Lightstone Auto rewards F&Is for hard work

Lightstone Auto, in an effort to highlight and reward the hard work of F&Is, has just celebrated its first annual Star Reacher Awards. With these awards, the F&Is performance is measured for their contribution to the sale of value-added products & services within their respective dealerships.

This is the first-of-its-kind incentive programme available exclusively to Lightstone users and clients through their bespoke Signio platform, which was launched during April 2021.

Back (left to right): Timothy Chowles (Westvaal Mashishing), Stefanus Jonker (VW Menlyn) and MP van Staden (BB Polokwane Ford). Middle (left to right): Amanda Steyl (Middelburg Nissan), Lauren Erendsen (Jaguar Land Rover Stellenbosch), Yasmin Vadia (CMH Nissan Midrand), Chantelle Nieman (McGee & Co Groblersdal) and Cathy Downes on behalf of Yvette Smit (CMH Nissan Midrand). Front (left to right): Shelby van Tonder (Boksburg Car Sales) and Danel Botha (BB Mount Fuji Louis Trichardt).

Pieter Wessels, Managing Director at Lightstone Auto, congratulated all the winners and runners-up in the inaugural programme. “Their achievements are exceptional as the competition was tough, with more than 700 F&I managers competing in the programme from across South Africa.”

The programme measures F&I managers’ performance across five key focus areas that encourage industry excellence and drive digital adoption in the industry. Every quarter, winners in each category are awarded prizes and this culminates in an annual awards ceremony where overall performance over the 12-month period is recognised.

Wessels says: “At Lightstone, Auto we believe in the value and impact F&I managers have on a motor dealerships’ profitability, and this programme creates an opportunity to recognise and celebrate top performing F&I managers. I look forward to this annual programme becoming a highlight in South African dealerships’ calendars.”

The overall winners received holiday prizes to the value of R30 000 each and the runners-up received experience-based prizes to the value of R8 000 each.

The results:

Winner per category	Dealership	Category*
Stefanus Jonker	VW Menlyn	Ruby Category
Yvette Smit	CMH Nissan Midrand	Amethyst Category
Timothy Chowles	Westvaal Mashishing	Sapphire Category
Shelby van Tonder	Boksburg Car Sales	Emerald Category
Amanda Steyl	Middelburg Nissan	Topaz Category

Runner-up per category	Dealership	Category*
MP van Staden	BB Polokwane Ford	Ruby Category
Yasmin Vadia	CMH Nissan Midrand	Amethyst Category
Danel Botha	BB Mount Fuji	Sapphire Category
Chantelle Nieman	McGee & Co Groblersdal	Emerald Category
Lauren Erendsen	Jaguar Land Rover Stellenbosch	Topaz Category

* F&I managers are linked to their dealers, who are segmented into categories based on average monthly sales volumes. This ensures that F&I managers compete with colleagues at dealerships with similar sales volumes. The categories are segmented as follows:

Topaz Category (Entry volume)

Emerald Category (Low volume)

Sapphire Category (Medium volume)

Amethyst Category (High volume)

Ruby Category (Mega volume)