Finance & Insurance

LOS ANGELES — In response to coronavirus fears, Hyundai is relaunching its Assurance job-loss protection program for new vehicles, offering to make up to six months of payments for customers who buy or lease over the next six weeks through its captive financing arm. Genesis is offering a similar program. …

AUL Corp., one of the nation’s leading finance and insurance product providers, plans to grow market share this year by automating processes to relieve underwriting tasks from employees and bolstering its customer service efforts. Both changes reflect a growing trend of F&I companies to undertake consumer-facing initiatives. Jose Fleites, COO …

A federal judge in Pennsylvania, saying the amount would shortchange impacted consumers, has refused to approve a proposed $ 4 million settlement in a class action that alleges subprime auto lender Flagship Credit Acceptance violated the Telephone Consumer Protection Act. U.S. District Judge Michael Baylson rejected the settlement in part …

F&I product and reinsurance provider Portfolio Holdings has agreed to acquire competitor National Automotive Experts/NWAN. Combined, the company will rank among the top 10 largest F&I product providers in the nation, executives said. The acquisition continues an ongoing trend of F&I product company consolidation. Portfolio CEO Brent Griggs said the …

Service contract administrators are hard at work on F&I products geared specifically to electric vehicles ahead of a big expansion in the number of EVs on the market. In some ways, that’s complicated. In other ways, not so much. The relatively easy part is that EV buyers want many of …

GM Financial and Ford Credit are making auto finance more digital with online lease-end tools. The online platforms are the captives’ latest efforts to streamline the lease-end experience and improve coordination among the dealership, lender and customer. Much of the car-buying transaction can’t be done online because of state-level regulations …

Disruption is coming to the auto industry, whether it is ready or not. Many U.S. dealerships recognize the need for change but just aren’t sure of the best path forward. Some are hesitant but will soon learn they must evolve or be left behind. And those who are embracing the …

Digital retailing is one of the hottest trends reshaping auto retail. Dealers, vendors and automakers all are vying to help customers finish at least part of their vehicle purchase outside a showroom. Yet despite the energy coalescing around digital — and the Amazon-like customer experience comparisons it elicits — there …

In fall 2016, Ricart Automotive Group President Rick Ricart received an out-of-the-blue email from an old college fraternity brother asking whether he was interested in speaking with executives at a fledgling software company that had a new-car retailing platform. In his call with AutoFi, which develops and markets software to …