As communicated previously, Lightstone Academy (Complete F&I Solutions) offers customised training courses for dealerships.

The Academy aims to bring an entirely fresh perspective to training by working closely with customers to design training courses that tackle the regular compliance requirements and problems facing those within dealerships, and exploring ways of detecting unrealised potential.

The compliance requirements within the financial and insurance industry have escalated enormously over the past few years, with few dealerships fully understanding all the legal requirements, FICA and regulatory compliance needed on a day-to-day basis. That said, the Academy will set out to offer guidance and assistance in understanding all the regulations and qualifications required to provide the latest finance and insurance information.

Debbie Costopoulus, Head of Lightstone Academy, notes that: “Understanding a dealership’s culture and business objectives, and performance and growth areas, is an essential part of the process to ensure that a training programme is designed with those objectives in mind.” The Academy will also take into consideration existing qualifications, what the compliance training needs are, and assist in developing developmental paths for all attendees.

Some of the courses offered are:

• Full and refresher F&I workshops
• Full INSETA retail qualification and individual unit standards (to obtain a complete qualification)
• FICA (E-learning) or FICA registration session
• Regulatory exam guidance
• NCA workshops (incorporating new updates)
• Dealer principle “know-how”
• CPA workshops
• Product knowledge

Training is offered to dealerships nationwide, and programmes can be conducted at the dealers own venue should there be a minimum of five attendees. Workbooks are customisable and can be branded with the dealerships branding.

Training schedule for June 2016:
2-3 June – JHB F&I Course
6-8 June – JHB Cluster 04 Retail Insurance Qualification
9-10 June – JHB RE 5
13-15 June – DBN Cluster 02 Retail Insurance Qualification
13-14 June – JHB Fundamental Financial Literacy
20-22 June – PE Retail Insurance Qualification Cluster 01
20-21 June – BFN RE 5
22-24 June – BFN Retail Insurance Qualification Cluster 02
* Course dates are subject to change

For more information on courses offered, or to register, kindly contact Vanessa on tel. (021) 979 2426 or email her at academy@lightstone.co.za