When Dealers Give Up on Co-Op Funds

Roughly 40% of co-op funds go unused every year — about $14 billion, by Borrell Associates' estimate.

The common explanation is that dealers "don't know the funds exist." Sometimes true. But the bigger reason is simpler:

They tried once, and it was miserable.

The claim form was a PDF. The guidelines were 30 pages. The pre-approval took three weeks. The reimbursement took three months. The dealer did the math on their own time and decided the funds weren't free — they were just paid in paperwork.

Every point of friction in a co-op program is a filter. It doesn't filter out bad claims. It filters out busy dealers — usually your best ones, because they have the most alternatives for their attention.

If you want participation, the program has to be easier to use than to ignore. That's not a messaging problem. It's a workflow problem.