10:23 am, October 29, 2019
WITHIN just two months of opening, Cartime Rochdale has reported double its expected number of used car sales.
The business, which has operated in Bury for more than seven years and opened a specialist 4×4 centre in 2018, invested £2.6m in the new Rochdale site with the intention of offering ‘a new way to buy a used car’.
Its high-tech facilities and state-of-the-art showroom give access to one of the largest selections of prestige vehicles in the north-west, with more than 1,000 vehicles in stock.
The opening of Cartime Rochdale has already brought several jobs to the town, with further recruitment under way for staff across sales, management, operations and aftersales. It aims to create an additional 25 jobs, to take its total staff count to more than 100 across the group.
It is also supporting Cartime’s ambitious overall growth. In its last financial year, Cartime increased turnover by 29 per cent reaching £43 million and it hopes that in the coming financial year this will be nearer the £50 million mark boosted by its Rochdale operation.
Latest technology
Cartime managing director Matt Kay said: ‘With our Rochdale site, we’ve taken our highly successful, unique Cartime car-buying experience and made it even better with the latest technology and services.
Matt Kay
‘We know customers expect a seamless online and offline retail experience in today’s digitally-enabled world and have integrated this into all of our processes and facilities with the new site. With any retail business you have to keep upping your game – responding to the needs of your customers – and this is what we’ve done.
‘Similarly with our aftersales package, where new cars come with a three-year warranty as standard, we’ve gone further and offer a six-year warranty package on all used vehicles we sell.
‘All of our preparation work is carried out in-house so we can maintain standards and control over the process.
‘We’ve also added a little bit of theatre to the car handover process, which customers love. When buyers come in to collect their car, it’s unveiled on a theatre-style turntable, with lighting, smoke and other effects. While this was designed so that they can check their car in detail before they drive it away, it’s also a real talking point.’
To coincide with the expansion into Rochdale, Cartime this month also launched a new website where potential buyers can search for vehicles and view individual cars in intricate detail before arranging a test drive.
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