Former Chrysler VP Forecasts Domestic 2004 Vehicle Sales to Hit 17.1 Million Units

ATLANTA, March 16 -- Ted Cunningham, vice chairman, director of sales and marketing for Bankers Integration Group (BIG), developers of BIGFNI 2.1, a secure, web-based financial interface that links lenders with auto dealers at no cost to the dealer, forecasted that vehicle sales in the US would hit 17.1 million in 2004 and 17.3 million in 2005, but he cautioned that auto dealers face the "toughest row to hoe" with shrinking margins and federal government compliance issues with auto loans.

Cunningham was the keynote speaker at the Automobile Finance Conference and Trade Show in Atlanta, Tuesday, March 16, 2004.

Cunningham, a former executive vice president, global sales and marketing for DaimlerChrysler, indicated that auto dealers are feeling the pressure of decreasing margins by manufacturers and gross profit reductions from competitive pressures.

"Dealers are seeing less revenue in the service department as overall vehicle quality continues to improve," Cunningham said. "Facility investments are at an all time high as dealers expand to facilitate new lines and franchises. And, customer satisfaction in every department is requiring investment in people, training and equipment.

"Add to that, the cost of Federal regulatory compliance that will reduce Finance and Insurance gross and add administrative cost to the most profitable department they have today, and you have commodity selling except for the newest and hottest models."

According to Cunningham, the Federal regulatory compliance issues for auto dealers include:

* Mandates of the Patriot Act, which requires retailers such as dealers to report the sale of a vehicle to known terrorists. Dealers not in compliance are subject to fines up to $10-million.

* Federal Trade Commission (FTC) mandates that call for auto dealers to store auto loan applications up to 25 months. (BIG will store the data for up to 36 months at no charge.)

* Declamation Letters, again mandated by the FTC that requires auto dealers to notify consumers when their loans have been rejected.

"Since rolling out BIGFNI in 2003 and BIGFNI 2.1 at the recent National Automobile Dealers Show, we have tried to design our software to be the ultimate user-friendly online financing tool for the auto dealer," Cunningham said. "By meeting these three compliance issues, we believe we are the only online auto loan system to meet each of these mandates at no cost to the dealer."

Headquartered in Laguna Niguel, CA and its sales/marketing office in Detroit, additional information on Bankers Integration Group is available at www.bigfni.com .