The automotive industry has long operated on a vendor segmentation model that seems logical on its surface: One partner manages roadside assistance; another handles F&I ancillary products.

But beneath that structure lies an operational disconnect that creates friction in the customer experience, reduces visibility across programs, and makes it harder for OEMs and dealers to optimize retention outcomes.

The Fragmentation Problem

For most OEMs and large dealer groups, roadside programs and F&I products are purchased and managed by entirely separate departments, each with its own vendor relationship, service level agreements, data infrastructure and accountability chain.

These gaps in coordination become most visible when a customer has a claim event touching both programs simultaneously.

A customer whose vehicle is disabled calls for roadside assistance. The tow is covered under their roadside program, but the underlying repair may fall under a vehicle service contract or tire protection plan managed by a completely different vendor. The customer now enters a second, uncoordinated claims experience with a separate call center, separate documentation requirements, and no shared visibility into what the roadside event already established.

From the customer’s perspective, this is one event. Operationally, it is managed through separate systems and workflows that may not share real-time data.

The Cost Is Real, Even When It Is Invisible.

The financial and operational consequences of fragmentation rarely appear on a single line item. Impact is distributed across departments, making it difficult to isolate where inefficiencies originate during a multistep service event.

According to research from JD Power, customer satisfaction with dealer service experiences is closely correlated with loyalty and repurchase intent. When a claim experience fails at the intersection of two programs, the dealer or OEM absorbs the reputational damage even though neither vendor had full visibility into the complete customer journey.

Service retention is critical to sales retention. Redundant verification steps, duplicated documentation requests and inconsistent communication are not minor inconveniences in a market where loyalty rates are already under pressure.

Without a consolidated data layer, OEMs and dealer groups cannot analyze program performance holistically. Roadside KPIs and F&I claim trends are evaluated in isolation, making it nearly impossible to identify patterns spanning both programs or renegotiate vendor terms with a complete picture of aggregate customer behavior.

A more coordinated approach allows roadside events, claims activity and service interactions to be managed with greater continuity. Customer information, service history and documentation can move seamlessly across programs.

When roadside, claims administration and protection products share visibility and reporting, agents and dealers gain a more complete understanding of the customer journey and overall program performance.

The EV Complication

The fragmentation problem is growing more complex as electric vehicles increase their share of the fleet.

EV rescue events are almost exclusively tow-based, with approximately 95% involving range depletion rather than mechanical failure. The ancillary product implications differ meaningfully from internal combustion vehicle events, touching tire protection, service contracts and GAP in distinct ways.

The International Energy Agency projects EVs to represent nearly 45% of global new car sales by 2030. As EV adoption accelerates, the coordination requirement between roadside and F&I programs will only intensify. Dealers and OEMs operating with a fragmented vendor model will face compounding complexity as EV claims introduce new variables that neither vendor was designed to handle in isolation.

Is the Industry Ready to Rethink the Model?

The siloed procurement model persists largely because of organizational inertia, not because it produces better outcomes. But the case for rethinking it is building.

The customer experience argument is increasingly difficult to dismiss when retention data rewards seamless ownership journeys, and the operational efficiency argument strengthens as enterprise procurement grows more analytically sophisticated.

The question the industry has not fully confronted is whether the short-term convenience of separate vendor relationships is worth the long-term cost of a customer experience that requires closer coordination between roadside assistance, claims management and customer support.

Given current pressure on dealer margins and OEM loyalty metrics, that is a question worth asking now.

Rich Holland is the CEO of Nation Safe Drivers (NSD).