Emergency Assist 991 Hosts FIA Region 1 – ACTA Road Patrol Training
Emergency Assist 991 (EA 991) last week hosted an inaugural and successful Federation International de Automobile (FIA) Region 1- African Council of Touring Automobile (ATCA) Road Patrol Training for excellence offering best in class for the road patrol technicians for ACTA Region 1 members.
The training saw roadside assistance technicians from Botswana, South Africa, Zambia, Kenya, and Mozambique who battled out to come out tops in the competitions which also included social activities.
Giving the opening remarks, the Acting CEO EA 991 Chiseki Chiseki said hosting this event was very important as it will improve the repairs on the spot rather than towing cars to the garage. “On monthly basis we assist about 300 of our roadside assistance subscribers and between 75-80% of them are towing assistances. Does this then say the technicians just tow the cars without solving the problem? and are they giving the clients value for their money? Surely no. However, I am happy that one of the modules speaks about repairing on the spot and if we can improve by 20%, I will be happy.
ACTA President Simon Modisaemang who is also EA 991 Executive Director, said he was excited for the move as Africa has been lagging in terms roadside assistance services. “We are here today when FIA is going through transformation to enable its member organizations to give more value to their clients. It is my intention as the ACTA President to empower the ACTA clubs to deliver what it ought to do for its clients and this event is a good platform for that. As our front-liners the technicians are expected to deliver excellent service to the clients so that we as ACTA clubs remain relevant in our businesses”.
The training facilitator Ha Phan who is from European Union Projects officer for FIA Region 1 thanked EA 991 for hosting the training and implored all the participating clubs from various countries to take the drill seriously. “It is great to see how you value the event, as you know roadside assistance is the core in this business. This even will offer all the clubs to have more expertise and auto mobiles are becoming more demanding in terms of service because of the digitization and client also wants the best service.”
However, FIA Region I President Thomas Thomsen in his absence through his speech delivered by Ha Phan said; “It is great to hear that in the last two days of the first ACTA Road Patrol Training for Excellence, the delegates from AA South Africa, AA Zimbabwe, AA Kenya, ATCM and EA 991 have acquired lots of new knowledge in Customer Excellence, Safety for Roadside Assistance and Technical Diagnostics from the best-in-class trainers from Europe and South Africa. I was told that the lessons were challenging, rewarding, and they offered patrol technicians skills that you can immediately apply. Let us thank all the trainers coming from AA South Africa: Willem de Jager, ANWB the Netherlands: Peter Heemskerk, and TCB Belgium: Frédéric Bellicourt for contributing to the success of this event by sharing with you their expertise, knowledge, and experience.”
The training according to EA 991 Roadside Assistance Manager Phillian Segobaetso who is also the Chief Organizer for the event consisted of running technical failure diagnostics and maximizing repair on spot rather than towing to the garage. The three days training also looked at the transition to servicing electric cars, road safety considerations during roadside interventions and customer care.
The training also accorded EA 991 an opportunity to strengthen its reciprocity arrangements with the visiting clubs whereby the EA 991 clients get roadside assistance for free when they are in those respective countries.
