their dealership, the DSS for F&I is the first study to be launched covering the insurance and finance company relationships with the dealers. The results of the exercise are expected to help the dealers and the F&I sector work on key areas of concern in order to improve services to the end customers.”
Rahul Sharma, Director and COO, PremonAsia said, “Managing dealer expectations, not only with the auto OEMs but with all other stakeholders in the auto retail business is important for a smooth business operation and to provide best services to the end customer. It is with this intention that 2024 FADA DSS for F&I is being launched, a first study of its kind in the industry. It is expected to go a long way in not only improving dealer & F&I companies relationship, but also provide the best products and services to end-consumers in the lowest possible time and costs.”
The study will look at key factors and attributes impacting the business relationship across areas of retail and wholesale finance and insurance. With increasing participation of dealers in such initiatives from FADA, the DSS for F&I will try and understand the different aspects of relationship starting with the ease of finance and insurance policy, training of dealership personnel selling these products, disbursements and claims. It is expected that the results of the study, will help F&I companies to design newer products, services and processes to help dealers and end-consumers. The key highlights of the study are:
The study will cover three broad sectors – retail finance, wholesale finance and insurance.
Within each of the sectors dealer principals will be requested to choose the most preferred partners and rate them on different attributes and factors related to services offered and the processes.
Basis the dealer ratings, the best Finance & Insurance companies will be listed depending on the score that they get in different segments of the automotive industry – passenger vehicle (mass market), four-wheeler (luxury), two-wheeler (mass market), two-wheeler (luxury), three-wheelers and commercial vehicles.
Based on the results of the study, the top players under each segment of the automotive industry will be awarded at a glittering award function at the Annual FADA Insurance and Finance summit on June 14, 2024 at Hotel Sahara Star, Mumbai.
The idea of starting a study of this nature was conceived last year and FADA along with its knowledge partner PremonAsia started identifying various requirements and expectations that the Dealers have with different F&I companies. The broad structure of the questionnaire was prepared and discussed with industry professionals for their inputs. With their suggestions incorporated in the questionnaire, it was then tested with key automotive dealers across segments of the industry to include any other area that may have been missed out.
FADA says the Survey is open to all automotive dealerships and it is also sending invites requesting dealers to take this survey and help the study to be successful with large participation. The questionnaire has been hosted on the web and will be open till May end.
