JM&A Group makes the next visit count

The machines were already there. A Georgia Toyota dealer had spent approximately $120,000 on two alignment-checking units. The equipment could spot a problem. Yet alignment sales had risen only slightly. Something was getting lost between the measurement and the customer. JM&A Group’s response was wonderfully ordinary: work beside the service advisors, improve how they introduced the inspection, and practice the conversation.

The company’s case study reports that monthly alignment sales went from about 200 to about 550, adding roughly $35,000 in monthly alignment gross profit. Those are one dealer’s reported results. Still, the sequence is revealing. A sophisticated purchase needed a simple human habit to make it useful.

Everything after “I’ll take it”

That small gap explains a surprising amount about JM&A. Its familiar territory is finance and insurance, or F&I: the protection products offered around a vehicle purchase. But its work extends into staffing, customer communication, claims and the service department. The dealership buys a product relationship and access to help making that relationship perform.

The origins fit. In 1978, Jim Moran established Tender Loving Care, an extended service contract business. The parent company’s history describes its purpose as helping dealers build parts and service business and retain customers. Even the name sounds like an instruction to keep looking after someone once the selling is over.

Today, the parent’s corporate overview reports more than 3,800 dealer partners and $4.3 billion in JM&A revenue for 2025. That puts a substantial business behind an easily overlooked moment in car buying: someone explaining what might happen after the factory warranty ends, or when the vehicle needs attention.

A contract with a second job

The menu includes vehicle service contracts, prepaid maintenance, certified pre-owned programs, GAP protection, and plans for road hazards, appearance and theft. They address different anxieties. A service contract covers specified breakdowns. Maintenance prepays specified services. GAP addresses an eligible shortfall after a total loss. The actual terms determine what a customer receives.

For the dealer, those products also create income and reasons for customers to return. JM&A combines administration with insurance-related operations and offers profit participation structures, including reinsurance and dealer-owned warranty approaches. The economics therefore stretch beyond the initial sale. Product selection, claims experience and the dealer’s chosen structure all matter.

There is no useful single sticker price for this bundle. The $120,000 in the alignment story paid for the dealer’s equipment. Consulting fees, contract costs and participation terms belong to their respective agreements. Calling the whole relationship “software” would miss much of what the dealer is arranging.

The distinctions inside that relationship are worth keeping straight. The parent overview identifies Fidelity Warranty Services as a service-contract and maintenance provider, Fidelity Insurance Agency as a dealer insurance and risk-management business, and Courtesy Insurance Company as an insurer of specified obligations and risks. Different companies do different jobs behind the group name. That structure helps explain why a discussion that starts with a warranty can soon involve the dealership’s broader operations.

The ten-minute business

Consider MotorWorld, part of MileOne Automotive. In JM&A’s account, advisors lost 20 to 30 minutes per claim navigating a manual process. Phone calls and paperwork held up approvals while technicians waited. Moving claims online addressed a bottleneck customers might never see, although they certainly experienced its consequences.

The case estimates about ten minutes saved per claim for an advisor and an average 18-minute reduction in repair-order cycle time when online approvals are used. The distinction matters: minutes recovered in the office and minutes removed from the whole repair are different measures. Both make the case for studying an ordinary workflow closely.

At Beck & Beck Buick GMC in Texas, the starting hesitation concerned consulting cost and value. An initial consultation exposed opportunities in communication and pricing; the hands-on approach persuaded the dealership to proceed. Video inspections and texting helped customers understand recommended work and stay informed while waiting.

“The customers are happier, and they know what’s going on.”

Grayson Beck
General Manager, Beck & Beck Buick GMC

What can another business copy? Watch a customer handoff. Identify the information that disappears. Train the person responsible, then measure whether the change survives a busy afternoon. The equipment story and the communication story share that practical discipline.

Moving the expertise, keeping the person

Virtual F&I tackles another mismatch: where the customer is and where an available finance manager happens to be. JM&A offers centralized, remote and on-demand models. A dealer group can share specialists across locations; a remote buyer can discuss products without another trip; JM&A’s own agents can supply additional capacity.

Training remains part of the arrangement. Its dealership curriculum spans F&I, sales, service, leadership and compliance. Internally, the company emphasizes people and community alongside performance. A March 2026 Women In Automotive partnership announced two annual scholarships for its Career Advancement Program, extending that training focus into leadership development.

The implementation guide makes the sequence explicit: evaluate the dealership’s current position, choose a model, train and onboard the team, then launch and measure. Leadership agreement and collaboration across departments appear before the results. This is a useful condition on the promise. Moving a conversation onto a screen does little by itself if the people handing over the customer have no shared process.

The next explanation

The product mix keeps changing. EV+ Protect, introduced as a brand in 2024, includes protection tailored to electric vehicles and limited warranty options for pre-owned EVs. Partnerships widen the audience: J.D. Power collaborates on branded protection and training, while a January 2026 Stellantis alliance introduced FlexCare Drive.

That same month, JM&A announced Gyde, an F&I selling platform intended to connect deal information, analytics and product presentations using historical claims insight. Assurant and Protective also pair dealer products with training. JM&A’s proposition must therefore stand on how well its pieces work together. The cases suggest a practical test: staff must adopt the process, customers must understand it, and someone must keep measuring. A new tool still needs a useful conversation.