Fix Auto Rochdale announces major expansion plans

Fix Auto Rochdale

The owners of Fix Auto Rochdale have unveiled an ambitious £1million investment to develop additional repair capacity, in order to cater for a growing customer base and reflecting growing ‘confidence in the economy’.

Phil and Wendy Ewbank have acquired land and buildings adjacent to their existing premises and are in the process of transforming the standalone building into a Fix & Go express repair facility that will operate alongside their existing award-winning Fix Auto Rochdale car and CCE commercial vehicle bodyshops.

Work has already begun to transform the 11,000 sq ft former distribution warehouse which sits on a one-acre site into an express repair centre that will also allow the business to further develop its niche in repairing and repatriating military vehicles.

When complete, the new centre will feature an open-plan express bodyshop complete with a Junair multibooth spraybooth, offices, customer amenities and a whole raft of state-of-the-art equipment and facilities to allow the rapid repair of light-to-medium damaged vehicles, typically within a 48-hour timeframe.

With the new site expected to be operational in early spring, the team have already embarked on a recruitment drive in order to ensure the new site launches with fully-trained and experienced team members who will ensure delivery of the same high levels of service which earned Fix Auto Rochdale the network’s 2015 Outstanding Customer Service Award.

Commenting on the investment, Phil Ewbank said: “Our confidence in the economy and our position in the market has been growing month-by-month, so we have been considering our expansion plans very carefully for some time. We are regularly being challenged by Fix Auto and our other clients to accommodate additional repair volumes and, while we are fulfilling those demands, the reality is that our existing site has limited capacity.

“There is a clear shift to less severe damage on cars, and by operating the Fix & Go model in conjunction with our traditional bodyshop, we are confident that we will be able to cater for this growing market segment and improve our service delivery all-round. This investment will ensure that we are able to deliver against the long-term needs of our clients and we will look to continually improve the customer journey and reduce our overall cycle times.”

Ian Pugh, of Fix Auto UK, said: “Phil’s commitment to Fix Auto shows no bounds. He has proved that time and time again, but this investment takes that commitment to a whole new level and has to be applauded. There are clear capacity hotspots in the UK, and once again a franchisee is proving that they are prepared to make the investment to provide long-term capacity to our clients. Significantly, this will be our fifth Fix & Go operation underpinning our commitment to developing a fast repair network that we launched just 12 months ago.”

Mr Ewbank added: “The timetable and opening will be dictated by the equipment we have ordered. The building itself will be ready by early March but we expect it to be fully operational by the spring which, hopefully, will coincide with our 10th anniversary celebrations of being part of the Fix Auto network.”