Driving economic activity, inclusion and growth within the F&I industry
Industry authority offers insight into cultivating success within the automotive F&I space
The highly anticipated Finance and Insurance (F&I) Summit, which took place virtually on Tuesday this week, brought together the best and brightest executives in auto finance and insurance.
The inaugural event provided industry stakeholders with information pertaining to the pressing issues facing the industry, innovative sales techniques, best practises to increase dealer profitability, and unparalleled networking opportunities to help navigate the year ahead.
Lightstone Auto, one of the key sponsors for the event, is one of the industry’s most prominent authorities, recognised for providing cutting edge electronic finance processes, automotive market intelligence, trends and forecasting and data-driven insight, providing vital data pertaining to new vehicle sales to the South African motor industry.
Pieter Wessels, Managing Director of Lightstone Auto, offered insight about cultivating success within the F&I industry going forward.
He emphasised the need for proficient compliance services and customer satisfaction, key components in ensuring success as an F&I.
Signio, an exclusive Lightstone Auto platform, offers an innovative workflow solution that efficiently and securely automates the vehicle finance and insurance process. It offers a paperless, electronic, managed solution that is easy to use, meets all compliance requirements, and provides feedback on key performance areas. Making it one of the first choices for data analytics in the motor industry.
“At Lightstone, our mission is to simplify complex processes – specifically the F&I process. It is important to accurately interpret and create value from difficult and complex data sets and through advanced analytics, we deliver solutions that aim to do exactly that. Lightstone is known for our platform, Signio, and as market leaders, we are well regarded as the most user-friendly and cost-effective solution in the market. We continue to invest in infrastructure, data security and user experience, especially as digital adoption increases which has been accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic,” Wessels says.
“We further provide compliance services to around 800 F&Is. In association with Naamsa we provide New Vehicles Sales Reporting, we have a verification and evaluation product that assists the industry in determining the true value of a vehicle and we support dealers in measuring customer satisfaction to ensure that retention is top of mind. As data experts, we get involved in many data-driven projects for key stakeholders in the motor industry, including motor manufacturers, banks, insurance companies and dealer groups,” he says.
Lightstone Auto’s success is also credited to its inhouse risk management team that provides a Financial Advisory and Intermediary Services Act (FAIS) compliance service to the motor dealer market, giving motor dealers total control of all finance transactions while removing any risks associated with FAIS requirements.
“As an organisation we are passionate about the motor industry because the industry ensures mobility, and mobility is a key driver in economic activity, economic inclusion and economic growth and we will continue to play our role in ensuring that the motor industry remains healthy and sustainable,” Wessels says.
Nearly 600 attendees who registered for the F&I Summit benefited from the dynamic and highly interactive programme including local and international experts, leading industry stakeholders, motivational speakers, and highly regarded sales experts.
About Lightstone Auto
Lightstone Auto provides automotive market intelligence, market research, vehicle information, finance and insurance services and real time data solutions to dealer groups, insurers, banks, OEMs and businesses and individuals needing automotive data-led solutions.
For more information visit https://www.lightstoneauto.co.za/
