Your next car deal could come with an AI upgrade you’ll appreciate
Artificial Intelligence (AI) can play a vital role for customers to make the right choice when hunting for a pre-owned vehicle.
- Industry News
- 5 November 2026
If treated as a cost, it simply flows through the income statement and once expensed, it generally is forgotten about after the month in which it is expensed. From a tax and accounting perspective it is processed as an expense and when one needs to cut expenses, it is often one of the first expenses to be reduced.
Despite its “tax” and “accounting” treatment, training is best managed as an investment where the return is measured as you would measure the return on any investment. This is not always easy to do from a rands and cents perspective but if you apply your mind, you can produce a “yes” or “no” to the question - was the training worth it?
If workers have received training, they should be more efficient and productive, which should either lead to more revenue, lower expenses or more value added.
In your position in dealership management, you need to understand the course content and need to be comfortable that the course content should deliver a “return” on the amount invested and time spent out of the office by the employee.
OE tech training is compulsory, but you still need to ensure that you get maximum value from it. The technician should be more competent (efficiency = more hours sold) after the training and this should be discussed with the technician. There needs to be a post training “debrief”. Even if the OE does not charge for the training, the cost to the dealership is around R6 000 a day that the technician is away.
The same principle can be applied to all training. As a manager, your main responsibility is to ensure that your staff are as competent and efficient as possible so that the business performs. Training is a vital component of this. If you do not have staff that you are willing to invest in, then you do not have the right staff.
Artificial Intelligence (AI) can play a vital role for customers to make the right choice when hunting for a pre-owned vehicle.
The South African motor industry has lost one of its longstanding business figures following the passing of Jebb McIntosh, the group chief executive of Combined Motor Holdings (CMH), on Monday, 2 November 2026.
“South Africa’s automotive industry has been AGOA’s largest user, but for the sector the preference has already been largely overridden by the 25% Section 232 tariffs applied on vehicles and components. Losing AGOA adds a further cost to an industry that has already absorbed a significant shock.”
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