Garage Services Service Repair And Restoration Specialising In Classic British Sports | | Undisclosed Relocatable | | Garage services – Service, Repair and Restoration, specialising in Classic British Sports Cars and Saloons Ref.AL192 Location South East Asking Price £ 275,000 Confidentially offered for sale | | BUSINESS FOR SALE ADVERT DETAILS ADVERT NUMBER : 61635
ADVERT IMPRESSIONS : 105,498 TIME(S) | | | | BUSINESS SECTOR: | Motor & Transport | | TRADE TYPE: | Garages | | SALE: | Agent Sale | LEASEHOLD: | £275000 | | | | | | | | | | Add this business advert to your: | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | BUSINESS DETAILS: | Business profile:
Established for over a quarter of a century and relocated to its current, very well suited location and premises in 1987, this is a leading garage services business specialising in the service, repair and restoration of classic British sports cars and saloons. Concentrating mainly on lower to mid market value vehicles manufactured in the post war years right through to the mid 1980’s, this is the place to bring an MG, Triumph or Austin Healey for a service or mechanical repair or to be restored to its former glory.
With on-site workshop facilities and a very well trained team of mechanics with many years experience of working on British classic cars and saloons, this business offers expert, routine servicing as well as mechanical or electrical repairs and breakdown. It frequently carries out the replacement of major components such as a gearboxes or engines and provides MOT testing through a tried and tested, local garage relationship
With fully equipped bodyshop facilities also on site and highly skilled and experienced bodyworkers, the business is equally at home dealing with accident repairs, welding – whether minor to pass an MOT or more major structural repairs. Body sprays to Concours standard are also available, if required, right through to full or part restorations – interiors and exteriors, complete from the ground up, if necessary. Not surprisingly the business has a wide range of parts readily available for sale over the counter – including genuine, second hand parts from cannibalised vehicles. It will even supply the basic elements of a ‘project’ to be restored to a buyer’s exact specification or alternatively supplied to someone to work on of their own accord.
The resources and capabilitieS of this business ensure that a quality job is completed each and every time with all work undertaken under strict internal quality guidelines. Employees have been carefully recruited and trained to ensure that their product knowledge and technical proficiency is extensive and appropriate. All staff understand that they are often working on a customer’s pride and joy and therefore the importance of customer satisfaction and the impact it can have on the future success of the business. Consequently all strive to ensure that the very high expectations of customers are met and managed effectively, enquiries are dealt with very efficiently and work on vehicles is completed on time and to the very highest standards.
All in all, this is a very well run operation. With turnover for the financial year ending January 2010 of approximately £385,000 generating gross profits of almost £70,000, this is an excellent opportunity for an existing garage services operator to extend their presence into the classic British sports and saloon niche sector or for a new entrant, possibly an enthusiast, to acquire an excellent foundation for future growth.
Key strengths:
A firm fixture on the classic British saloon and sports car scene for over twenty five years, this is very well established business and benefits from very high levels of awareness as a ‘brand’ within its niche sector. Over that time it has built an excellent reputation for quality workmanship, honesty and integrity and for very high levels of customer service delivered by its team of mechanics, many of whom have been working with the business for a number of years and have extensive experience.
One of the few specialists working in this sector, it is perhaps the only resource that offers a full package of service, repair, MOT and restoration. It is widely recognised as one of the top vehicle restorers in the UK and can boast an extensive Client base with many customers having been loyal to the business throughout its many years of operation. It has a large catchment area with few direct competitors and as a result attracts customers from a wide geographical base.
The business has excellent facilities on-site and is ideally located in a highly affluent area of south east England, close to the M25 and A3 motorways. Extensive – with ample room for the storage of vehicles and spare parts whilst still low overhead, the premises are very much in keeping with what would be expected of a garage operating in this sector with easy access to country roads, perfect for road testing customer vehicles. As a result the business has the luxury of being able to keep a number of ‘projects’ on hand – and is able to work on them during quieter trading periods, to make them ready for sale when complete.
