Special Finance Managers: I’m One of You
I started in the industry in Chicago in 1992, selling cars while I was trying to figure out where I wanted to continue college. I sold cars for a year and ended up at the University of Illinois. After college in 1996, I ran into a friend who was a sales manager at a large autoplex in Chicago. He hired me to work for him, and I worked for two years selling cars. Soon after, I was promoted to run the special finance department for the store. It was a job nobody seemed to want to do, and the dealership looked at it as a necessary evil. I managed to turn the department into a very profitable part of our business.
In 1999 I moved to Naples, Florida and worked as a special finance manager at three stores, usually finding that the ownership was not very motivated to support my department. Then I found a store that did not have a single subprime lender, the Dodge Store in town. After several meetings I managed to convince the general manager that he should give special finance a try. In the next 13 months my department grossed over a million dollars, not bad for a small market.
In 2001 I decided to change gears and started working for Capital One Auto Finance. I learned the banking side of the business, which proved to become a valuable experience. I worked for Cap One for about two years, then moved over to HSBC Auto Finance (Household), where I worked for the next two years.
To be honest, after five years in the banking side, I was becoming bored. I ended up back in retail for a couple of months until I was approached with an opportunity to run the special finance lead department of a local internet business. I spent the next two and a half years doing that. This experience was also valuable, because I was exposed to the technology side of the special finance auto industry, which is the fastest growing segment. This July, the company relocated to Nashville. I worked from my house for the next few months, but this arrangement didn’t work for me or the company and we parted ways in October.
Now I’m focused on other things. I’m also very interested in contributing my thoughts about the business in this blog. I hope my posts are informative and give you a reason to come back.
If you have any input for me whatsoever, please contact me here. I’d love to talk to you!
Best Wishes,
Jim Wagner
