Investing in the future
Motor Depot has become one of the UK’s leading independent used cars supermarkets; managing director Phil Wilkinson started the business in March 2002 with around only 50 cars and 11 members of staff, at the ex-Dixon site on Clarence Street in Hull.
The company quickly grew, acquiring the showroom on Witham in 2003 (now Trade-Ins), the building next door to the Clarence Street site (now Hull’s service department) and a large vehicle compound followed in early 2004, the Hessle site opened in November 2004.
In 2004 the internet phenomenon was well established and becoming big news across the retail sector, more and more people had computers at home and were scouring the world-wide-web for a bargain deal; the Motor Depot website was launched in mid 2005 and opened the door to the rest of the UK to take advantage of the great value deals on offer. By mid 2007 Motor Depot was enjoying great success selling around 300-400 cars a month, this enabled the company to expand further afield, and take over a very large showroom in Scunthorpe. Motor Depot Scunthorpe was opened in February 2008; the site has its own service department and can display up to 350 cars for sale.
The company quickly grew, acquiring the showroom on Witham in 2003 (now Trade-Ins), the building next door to the Clarence Street site (now Hull’s service department) and a large vehicle compound followed in early 2004, the Hessle site opened in November 2004.
In 2004 the internet phenomenon was well established and becoming big news across the retail sector, more and more people had computers at home and were scouring the world-wide-web for a bargain deal; the Motor Depot website was launched in mid 2005 and opened the door to the rest of the UK to take advantage of the great value deals on offer. By mid 2007 Motor Depot was enjoying great success selling around 300-400 cars a month, this enabled the company to expand further afield, and take over a very large showroom in Scunthorpe. Motor Depot Scunthorpe was opened in February 2008; the site has its own service department and can display up to 350 cars for sale.
Motor Depot’s retail strategy of selling a lot of cars with small profit margins enables them to turn over stock quickly; selling cars up to £1000 cheaper than they can be found elsewhere, has made Motor Depot one of the best value car retailers in the UK.
After many years of successful trading at Motor Depot’s Hessle branch, the company decided to bring the site up to the same high calibre of the branches in Hull and Scunthorpe by fully redeveloping.
Many eyebrows were raised at Motor Depot making such large capital expenditure at a time when the rest of the Motor industry was struggling for sales. The decision was made to build and invest for the future, using the quiet period to minimise disruption to the day to day running and profitability of the business.
As well as ensuring Motor Depot emerges from the current economic downturn a stronger force within the Motor Industry, the redevelopment will create up to 40 new jobs in the process. Motor Depot also insisted that local tradesmen and businesses should work on the Hessle Branch redevelopment to help support the local economy in the tough economic times, in total the redevelopment has contributed over half a million pounds to the immediate Hull & East Yorkshire region.
They have taken over the historic Dunston Ship builder’s warehouse which was situated behind the original site and also acquiring the surrounding grounds to create the largest Motor Depot dealership to date. The new site holds up to 450 cars and is spread over three and a half acres, making it the largest car supermarket in Hull and the surrounding areas by far, this, along with the other branches enables the company to have up to 1000 used cars for sale in group stock, giving customers the best selection of quality used cars at the best possible prices. The branch has its own MOT & Service Centre with the latest diagnostic equipment, supplying quality after care, MOT’s, services and general automotive repairs, and have also have been authorised to complete Class 7 MOT’s (light goods vehicles).
Motor Depot covers every aspect of what a car dealership should be; a friendly team of salespeople with a “no pressure attitude”, a dedicated service team to deal with all of your vehicle maintenance and aftercare requirements and a huge choice of quality new and used cars at the best possible prices.
Motor Depot covers every aspect of what a car dealership should be; a friendly team of salespeople with a “no pressure attitude”, a dedicated service team to deal with all of your vehicle maintenance and aftercare requirements and a huge choice of quality new and used cars at the best possible prices.
