In my 16 years as a dealer, I've seen the finance and insurance department become one of the most important profit centers of any dealership.

Even with the emergence of the Internet, an average F&I department will yield over $500 per vehicle retailed (PVR). Benchmark departments will commonly break the $1,000 barrier.

Dealerships are finding the numbers once again on the rise with the shift back towards retail financing as opposed to leasing. The F&I department in many dealerships makes an overwhelming impact on the bottom line. But dealers often take this department for granted.

A survey of dealers on AutoDealerDaily.com indicates the F&I managers of nearly 60% of the respondents have less than three years on that job. For a dealer, that's disconcerting.

Considering the F&I department's importance as a profit center, it's an area you don't want hit with high turnover rates. But that's what is happening. Why?

If you ask a typical finance manager what they earn, their response is usually, "Not enough!" Is money the real factor that keeps the managers moving? Maybe, but not likely.

Burnout seems to be a common malaise among "former" F&I managers. True, they may want more money. Yes, the extra money might be what causes the grass to appear greener at a different dealership.

Ultimately, it is not money that initially starts them looking. It is burnout. The lack of a life. The stress of working five and six days at 60 to 75 hours a week. The stress of selling the product and the deal, insuring all documents are correct, and who knows what else. The stresses of earning a good income (nationally, according to NADA, F&I managers' earnings averaged just under $70,000 in 2000), but having little or no personal life.

You will never find a high-dive at the gene pool in the car business. It takes a talented, trained (and most often licensed) professional to excel in the finance department. In other words there isn't an overabundance of them.

When a dealer finds one, it would seem that they get taken into "the box," chained to the desk, and left with the door guarded and told to keep their PVR average high. Few dealers would admit to thinking that, let alone doing so. Unfortunately, in practice, it probably occurs much more often than you would think.