May 18

Primer on Dealer Participation Programs and F&I Reinsurance

The Real Structure Behind F&I Profit Walkaway, Profit Share, Reinsurance, and DOWCs Most dealers know F&I products generate profit, but far fewer understand how F&I participation structures determine where that profit actually ends up. Some models pay upfront. Others pay over time. Some allow participation in underwriting. Others don’t. If you don’t understand the structure, […]

May 15

March 2026 New Home Sales: Spring Acceleration, Structural Pressures Persist

Reflecting the most recent U.S. Census Bureau and HUD release (March 2026) | Published May 2026 March 2026 new home sales rebounded from January’s subdued pace and posted the strongest month-over-month improvement of the early 2026 cycle. Sales of new single-family homes reached a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 682,000, up 7.4% from February’s revised […]

May 12

The Direct Marketing Brief: What CLIP Structure Means for Direct Marketers Selling VSC and Protection Products

Issue No. 6 | May 12, 2026 Intelligence for direct marketers in insurance, home services, warranty, and protection. This Week: The Structure Behind Your Admin’s Guarantee THE STATISTIC: B+ B+ is the AM Best financial strength rating that states generally require of Contractual Liability Insurance Policy insurers, the entity that backs many VSC, GAP, and […]

May 12

The Dealership Brief: First Dollar vs. FTP CLIP and the Economics of Dealer Affiliated Reinsurance

Issue No. 6 | May 12, 2026 Intelligence for F&I agents, administrators, and dealership finance professionals. THE STATISTIC: B+ B+ is the minimum AM Best financial strength rating that states generally require of Contractual Liability Insurance Policy insurers, the carrier that backs many VSC, GAP, and ancillary protection products sold at the dealership. That threshold […]

May 12

The Weekly Curve: CLIP Structure, Earnings Curves, and Reserve Timing for Warranty Administrators

Issue No. 6 | May 12, 2026 For warranty administrators who manage loss ratios, reinsurance, and contract performance. This Week: Clip Structure And Reserve Positioning THE STATISTIC: B+ B+ is the AM Best financial strength rating that states generally require of CLIP insurers backing VSC and ancillary warranty programs. That threshold is the minimum regulatory […]

May 11

First Dollar CLIP vs. Failure-to-Perform CLIP: A Complete Guide to Risk Transfer in Automotive Warranty Programs

The automotive warranty industry runs on a layered system of risk transfer. When a customer purchases a Vehicle Service Contract (VSC), a GAP waiver, or another ancillary F&I product, the transaction creates a chain of financial relationships that determines who holds risk, who controls reserves, who earns underwriting profit, and who ultimately pays claims if […]

May 5

The Weekly Curve: AI Is Catching Warranty Claim Deficiencies at Nearly Double the Rate of Manual Review

Issue No. 5 | May 5, 2026 For warranty administrators who manage loss ratios, reinsurance, and contract performance. This Week: The Claims Intelligence Shift THE CURVE: 25% to 42% AI warranty claims processing is identifying deficiencies in 42% of reviewed claims, up from roughly 25% in manual workflows, per MSX International data cited in Colonnade […]

May 5

The Dealership Brief: AI Is Delivering 27% More Showroom Appointments and the Buyer at Your F&I Desk Has Already Changed

Issue No. 5 | May 5, 2026 Intelligence for F&I agents, administrators, and dealership finance professionals. THE VEHICLE MARKET NUMBER: 27% That is the increase in showroom appointment rates among franchised dealers using AI-driven intent scoring, per Colonnade Advisors’ DealerTech M&A Landscape report (March 2026). The floor traffic arriving at F&I desks in AI-enabled stores […]

May 5

The Direct Marketing Brief: The AI Infrastructure Around Warranty Marketing Is Moving From Competitive Advantage to Compliance Requirement

Issue No. 5 | May 5, 2026 Intelligence for direct marketers in insurance, home services, warranty, and protection. This Week: The AI Infrastructure Shift THE NUMBER: 13.9% That is how much auto repair and maintenance costs have risen since August 2022, per BLS, compared to 5.6% for general CPI over the same period. The average […]

May 4

DealerTech AI in Warranty Claims: From Processing to Decision Systems

OEM warranty claims processing is one of the largest manual revenue functions in automotive retail. DealerTech AI in warranty claims is changing how revenue is processed, validated, and recovered across dealership operations. Most OEMs runs their own proprietary claims system. An incorrect submission, a wrong labor code, a missing authorization, a documentation gap, results in […]