Cecil & Larter invests in XPart All-Makes programme
Established franchise dealerships are still finding opportunities to grow their business, despite the current challenges faced by the motor trade. Forward-looking Cecil and Larter has established a new All-Makes parts service to generate additional sales and business growth. The dealership’s All-Makes parts factoring operation will cater for garages in and around Bury St Edmunds. The scheme, which is managed by XPart, gives Cecil and Larter access to more than 35,000 high quality parts for all makes of vehicle.“We recognised the opportunity to add to our franchise operation by supplying parts for all makes of car,” says Nathan Warnett, parts manager. “Stocking a wider range of parts allows us to provide our customers with a comprehensive parts offering which satisfies all of their parts requirements from a single source.” Cecil and Larter will stock 3,500 product lines with a view to future expansion depending on demand, and will look to recruit new staff as the programme grows. Warnett was also impressed by the ‘complete solution’ offered by the XPart All-Makes programme in terms of stocking and ordering processes, and business and marketing support.
Cecil and Larter is a multi-franchise dealership specialising in Volvo, Saab and SEAT. It was established in the 1920s, and over the past nine decades has gone from strength to strength, winning the Volvo franchise in 1970. The dealership employs specialist, factory trained technicians to deal with each of the three franchise brands, and prides itself on the quality of its people. Having established a successful franchise operation, the company decided to build on its existing parts business by adding a range of All-Makes parts to its product offering.
The XPart All-Makes range comprises more than 35,000 lines and covers most product areas, including brakes, rotating electrics, filters and exhausts as well as replacement components and accessories. All are high quality parts from reputable brands such as TRW (brakes), Lucas (rotating electrics), Crosland (filters), Bosal (exhausts) and Dayco (belts). XPart provides full support to the dealer, identifying a range of parts to compliment the dealer’s business, conducting annual reviews and providing full updates on part upgrades/supersessions. With comprehensive marketing materials to take the product offering to the customer, and solid business development support to help implement the programme effectively, dealers introducing the scheme benefit from XPart’s extensive knowledge of the parts distribution business, and can build substantially on their parts sales by targeting key customers.
“The All-Makes programme enables franchise dealer groups to take advantage of the infrastructure they already have in place to supply a wider range of parts to local independent garages,” says Steve Godrich, All-Makes manager. “Dealerships can broaden their range to include an All-Makes offering with low levels of investment. This allows them to run a profitable factoring operation with new and existing local independents customers.”
Since its introduction in 2004, XPart’s All-Makes programme has been adopted by many franchise dealer groups including John Grose Group, Essex Ford Group, Hartwells, Stevens Vauxhall and Parks Motor Group Scotland. These and other ambitious companies use the programme to expand their parts business and provide a parts distribution service to local independent garages.
XPart is a wholly owned subsidiary of Caterpillar Logistics Services UK Limited, one of the automotive industry’s leading supply chain management companies. It has established a network of more than 240 XPart AutoService centres across the UK, providing franchise-quality repair at aftermarket rates. Its product range contains more than 35,000 parts for all makes of vehicle and since 2001 it has been responsible for the supply of genuine MG Rover parts (xpart.com).
