8:40 am, September 19, 2012
THE number of dealerships who are ‘SAF Approved’ has reached 2,000 the Finance & Leasing Association (FLA) has announced.
The Specialist Automotive Finance (SAF) initiative was introduced by the FLA in 2007 to help raise motor finance standards in showrooms for the benefit of car buyers.
Dealer group T.C. Harrison is the showroom to reach the 2,000th milestone after putting 35 employees, across its seven dealerships, through the online SAF competence test.
A dealership or group can apply to become SAF Approved once all customer-facing staff have passed the SAF test and the company has agreed to adhere to FLA best practice on treating finance customers fairly.
SAF Approved dealerships range from the UK’s largest retail groups down to one-site businesses and the latest milestone means that more than 20 per cent of all UK showrooms now participate in the initiative.
Around 37,000 industry staff from across the 2,000 dealerships have taken the SAF competence test, which assesses knowledge of finance products and the relevant regulation, so helping to support consumer confidence in the information received from dealerships.
David Bocking, joint managing director at T.C. Harrison, said: ‘T.C. Harrison is a family firm which prides itself on family values and we are committed to providing the best possible level of customer care. The SAF training undertaken by our staff to achieve the FLA’s certification will help give our customers confidence that the advice we give them is of the highest standard.’
Paul Harrison, head of motor finance at the FLA, said: ‘Congratulations to T.C. Harrison on being the latest of many groups to become SAF Approved. This big milestone for SAF shows the significant support for the initiative right across the retail motor industry.
‘Our aim is to work with showrooms across the UK to ensure that dealer staff benefit from the knowledge that SAF provides, so that car buyers have confidence in forecourt finance.’
