When Riley Cooper joined Scott's Marine in 2015, he inherited a relationship with Priority One Financial Services. Coming from a background in marine sales, he had some previous experience with other F&I providers. “It took literally one deal – one single deal. . . for us to know that [a competitor of Priority One] wasn't going to work.” Riley remarked. “I saw a lot of disgruntled and frustrated customers.”
In 2010, brothers Scott and Lucio Orfanello started the boat servicing business based in Elberta, Alabama. Today, the Scott's Marine is well-known across the region for its sales and service, where customers from all over travel to use the certified Yamaha and Mercury technicians.
After a failed partnership with the previous F&I competitor and dabbling in some other work with local credit unions, Riley and team decided to lean into the partnership with Priority One. In 2020, as coronavirus hit and customers looked for creative ways to vacation, business skyrocketed for Scott's Marine.
“Priority One played a major part in our success last year. Looking at numbers, if it weren’t for [Priority One], we wouldn’t have been able to do it.”
In 2020, Scott's Marine nearly tripled its F&I profits working with Priority One.
“I can’t say enough great things about Priority One. Your structure really appeals to customers – the way they have direct access to their loan officer is a huge plus. . . You also offer long-term loans. That’s something credit unions up here just can’t do.”
Among the customer access and longer terms, Scott’s Marine also named Priority One’s decades of experience, timely customer service and seamless operations as three major assets.
“People have bad days, but apparently I’ve never hit one [with the team at Priority One]. . . Everybody is helpful, friendly, and I just don’t have to worry about stuff!”
