All 138 staff at Pentagon Group linked to retail finance have completed FLA SAF training and gained in confidence, says sales operations manager Alan Smith.

“Specialist automotive finance has helped our sales team to become more comfortable with training, regulations and compliance,” said Smith. The dealer group’s senior management team also completed the FLA training and Pentagon is now an FLA approved finance group.

“Manufacturers are adopting more web-based training and we are not now meeting resistance from staff – times are moving on,” said Smith, who previously worked for finance companies. “The other change is that finance company training now includes less information than before about different kinds of motor retail finance products.

“It is much more about sales volumes for them and wanting to make sure dealer staff are familiar with their processes. This was an eye-opener.”

Pentagon is ensuring its staff are familiar with the changes in SAF created by the CCD, which he does not see as a problem. “We have a policy of making sure customers understand finance products,” he said. “A manager always checks that before a customer commits to something.”