2017 Azbee Awards of Excellence
Category
Print > Regular Department > Heartland
Awarded to
Karen Faust O’Rourke, James B. Treece, News Editors; Hannah Lutz, Jamie LaReau, Arlena Sawyers, Amy Wilson, Nick Bunkley, Vince Bond, Jr., Staff Reporters; Jim Henry, Nancy Dunham, Jacquie Goetz Bluethmann, Nora Naughton, Special Correspondents
Entry details
F&I Insight
Issue date (if applicable):
Publication name: Automotive News
Publishing company: Crain Communications Inc.
Website home page: autonews.com
Please describe the publication's mission and readership:
Automotive News serves automakers, suppliers and dealers. Our 57,000 paid subscribers are split roughly into thirds: dealers; automakers and suppliers; and others. Our mission is to be the primary source of industry news, data and insight for the industry’s decision makers. We provide our audience the information they need, in a timely manner and in the format that they desire. Automotive News (in weekly tabloid print, digital and e-newsletter formats), autonews.com, related magazines, our daily webcasts -- First Shift in the a.m. and AutoNews Now in the p.m. -- and our specialized e-newsletters are part of Crain Communications. Our website has 340,000 registered users and averages 2.2 million visits a month, with 1.3 million unique visitors. The vast majority of our articles are staff written. Our coverage includes regular monthly pages/departments: Production Line, Connected Car, Marketing, Finance & Insurance, Fixed Operations, and Remarketing. The first is devoted to supplier/technology news; the last three to key dealership profit centers. Industry executives pay up to $1,500 to attend our annual events, proof that they see value in those events. These include (with 2017 attendance): Automotive News World Congress (1,100+), L.A. and N.Y. marketing seminars (800+; 500+); Best Dealerships To Work For seminars and dinner (400), and PACE awards for supplier innovation (450).
Please describe the enterprising work that went into this entry and its significance or impact on readers:
Automotive News publishes the Finance & Insurance Insight quarterly. Profits from F&I are critical to dealership profits in the new-car department. That makes this section one of our best-read departments. About half of the stories in each Insight are tied to that quarter’s theme, with the other half ranging across a wide variety of topics. While some articles take a “how-to” or case study approach, others explore trends in auto sales and financing, personnel challenges, and other issues metrics.
In March, we looked at F&I as a service business. F&I managers have a reputation for being in it only for the money, but many F&I managers go out of their way to help customers make the best financial decision, whether that means offering financial education courses, pitching appropriate F&I products or even advising that the customer stays in his or her current vehicle. We found that there were many ways dealerships, along with credit bureaus and lenders, try to better serve the customer. The June Insight, focused on the profit outlook amid slowing car sales, included exclusive data on F&I revenue at the nation’s largest dealership groups, drawn from Automotive News’ annual, proprietary survey of dealerships across America. In September, the theme was used cars, a segment that has side-stepped the leasing boom – so far.
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F&I Insight
Category
Print > Regular Department > Heartland
Description
Publication name:
Automotive News
Company:
Crain Communications Inc.
Winner Status
- Regional Bronze Award
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