Automotive Risk Management Partners ARMP

Two Myths About Switching Your Dealership Compliance Vendor

Terry Dortch President, Automotive Risk Management Partners

Key takeaways

  • Switching compliance vendors is not comparable to switching a DMS provider, since a compliance vendor change is a much simpler process.
  • A new compliance vendor can migrate existing course training and learning modules from a dealership's current system so employees do not have to redo completed courses.
  • After a dealer agrees to switch, the vendor handles recording completed training modules and updating or creating compliance manuals, requiring only brief daily direction from the dealer.
  • Many dealers dismiss monthly compliance cost savings of a few hundred dollars as not worth switching, but those savings compound significantly across multiple rooftops.
  • One dealer group saved an amount reported as around four thousand dollars a month by switching compliance vendors, according to the speaker.

Summary

Switching compliance vendors is often assumed to be as disruptive as changing a DMS provider, but this video pushes back on that idea. A compliance vendor transition does not require rebuilding a dealership's systems: existing training records, completed course modules, and manuals can be migrated so employees do not have to repeat training they finished within the applicable time frame. The dealer's role is limited to an initial direction-setting conversation, after which the new vendor handles recording training history, updating or creating manuals, and managing ongoing compliance work.

The second myth addressed is that modest monthly savings are not worth switching for. Terry Dortch argues that savings of a few hundred dollars a month add up substantially over a year, especially for dealers operating multiple rooftops or franchises, and cites an example of a dealer saving around four thousand dollars a year while getting a stronger compliance product. For a GM or F&I director weighing vendors at year-end, the takeaway is that switching is procedurally simple and that dismissing meaningful, compounding savings on convenience alone is a costly habit worth reconsidering.

Transcript

Introduction to vendor switching myths

Hi, my name is Terry Dortch, I'm with Automotive Risk Management Partners. I want to say happy holidays, Merry Christmas to everybody. You know, at the end of the year is coming up, I want to dispel a couple of myths about compliance and about switching companies and that whole concept, and how it affects changing vendors, I guess, is really what I want to talk about.

Myth one: switching is difficult

You know, we're not a DMS, so changing a DMS is a major, major overhaul, right? You change your DMS provider and you uproot the whole system and it changes, I mean it's a major fiasco. We're a very simple vendor. To change a compliance vendor is very, very easy. We can come in and any system that you're on right now, we can take and migrate any of the course training, any of the learning modules, anything like that, can be migrated from any system you're on right now to ours. So that employees aren't having to go back and do these courses again, you know, if they've done them within the last six months or a year or whatever, and obviously there's different time frames for different courses and things like that, but my point is that we do all that work for you.

How the vendor handles the transition

So the myth that this is a difficult thing to do is really truly a myth. We do 95% of everything for you. The only thing that we do, if you were to change vendors and come to us for a compliance program, the only thing that has to happen is we have to touch base in the morning when we arrive, get some direction, and then we handle it from there. We'll take care of everything from making sure that we record all the different training modules that your employees have gone through, to taking your different manuals that have been created and updating those, if they haven't been created, obviously we create our own, we'll create ours for you. But my point is that it's really a simple process. Once you say, as a dealer, yes, let's do something, for us to come in and fix and do everything is very, very quick, easy, and simple.

Myth two: cost savings are not worth it

The second myth is cost savings. You know what amazes me, because when I walk into a store and I'm able to save a dealer say three, four, five hundred dollars a month, and they look at me and go, "What, that's not enough for us to change." Actually, I had a comment made to me the other day, you know, it's kind of like an insurance policy on your car. He says, "Most of us have been with the same insurance agent forever, it's not that we couldn't get a cheaper policy someplace else, we probably could, but we stay with that same one because it's just convenient."

Savings add up for multi-rooftop groups

You know, I think especially in today's environment, where car dealers don't just own, most dealers today have multiple, multiple, you know, multiple rooftops, you're going to have two or three franchises, some even more than that. So the savings on a monthly basis, when compounded out, is pretty large. So for someone to just ignore that savings, to me, is baffling. So the myth that it's not worth it, I think you need to sit down, many of you, and put a pencil to it. We were able to save a dealer, not too long ago, somewhere in the tune of four thousand dollars a month a year, that's not chump change, especially when you factor in that you're getting a better product at a less price.

Closing thoughts and contact info

So anyway, I just wanted to talk about those two little issues, that when you're thinking about making this, because it's in year now, New Year's coming up, you're going to start looking at maybe possibly changing vendors, things like that, and really that probably transfers not only in the compliance world but any of your other vendors. If there's a way that you can get a better product for less money, why shouldn't you, right?

Anyway, just thought I'd throw that out there. If you have any questions, comments, observations, feel free to give us a call, number and web addresses on the screen here. Thanks a lot for listening, talk to you.

Questions this video answers

Is it difficult to switch compliance vendors?

No, the speaker calls this a myth. Unlike switching a DMS, changing a compliance vendor is simple because the new vendor migrates training records and manuals and handles nearly everything after a brief daily check-in with the dealer.

Will employees have to redo their compliance training if we switch vendors?

No. Any course training or learning modules employees completed on the current system can be migrated to the new vendor's system, so employees do not have to repeat courses they finished within the relevant time frame.

Is it worth switching compliance vendors just to save a few hundred dollars a month?

The speaker argues yes, especially since many dealers now operate multiple rooftops, so monthly savings compound into a large amount over time; he cites one case where a dealer saved around four thousand dollars a month by switching.

What does a new compliance vendor take care of when we switch?

The vendor records all training modules employees have completed, updates existing compliance manuals or creates new ones if none exist, and manages the transition after getting initial direction from the dealer each morning.

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Covered in this video

  • compliance vendor switching
  • training module migration
  • compliance program cost savings
  • multi-rooftop dealership groups