9:49 am, October 23, 2025
In just a year at their first official location, Joe Wallington explained on the Car Dealer Podcast, the Clever Car Collection has grown far more than the team expected and could soon outgrow their dealership.
He said: ‘Well, we haven’t outgrown it, but I think the management team here are trying to tell us gently that we have outgrown it.
‘Every time they speak to us about parking, they say, “Oh, we knew you were going to outgrow it here at some stage”. So I feel like we are being gently pushed out of this particular establishment.’
The business, which began with just Car Dealer editor-in-chief James Baggott as a magazine project, has grown to Joe, plus Luke and honorary team member and mechanic Darren.
In the week he spoke on the podcast, Joe and Luke had been to London to accept another award from Auto Trader, taken delivery of 10 more Japanese imports and it marked the anniversary of Joe joining and them moving into their Basepoint location.
‘I mean, the whole 10 cars delivered at a time on the transport I don’t think goes down too well, he added, ‘It’s not the biggest of car parks.’
When asked if he was still glad he joined James, he explained: ‘I was thinking yesterday and talking to Luke on the way up, you know, just how mad it’s been from just before October 1, before we took the unit on, I was involved from sort of September.
‘I remember vividly washing Vauxhall Corsas on James’ driveway for many an hour whilst he’s trying to show me how to use the Auto Glym polish, which I don’t think he knows how to use himself.
‘It’s mad when you think back to sort of those days and where we used to do our prep and such like, and how it’s kind of all cycling now with a bigger team and location.’
You can listen to the full interview by clicking play above or watch the podcast episode on YouTube by clicking on the video at the top of the page.
