LAS VEGAS (Feb. 5, 2026) – Finance and insurance can play a big role in a dealership’s bottom line. On Thursday morning, attendees gained valuable insight about the latest trends at the Live Stage, during an informative session called “The Complete Picture: F&I Performance Review 2025,” led by Cindy Allen, CEO of StoneEagle, a longtime provider of F&I technology and analytics for dealerships, OEMs and product providers.

Allen opened by explaining that StoneEagle’s perspective comes from decades of experience with the retail auto market. “For almost 40 years, we've had the privilege of working behind the scenes, tracking F&I performance and measuring what really matters,” she said. With access to data across regions, brands and lenders, she added, “we have the opportunity to really see all the critical elements that drive profitability through the dealership.”

The core message of the presentation was clear: in an era of uncertainty, F&I can serve as a stabilizing profit center for dealerships.

StoneEagle data showed total gross per vehicle trending downward since 2022, with front-end profit shrinking dramatically. Against that backdrop, however, F&I profit per vehicle retailed (PVR) rose 14% from January through December 2025. “F&I was the foundation of profitability,” Allen said. “As we think about what has happened in the compression of front-end margins, F&I became the foundation that kept the house standing.” 

Allen described 2025 as a time when “dealers turned a noisy year into steady, consistent results.” She compared top-performing dealerships to the concept of fine dining, and she repeated that metaphor throughout the presentation. As with a Michelin-starred restaurant, customers at an auto dealership don’t see the “preparation” when they visit, but they feel the experience. 

Businesses that did best in the face of recent challenges are those that have provided a “simple, comfortable, confident experience at the table — or, in our case, the desk,” Allen said. “In 2025, we could have had a little bit of a train wreck … it could have been a lot of chaos. But it wasn't. It was actually a great experience.”

“When the information is clear, when the conversation is transparent, when the presentation is purposeful and specifically for [the customer], they feel more at ease and have a better buying process,” she added.

Allen compared a dealership’s F&I offerings to an upscale restaurant menu. “It's simple, short, it's intentional,” she said. “Every item on that menu is thoroughly tested and then refined. The dedication that goes into that is pretty phenomenal. What we've also seen — like those Michelin-starred restaurants — is that the top performing dealers in 2025 really understood what to use for the customer, in what sequence and order, for them to be able to understand any flows. Dealers who did simplify actually saw higher attachment rates.”


Another distinguishing trait of high-performing dealerships, according to Allen, is the frequency of data measurement. Successful businesses “don’t have a habit of looking at things on a monthly or quarterly basis,” she said. “They’re actually looking at this data on a weekly or daily basis.” 

“There's this consistency with top performers,” Allen continued. “Anyone who's in this business knows that when you measure, you can expect results.”

Allen noted especially strong demand for ancillary products. “There's tremendous strength in this segment,” she said, noting a surge of 22% since 2019. “That's significant growth.”

The top five F&I products by penetration rate, according to StoneEagle data, are service contracts, GAP, paint and fabric protection, prepaid maintenance, and tire and wheel coverage.

Turning back to the restaurant metaphor, Allen encouraged attendees to aim for excellence. “You have the opportunity to create a Michelin-star experience with your customers,” she said. “Your customers are never going to see the churn of activity we’re going through. They’re never going to see all the effort that happens. But they will actually ‘taste’ it when they sit at your table, at your desk. And once they taste that kind of experience, they will crave it.”