Today marks a landmark anniversary for Fix Auto UK as it is exactly 20 years since it signed its first franchise partner.
On 11 March 2005 Fix Auto Dagenham’s directors Paul Cunningham, Neil Parker and Chris Oliver made industry history by signing up to what was an untried idea in the UK and, in doing so, set the wheels in motion for what has become the country’s leading network of independently owned vehicle repairers who work under one brand.
Since then, Fix Auto UK has grown to 125 repairers repairing more than 150,000 vehicles between them each year, with 17,125 Trustpilot reviews that score the business as ‘Excellent’.
Meanwhile, Fix Auto Loughborough, Fix Auto Bradford, Fix Auto Keighley and Fix Auto Weston-super-Mare will also mark their 20th anniversaries this year.
Landmark anniversary for Fix Auto UK
Group managing director Ian Pugh said: “We are incredibly proud to mark this anniversary and to recognise the importance of Paul, Neil and Chris’s decision to become our first Franchise Partner all those years ago.
“While the Fix Auto concept was first conceived by our founder Jean Delisle in Canada several years before, our first franchise agreement with Fix Auto Dagenham was the foundation for what has become the most dynamic and forward-thinking vehicle repair network in the UK. It is from that single acorn that the mighty oak we are today has grown.”
Cunningham added: “It feels like only yesterday that we signed up to what was simply a concept for a group of ambitious bodyshop owners working together for the greater good of our individual businesses and for the industry itself.
“There was little or no support or overall management infrastructure in place. Today, the network is made up of multi-award winning super-efficient businesses who work closely. We’re a true family who all respect one another. For me, we’re only just getting started.”
Parker added: “It’s milestones like today that make you sit back and reflect on what we’ve all achieved. It’s been said we were visionaries because we were the first franchise partner but, for us, the concept to form a network of likeminded bodyshop owners working together was a no brainer. Being on your own is never a good place to be, today, we have scores of fellow owners we regard as close friends who we trust and work closely with.
“Fix Auto UK has grown and developed beyond our wildest dreams but at the core of everything we collectively achieve is the original ethos everything is founded upon and that’s a group of bodyshops working together, we just happen to be 120-plus strong and growing. Here’s to the next 20 years.”
