Preloading Key Replacement...Time to Be Unique in Your Market

Key replacement is a relatively new F&I offering and considering how expensive today’s key fobs are, it’s likely going to grow in popularity as an important product.

Hundreds of dollars PER KEY make it something customers can no longer ignore but the question becomes how can an F&I department fit that into the already huge menu of products and services they have to run through while they have the customer’s attention.

And let’s be honest...customers are looking for the quickest ‘in-and-out’ F&I experience they can get. Their attention span is crazy-short now.

One way to get a higher penetration for this product without going insane trying to get to it after the sale? Preload it.

Offer key replacement on every car in your inventory as a Line 1 add. Let the customers know that you KNOW these keys are expensive to replace and that it’s important to your store that their valued customers simply don’t have to worry about losing one and scrambling for how to pay for it.

You have them covered.

No, it’s not free and if your store charges a realistic fee for it, it should be a seamless sell for sales when they review all the coverages the car has. If your administrator is offering it for example at $100 cost, offer it at $175 or $200 added to the price of the car. It’s not life-changing profit margin but if your store is able to keep approval for it at around 80% or higher, that’s a nice bit of extra cash when dealers need it the most.

Make sure your administrator is able to offer dealer branding for this protection as well. You want your customers to think of YOUR store every time they look at the sticker on their OE key fobs and be reminded that your dealership has them covered for this big expense if something happens. Retention goes up and even the service lane will get a nice little bump in traffic as customers are more likely to come back to their dealership for routine maintenance simply by being reminded of their hometown dealer.

Click here to see how truKey can get your inventory hooked up with a preload package for all of your vehicles and can make sure your dealership always stays top-of-mind with cool dealer branding.