Apr. 21, 2008 – F&I certification workshop slated at different sites

An effort at creating certified F&I staff — and a two-day workshop to accomplish that — is being planned for this spring and summer.
The effort is aimed at providing dealership personnel a greater understanding of F&I regulations, product knowledge, ethical business practices and more.
The certification process has been developed by Gart Sutton & Associates, an industry management consultant group, and is being sponsored by GE Money, McGraw Insurance and Powersports Business.
Sutton and his staff have prepared the workshop, called Finance & Insurance Retail Specialist Training or F.I.R.S.T., that dealership staff can attend to become certified.
During the workshop, F&I personnel will learn about contracts and agreements, a typical F&I menu presentation, conflict resolution and key F&I performance indicators and benchmarks. The course will not include any endorsements of any individual F&I provider’s programs or products.
Workshop participants must pass tests that will be held during the workshop to qualify for certification. There will be a password-protected Web page listing the students and their certification dates. Graduates can access it or provide dealers with the password, so they can verify their certification and training date.
All of the workshops will be held at GE Money locations.
The cost of the two-day workshop is $995. The cost includes Sutton’s book, “The Best Operators Guide to Finance & Insurance” on CD, F&I forms and job aids, a course workbook and workshop lunches.
Finance & Insurance Retail Specialist Training class sizes will be limited to 12-15 students.
The workshops will be held on May 7-8 in Irvine, Calif., May 12-13 in Atlanta, June 2-3 in Chicago, June 18-19 in Washington, D.C., and June 26-27 in Portland, Ore.
Interested participants can register at Gartsutton.com. psb