Imperial Commercials goes South by South West
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Integration is key for Imperial Commercials, as it beds-in the former Watts Truck Centre sites it bought last year in the South West Words: Kevin Swallow Imperial Commercials, the largest independent CV dealer group in the UK, is busy integrating in the South West following its share purchase of Daf franchise sites from Watts Truck Centre.
The dealer, which already operated out of Bristol, Frome and Swindon, acquired four sites — Gloucester, Hereford, Worcester and Yate — in an undisclosed deal for assets and liabilities.
Imperial has closed the Yate site because of its overall viability and proximity to the Bristol site, and relocated its staff across the city to the Days Road, St Phillips, site.
Regional director David Lewis says the expansion has nearly doubled its turnover to circa £44m.
"We are now in a period of integration. We've rebranded the Watts sites and implemented a new IT system for the six sites," he says.
The next stage will be based on improving the service offer to customers via a new authorised testing facility (ATF). The dealer spent £160,000 on a new ATF at Bristol, which opened in November 2012 (see sidebar).
The plan, although subject to several factors, is to open two more at Gloucester and Swindon. Furthermore, part of the original deal included Watts building a state-of-the-art dealership on 2.5 acres at Hempsted Lane, Gloucester, for Imperial Commercials, which is due to be completed in two years' time.
A big investment "Four ATF sites out of six across the South West is a big investment for Imperial. The ATF helps protect the customer base; we don't want Daf truck operators going to a competitor brand because it has an ATF and we don't," says Lewis.
But Lewis is not throwing good money at the problem of customer retention for the sake of it: he will only add an ATF if the investment warrants it. "An ATF has to be a standalone independent part of the business. The return on investment, like the ATF built at Frome, is under two years — that is what we are looking for," he adds.
He also revealed that Imperial Commercials will bring the Fiat franchise to its Bristol depot; it is already in situ at Frome, Gloucester and Worcester. • BRISTOL ATF Truck dealer Imperial Commercials has invested £160,000 in an ATF at its Daf Trucks' site in Bristol.
The ATF at the St Phillips-based truck dealership was opened by Imperial's regional director David Lewis (pictured right) and Vosa chief executive Alastair Peoples (left). The lane will be open three days, Tuesday to Thursday.
Lewis says: "The benefit of offering operators MoT testing at the place of MoT preparation, and to local third parties, is something we recognised early on. This purpose-built facility, which includes a 15m test lane that can do two tests at once, is set up for maximum throughput."