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Huge fleet growth plan for Dragon's Den winner
Date: 31 July 2009 | Author:
SMR expert Servicing Stop is planning to use its windfall from BBC TV programme Dragon's Den to fuel a ten-fold growth in the number of fleet vehicles on it books.
The company uses a network of around 1000 independent garages across the country and claims to offer prices at up to 50% cheaper than main dealers. Having handed over a 30% share of the company to the show's Deborah Meaden in exchange for a £100,000 investment, the company is now looking to grow from around 25,000 vehicles to "upwards of a quarter of a million," according to business development manager Lee Kyprian.
The growth is expected to come mainly from leasing companies switching their servicing, maintenance and repair work to Servicing Stop, with meetings with the bigger players set up for the coming weeks.
The firm operates a collect and deliver service for all fleet customers, and all work is carried out in line with manufacturer's warranty requirements, with payment collected over the phone by credit or debit card.
"There are not many businesses like us out there," Kyprian told BusinessCar. "We are confident we're one of the top supplier of these services and we want to become the leader."
Set up by brothers Oliver and Toby Richmond, the business claims to be "fighting off the industry's negative image, offering outstanding customer service and slashed prices." After appearing on Dragon's Den, a statement from the brothers said: "What appealed most to us about being on the show was the opportunity to increase our customer awareness in the UK, and later use the contacts Deborah Meaden has to increase our fleet contracts accordingly."
