There’s a lot of ‘fear’ around F&I compliance. Too often the FCA is regarded as a body to be feared, and their regulations complicated, time-consuming and difficult to apply. Encouraging motor dealers in this attitude towards regulations can be helpful if you’re a compliance specialist looking to maintain your customer base or grow your business.
The trouble is, it's not really true.
The reality is that motor finance and insurance products aren’t really that complicated. The rules and regulations around selling these products are not that complicated either. Essentially, they’re based on a simple underlying premise.
Because F&I products can cost a lot of money, it’s important that they are properly explained so people who are unfamiliar with the products can make an informed decision.
The FCA is just asking the industry to be fully transparent about the products and make sure their customer isn’t buying the wrong product for their needs.
Is this really something that motor dealers should be scared of?
The Facts about the FCA
I’m of the view that compliance companies are not doing the industry any favours by playing up fears of the FCA. We ought to be reassuring dealers that compliance is essentially simple and easy to manage – and that they are capable of being on top of things. Surely it’s better reassure motor dealers that it isn’t really that difficult?
It’s human nature. If you’re anxious about doing something, you’re likely to avoid doing it, and more likely to get it wrong.
For better compliance within the motor trade, we need to have a better attitude about achieving it.
Face the fear – it’s not as scary as you think.
I suspect the fear within dealerships around FCA compliance really stems from the fact that the FCA require us to demonstrate we’re doing the right thing. They want evidence. And providing evidence means recording what you’re doing as you go along.
For the average vehicle sales exec who got into the industry because they love cars, that sounds like the FCA is looking over your shoulder and judging you. You feel exposed. Plus, they’re demanding a whole lot of paperwork and what seems like tickboxes filled, when all they’re doing is trying to sell somebody a new car.
And if you get something wrong, your manager gets on your case and you have to go back to the customer and put it all right.
No wonder they’re anxious about it.
So why are compliance companies colluding with motor dealers in their anxiety, instead of reassuring them?
If it feels clunky, you’re doing it wrong
As business development specialists who place compliance at the heart of our business, I believe it is our job to stop peddling the lie that compliance is difficult. It isn’t. It is pointless tcompliance a bo think about compliance as a bolt-on to the sales process. It’s an integral to it, and the only reason it seems difficult is because you’re doing it wrong.
If you embrace your responsibilities and embed compliance into the natural sales process, it’s seamless, and you can’t make mistakes. With systems like Ingeni Transaction Manager, the paperwork is raised and filed automatically so each sales exec will have their evidence loggedautomatically, and they won’t get any comeback from management or your compliance auditors.
It also makes reporting simple for the business managers higher up the management chain.
As we enter the last quarter of 2026, we should be thinking about ways of making life easier in 2027. Banishing the fear factor around compliance and the FCA is a good way to start the New Year.
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