How the Wrong Earnings Curve Almost Cost an F&I Administrator Millions When Selling the Company
When preparing a company for sale, financial optics matter. For F&I administrators, few metrics carry more weight with buyers than loss ratios—and those ratios are only as accurate as the earnings curve behind them. F&I earnings curve optimization must happen before a company goes up for sale.
Here’s a real-world example of how defaulting to a pro-rata curve nearly tanked a deal—and how it was avoided.
The Problem: Pro-Rata Earnings with Front-Loaded Claims
A growing administrator defaulted to a pro-rata (straight-line) earnings curve—recognizing revenue evenly over the life of the contract. That might seem conservative or industry-standard, but in their case, it was wrong.
Their VSC products were claims-heavy in the first two years.
| Contract Length | Claims Activity | Earned Premium Recognition (Pro-Rata) |
|---|---|---|
| 5 Years | 70% in Years 1–2 | 20% per year |
The loss ratio is defined as claims divided by earned premiums. This mismatch caused loss ratios to appear inflated, with early periods showing ratios well over 100%—even though the ultimate loss ratio was closer to 80%.
This inaccurate portrayal of risk and profitability was a red flag to buyers. Loss ratios over 100% implied underwriting failure—even though the contract was, in fact, quite profitable when viewed correctly. The administrator needed to conduct F&I earnings curve optimization.
The Impact: A Risk That Wasn’t Real
Buyers keyed in on the loss ratios immediately, and they wanted to adjust their Purchase Price bid for the administrator down:
“The administrator is under-pricing products. Adjusting the loss ratio to 80% will reduce the income statement profits by $1.2 million therefore, we our lowering our bid for the company.”
You might assume it’s easy to explain this issue to a buyer—but buyers rely heavily on third-party experts. In most cases, that expert is the CLIP provider, and when data is incomplete or inconsistent, they default to the simplest, most conservative method: pro-rata. That approach may feel safe, but it often misrepresents the true economics of the business. If administrators want accurate loss ratios and fair valuation, they need to take control of the narrative—by doing their own analysis and using experience curves that reflect how claims actually emerge.
The Solution: Experience Curves Aligned to Claims
Colonnade Advisors was the investment bank representing the administrator. Colonnade recast the earnings curves based on experience resulting in much lower loss, ratios and proof of additional profitability. The analysis was solid and accepted by the buyer however, it was not an easy process and took 30+ hours of work by the administrator. More importantly, Colonnade was constantly battling the question of why didn’t the administrator change the earning curves already?
When Colonnade applied the new curve, the loss ratio dropped from 110% to 81%—a complete transformation.
And more importantly, it told the real story:
This business was profitable. The data just hadn’t been interpreted correctly.
Why It Matters
Loss ratios based on the wrong curve:
- Undermine trust with buyers and auditors
- Depress valuations
- Create unnecessary deal friction
- Delay or kill M&A transactions
The fix isn’t guesswork. It’s data.
We have an easy to use tool to do F&I Earnings Curve Optimization: the Experience Curve
The Experience Curve at Dark Sky Data enables you to easily build custom experience curves from your own claims history—by product, by vintage, make/model/year, by dealership, by agent, by geography, or by whatever data you have.
This gives you:
- Defensible earnings timing
- Accurate loss ratios
- Better recognition of underwriting profit
- Confidence in front of auditors and acquirers
How long does it take you to look at the earnings curve at this moment on a Ford F150 in Colorado versus Florida? Or Dealership A versus Dealership B? With Dark Sky Data’s Experience Curve it takes just a few minutes. Upload the data file, pick the filters and compare the curves.
Don’t wait until you’re in diligence to realize your loss ratios are wrong.
Let’s get ahead of it.
Use Dark Sky Data’s Experience Curve to build an earnings curve that reflects how your products actually perform—so your numbers work for you, not against you. Learn more about the Experience Curve.
Do you want to learn more about selling your F&I company? Check out information on the F&I industry and M&A research at Colonnade Advisors.
