Safe investment
SMART repair franchise ChipsAway gains as motorists feel the pinch

One franchise benefiting from the economic downturn is leading automotive paintwork repairer ChipsAway, whose franchisees are reporting increased business as motorists decide to keep their cars on the road for longer and look to the SMART (Small to Medium Area Repair Technology) repair specialist to preserve the life and bolster the value of their vehicles.

Franchisee Andrew Cooper is a case in point.Now into the second year of his franchise, he saw a 20 per cent increase in volume over December and January compared to the previous year, despite the fact that these are traditionally quieter months.“Lots of people are holding onto their cars longer, so there’s increased growth from that direction,” confirms Andrew. “Customers want to keep their cars not only looking good, but protected from rust and the minor damage that ultimately erodes their resale value.”

Busy

Indeed, Andrew is so busy that he is having to gear up his business to cope with demand.“It’s got to the point where I am fully booked with repairs and unable to find time to respond promptly to enquiries,”he explains. “Potential customers don’t want to have to wait several days to have the work done, so I’m possibly losing work.Now is a really good time to recruit someone to help, as there are plenty of high quality people coming onto the market looking for a job.”

Andrew expanded to take on a second area adjacent to his initial territory in July 2007, only seven months after launching his franchise, but due to demand for his service he believes he has scarcely had opportunity to scratch the surface of the enormous business potential it offers. Initially, in common with most ChipsAway franchisees, Andrew invested in a mobile franchise, keeping overheads low by operating from a smartly liveried VW Transporter, specially customised to become a fully-equipped mobile workshop, enabling him to provide ChipsAway’s market-leading SMART repair services at a place and time convenient to his customers.

However, even before the so-called ‘credit crunch’ he found that word quickly spread that ChipsAway technology can remove scratches, bumps and scuffs to car paintwork on a ‘same day’ basis and usually at a fraction of the price of a traditional body shop repair. Consequently, demand for Andrew’s services soared, and now he’s considering investing further in a ChipsAway CarCare Centre, which he says will allow him to process more vehicles each day.

Over time his plan is to build a team of employees to work at the CarCare Centre so that he can eventually adopt more of a management role, but first his focus will be to recruit an employee so that he can keep on top of the steadily increasing work flow. He says leads are continuing to come in from the company’s national advertising activity, and in his own area Andrew has scheduled monthly promotions with a local car park company.

“I can honestly say that things are going very, very well with my business,” he says.“I’ve achieved everything ChipsAway said I could achieve and more within two years. There is certainly a huge market and no shortage of work - my biggest challenge is finding enough hours in the day.”

Branching out

Andrew is no stranger to running a business or to working long hours. His family owns a convenience store, which Andrew ran for a number of years before deciding to branch out on his own and join ChipsAway.

“The problem with running a convenience store is that there is simply no quality of life,” he asserts. “You have to keep the shop open long hours and seem to be forever working. Although I was prepared to work hard,my wife had given up work to look after our six-month-old baby and I wanted to have time to spend with my new family as well as enjoying a good standard of living. That’s the point at which I decided to look at franchising opportunities.”

Having always loved cars, Andrew looked around for a franchise in the automotive industry, and says ChipsAway instantly appealed. He attended one of the company’s informal open days, held at ChipsAway’s head office in the Midlands, to find out more and was highly impressed by what he saw and heard.“Watching a ChipsAway SMART repair being done at close quarters was amazing,” he confirms.“The quality of the repair was superb and it was clearly not a difficult technique to learn. I recognised the great market potential and knew I could make a real success of a ChipsAway franchise.”

Two years in, Andrew describes himself as “totally happy” with his business and insists the decision to join ChipsAway was “absolutely right”. “Although I work hard, it doesn’t feel like work most days,” he says. “Usually you’re flying around the countryside from job to job, meeting new people and basking in the real satisfaction of a job well done. As for those snowy winter days, you can spend the morning building a snowman or getting out sledging with your kids, which is definitely a pleasure I couldn’t have enjoyed when I ran a shop.”

He adds that for the first time he has plenty of ready money in his pocket.“I’ve just spent several thousand redecorating my house,” he says.“In the past I would have had to save quite hard before I could afford to do that, but I’ve been able to do it out of earned income - thanks to my profitable ChipsAway franchise.”

ChipsAway is one of the most successful franchises in the UK with approaching 350 franchisees operating nationwide and a network of master franchises overseas. ChipsAway’s unique SMART system enables franchisees operating from fully equipped mobile workshops to make high-quality repairs to minor car bodywork damage, quickly and cost-effectively, restoring paintwork in a matter of hours. The quality, value and convenience of the ChipsAway ‘on-the-spot’ repair service has ensured the company remains the leading brand in this lucrative and rapidly growing marketplace.