This business has a very highly skilled, dedicated and loyal team which enables the business to be run operationally virtually independently of the current ownership. As such the business is a ‘turnkey’ operation – a new owner would be able to move in and successfully run the business literally from the Day after sale.
Key opportunities:
There is an outstanding opportunity to build on the existing business levels and customer base of this company. With a strong demand for this business's services, a new owner contributing fresh ideas, enthusiasm and motivation, will have every advantage of building on an excellent platform.
Updating and investing in newer equipment and computerisation of the operation would certainly impact on the efficiency of the business and as a consequence, turnover and profitability. In addition with some workshop capacity under-utilised and whilst maintaining its core positioning in the classic British sports and saloon car market, there is the possibility of widening the scope of the business to accommodate standard bodyshop and mechanical repairs or alternatively expanding into other British classic marques and even foreign classics from the same era – Italian, German and French vehicles, for example.
Tools and equipment:
This business has all the necessary equipment expected of a business of this nature, size and stature. The Workshops include a four post hydraulic ramp with a spare, numerous jacks, axle stands, compressors, angle grinders and MIG welding equipment. There is also a paint mixing scheme. Three courtesy cars are available for customer use and there is a Transit van, a flat bed, beavertail, low loader truck and fork lift.
A full inventory of plant and equipment is available on completion of the usual Confidentiality formalities.
Premises:
The business premises are situated on a small rural estate close to the M25 motorway. Ideally located, the business is positioned close to a major ‘A’ road, benefiting from high levels of passing traffic and affording easy access, free from traffic congestion.
The extensive, very secure premises consist of an office, small car showroom with a capacity for eight vehicles with 9 separate bays housed in individual workshops – three of which are dedicated to paint shop/body repairs. The premises are leasehold with approximately five years remaining.
The business currently pays a rent of £16,000 per annum. Rates are £2,160 per annum.
Marketing and advertising:
With a reputation built up over twenty five years of successful operation and an Owner well known amongst classic British sports and saloon car owners, the business enjoys high levels of residual awareness topped up with display ads in specialist car and owner magazines and supported by good levels of PR coverage, sought by the editors of the same titles.
The business also has a very well designed, informative and easy to navigate web presence which performs very well in all the major search engines, for all appropriate search terms.
The most cost effective form of marketing this business enjoys, however, is the strong word of mouth recommendation and repeat visits from its extensive, loyal client base, testimony to its many years of operation and the high levels of customer service this business has consistently achieved.
Financial profile:
The business is offered for sale as a going concern. All financial discussions will take place directly between the vendor and all interested parties under the auspices of Turner Butler.
For the financial year ending January 2010 turnover was approximately £385,000 generating gross profits of around £70,000.This was approximately 10% down as a result of the current Owner being involved in a serious road accident during the financial year.
The Asking Price of £275,000 is for a sale of the assets and goodwill in the business based on stock and fixed assets conservatively estimated to be in the region of £155,000 (though there is considerably more stock on site which currently has no book value).
Employees:
The current Owner is ultimately responsible for the financial performance of the business, supported by a Parts/Workshop Manager, three highly skilled, experienced and trained mechanics and a paint sprayer/bodyworker who is self employed.
Support and training:
The current Owner is happy to assist with the hand over and the training required to ensure a smooth transfer of the business to new owners. With a good second tier of management in place it is not envisaged that this will be required to be extensive.
Reason for sale:
Having been involved in the motor trade for a large proportion of his working life and having recently been involved in a serious road accident, the current Owner feels the time is right to consider a change of direction. | | | | | | FOR SALE | | | | | REFERENCE: | AL192 / RightBiz | | | | | | Request more information about this business.. | | ENQUIRIES: | | | | CONTACT SELLER TO GET THE SELLERS DIRECT CONTACT DETAILS AVAILABLE TO MEMBERS ONLY | | | | | | | | | | | |
