In 1974, LAGC provided the first fully insured extended warranty program (extended service contracts) in the United States. This industry changing innovation, combined with F&I sales training, resulted in LAGC administering millions of service contracts for thousands of dealers across the country during the following years. LAGC still retains business with dealers who originally started with LAGC almost 40 years ago.

In 1997, LAGC introduced the first affinity credit card program in the United States for automotive dealers. Whenever a customer bought an LAGC service contract, the customer was automatically issued a credit card with the dealer’s name on it. The new line of credit could be used instantly to purchase parts, or to purchase aftermarket products, F&I products, or even increase the down payment to create added gross profit for LAGC dealers. The affinity credit card program also increased customer retention and loyalty.

In 1980, Lloyd Andersen purchased Kansas City Dodge to continue to develop and test his recommended sales and F&I process solutions designed to help dealers sell more vehicles and F&I products. Within 2 years the dealership was sold after achieving a 400% increase in total vehicle sales so that LAGC could focus 100% of its resources on providing services to other dealers.

In 1982, LAGC invented a proprietary vehicle body part labeling system for automobiles and other vehicles that dramatically reduced thefts and increased recoveries of marked vehicles. This product’s unique qualities has three patents and was recognized by State Farm, Farmers, the FBI, and the National Insurance Crime Bureau as a successful, yet affordable theft deterrent system. The product was so superior that it was also approved by various OEM’s and in fact placed on all new Nissan 300zx vehicles brought into North America and all Volkswagens brought into Canada. Avery Denison, the largest label manufacturer in the world, makes the product exclusively for LAGC. Currently, LAGC’s body part labeling system is being installed on several hundred thousand units per year by auto dealers throughout the US and Canada as a cost effective and profitable theft deterrent system to increase front end gross (when added to an addendum), or F&I profits (when sold in F&I).

In 1984, LAGC achieved the first ever Securitization of automobile loans (CAR’s – Certificates of Automobile Receivables) resulting in LAGC dealers originating hundreds of millions of dollars of auto loans and LAGC structuring them as pools of fully insured, AAA rated securities. This innovative accounting and financial solution armed LAGC dealers with new finance programs from LAGC offering 3% down (when the norm was 20%), and up to 72 month financing (when the maximum term was generally 48 months) giving LAGC dealers the competitive edge over their competition. Eventually, all automotive dealers across the country benefited from LAGC’s new accounting structure that is now used by all major automotive lenders.

In 1988, LAGC developed loan underwriting guidelines and procedures for the emerging subprime (special finance) market. LAGC’s loan underwriting guidelines, procedures, and processes allowed LAGC to securitize and insure these loans as AAA rated securities, giving LAGC dealers unique Special Finance program options. These loan underwriting guidelines and procedures developed by LAGC were used to form A. J. Acceptance Corporation, an LAGC company, which became one of the largest subprime lenders in the United States. Those same loan underwriting guidelines that were established by LAGC were adopted by all other special finance lenders and are still used today to underwrite high risk loans.

In 1990, LAGC developed loan decision software (similar concept now used by Dealer Track and others), creating the first ever loan decision software for A-F tiers of credit and offered the software via Automotive Data Incorporated (ADI), an LAGC company. ADI provided dealers the ability to input a loan application into a computer system provided by LAGC and obtain an approval for financing instantly, at any time including nights and weekends. This innovation allowed dealers to confidently spot deliver more vehicles to customers with marginal to poor credit profiles and increase sales. If the application submittal was out of LAGC’s loan underwriting guidelines, the software would show the dealer how to restructure the loan application for an approval. ADI received three patents for this technology.

From 1992-1998, LAGC began to develop and implement a series of profitable solutions that helped dealers dramatically increase sales, gross profit, and F&I profits. Those solutions included new A and B tier lending options, including Credit Union Financing through new open enrollment options (also offered via ADI), new F&I products (including credit involuntary unemployment insurance), formal classroom F&I training, and three day advanced F&I training seminars. Some of the new F&I product features introduced exclusively by LAGC included eliminating chargebacks to dealers who sold LAGC service contracts if their service contract was cancelled by a customer. This allowed the dealer to consider the service contract profit as car gross when making a deal decision. Dealers could accept more deals with low, or even negative, front end profits because they could consider more of their F&I profits as non-cancellable gross profit. The program was so successful in helping LAGC dealers sell more vehicles that LAGC soon thereafter eliminated chargebacks to LAGC dealers whenever they sold LAGC credit life, credit disability, and credit involuntary unemployment insurance products as well, giving LAGC dealers further advantages over their competition.

Also in 1992, LAGC was the first to develop a career college (The College of Automotive Management) focused on automotive sales and F&I management training for the automotive and lending industries, with an emphasis on prime, and special finance loan underwriting procedures. The original curriculum was designed to provide the most comprehensive special finance training so that LAGC could attract business professionals from outside of the automotive industry and place them as manned locations into LAGC dealers to manage special finance departments after 4 weeks of training. The curriculum included sales training, desk training, F&I training, and F&I Director training in addition to the special finance training to help create the most knowledgable and capable special finance manager. Due to the College’s emphasis on educational excellence, The College obtained federal accreditation, state approval, and forged an articulation agreement with Northwood University allowing graduates of the The College of Automotive Management up to 30 College Credits towards a Northwood degree. The program was a huge success and LAGC established hundreds of manned locations within dealers selling LAGC products including loans, service contracts, credit insurance, aftermarket products, anti-theft products, software, and LAGC training.

As a result, since 1992 (20 years), the College of Automotive Management is the only automotive training company that has achieved all 6 of the following results.