F&I and Showroom magazine has launched a new contest that will honor five F&I managers with the best presentations in the following categories: vehicle service contract, GAP, tire and wheel, key replacement and theft deterrent. Each winner will be honored at the 2011 Industry Summit, where one will be named the grand prize winner and the recipient of the F&Idol trophy.

Sponsored by Innovative Aftermarket Systems (IAS) and powered by SmartEye, the F&Idol contest will be accepting video entries from F&I managers until Friday, Aug. 12. Each submission must be five minutes or less, include at least one fictional/stand-in customer in a staged transaction, and show a minimum of two objection-handling techniques.

“We’ve been tossing around the idea of staging such a contest for years, but we just couldn’t figure out how to make it happen,” said Gregory Arroyo, executive editor of F&I and Showroom magazine. “That’s when IAS stepped up and offered its SmartEye platform to host the contest.”

Winners of each category will receive a $1,000 cash prize, free airfare, hotel accommodations and a free pass to the 2011 Industry Summit, scheduled for Sept. 26-28 at the Las Vegas Hilton. Category winners also will appear on the magazine’s website along with their videos and in the magazine’s special conference issue in September.

The overall winner will then receive the F&Idol trophy and an additional $2,500 cash prize. He or she also will be profiled in the magazine’s October 2011 issue.

Judging the entries will be Bob Corbin, president and CEO of IAS; F&I and Showroom’s Arroyo; Marv Eleazer, the magazine’s F&I columnist and an F&I professional at Langdale Ford; Ron Reahard, president of Reahard & Associates Inc.; Steve Veldkamp, training director for Great Lakes Companies; Alan Miller, senior vice president of sales at CNA National; Robert Harkins, president of RAH Consulting; and Randall R. Crisorio, president and CEO of United Development Systems.

“This is for yearlong bragging rights,” Arroyo said. “It’s also an opportunity for one individual to be recognized in front of the entire industry.”

Entries can be recorded using an iPhone, Android phone, Flip video camera, iPad, Webcam or any other video recording device. Videos can then be uploaded to the contest site at www.fandidol.com. The deadline to enter is Aug. 12.