An Interview With Matt Croak

Wise F&I entered the F&I space with a credit insurance program in the 1980s. The company then quickly developed their first asset protection product, GAPWise, which remains a top product in their portfolio today. Building on that, the company expanded, to provide a full suite of F&I products to agents and dealers today.

“Our goal is to support these agencies and provide them everything they need to have an edge in their geographic markets with automotive dealerships” says Matt Croak, the company's president.

Croak stresses that relationships are key, not only to his own business, but to the agent-driven F&I business model in general. “Our business is dedicated to providing protection to individuals and families, and working with a winning team of agents, dealers and lenders to deliver valuable protection. It’s a personal business, so relationships with partners are paramount in building a business that attracts and retains customers.”

His best advice is for anyone looking to become an agent is to “find a good mentor, someone who has not only been in the business for a while, but who is widely admired and respected.” In addition, he emphasized that any agent — new or established — will grow their own business by never compromising their integrity. With strong relationships being the key component to success, he believes, “being there when someone needs you and always owning up to mistakes are the first and most important elements of the relationship.”

A Bright Future

So what does the future hold for F&I and agents? “Technology,” Croak notes, “is going to play an even bigger role than it does today.” His biggest excitement comes from the platform-agnostic systems that have broken through the market, allowing a dealer to sell multiple products, from multiple sources, all from the same system.

Croak believes this makes selling F&I products to consumers online easier and more efficient for all parties. Why is that important? Because the next generation of car buyers, the “Gen Y and younger” groups, already have a strong affinity for technology, perform more up-front research and, in the end, are going to give their loyalty to dealers and products that accommodate their technology-driven lifestyle.

“The reality is that we need to continue to embrace, rather than be resistant to, new technology,” Croak says. “There have been big developments already, and there will continue to be new breakthroughs. Technology is already driving how transactions happen today and, with greater integration, it’s going to continue to develop significantly in the future.”

Not only is the next generation pushing new technology developments, Croak said, but the cars themselves are demanding that F&I managers and agents offer a much different product mix today than they did in the past — and that mix continues to change.

“The cars have changed,” he said. “And those changes have driven a need for a change in some of the products that we, as an administrator, offer to agents and dealers for those vehicles. A few examples include that cars no longer have body side moldings. To save weight, they have flat body panels that are not nearly as thick as they used to be — and most cars have alloy wheels now, regardless of their retail cost. A lot of these changes in vehicle design have driven us to develop products that serve the needs of the consumers buying them and wanting to keep them looking new.”

Croak believes compliance is the other major issue facing the industry today. There are different issues related to how a dealer sells products, but the drive for better technology is also motivating greater regulatory compliance. Technology may bring up-front challenges, but it also brings solutions, making it easier for providers and dealers to remain compliant. “The use of the new technology tools that are currently available and continually evolve,” Croak noted, “will allow both dealers and agents to become more successful and more legally compliant.”

And that comes back to the question of what agents can do to stay on top of the trends, bringing relevant and up-to-date products to dealers, and helping them be more successful in selling F&I products. “Everything comes back to technology,” Croak said, “but that’s the them: A good command of technology and the ability to implement, train and use it will likely set the average agents apart from the great ones in the future. That thought process not only applies to agents and agencies, but to all of us that serve in this dynamic and ever-changing business.”