King of the hill
Aftermarket visits High Wycombe to find out what goes on at Top Garage 2021 winners Hillclimb Garage
Published: 21 November, 2022
Hillclimb Garage is based in Downley, a village on the outskirts of High Wycombe. The garage itself is based in a former Renault dealership that later became an independent used car retailer.
As you might expect from an ex-dealership, the workshop is pretty big: “We've got seven working bays, five of which are fully operational with ramps,” said owner Mark Darvill. “Next year we are putting another ramp in.”
Mark bought Hillclimb Garage two years ago, following a career where he had worked with many of the major factor names supplying the aftermarket.
“My history is with Allparts,” said Mark. The name may be familiar to some readers. “I started there as a warehouse boy and ended up as a shareholder and Managing Director. We were a founder member of The Parts Alliance way back in 2000, with the likes of Andrew Page and Camberley Auto Factors and several of the other big names that have gone now. We sold it in 2012 to HG Capital.” After an additional two years with the company, he moved onto a series of consultancy roles and other positions across the sector, but he still had a dream that kept pushing out from the back of his head: “I always had this idea that I wanted to run a workshop and I heard on the grapevine that Hillclimb Garage was up for sale. The rest is history.”
The garage currently fields a team of nine, including two on the service desk and four technicians, three of whom are MOT testers. Rounding out the team are an apprentice, now in his second year and a general assistant who cleans cars, as well as collecting and dropping off for customers among other duties.
“We're looking for another service adviser and another technician,” he observed. “We're currently having to push people up to three weeks into the future for their bookings, and of course, not everybody can wait, so we've got to invest further in people.”
Transformed
Where it had been a used car dealer running the garage side as almost a separate business, Hillclimb Garage is now entirely a service and repair operation: “We've transformed the place. We've invested heavily in the workshop, completely refitted it from top to bottom. We renewed the workstations, and we're now renewing the ramps. We've invested heavily in technical equipment and more importantly, we've invested in people.
“Tom, who's a Master Technician, is the workshop manager, and we've built the team around him in the workshop. We've also made a lot of changes out the front as well, in service, reception and just the way that we manage the whole customer experience.”
Confidence and transparency
On how they are marketing the business in the area, Mark said: “We pitch ourselves as supporting our customers and maintaining their vehicles to a high standard. That means picking cars up, washing every car and videoing every job. All advisory work is detailed to the customer with a paragraph on every recommendation. Everything is priced, everything is transparent and all of that takes time. However, what it allows us to do is give the customer confidence and trust in what we're recommending and puts them in control. Of course, they love it.”
The business is generalist, with German leanings: “We've got two VAG-trained technicians, so we tend to see quite a lot of German stuff. This means we are seeing more BMW and Mercedes-Benz, alongside the Volkswagen-Audi group vehicles. We've even got a growing number of Range Rover customers, for our sins.”
It’s not all rolling gin palaces though: “Tom is a Honda Master Tech, so we are seeing more on that side. It's about a true-cross section, looking after all different types of customers and trying to get to know them and how they want their car to be maintained. It's something we spend a lot of time on. Let’s say the car is eight or nine years old, with 60,000 or 70,000 miles on the clock. The customer can't afford a new car. They are relying on us to maintain it, to keep it going, get us through the MOT for another year. It's a cliché at the moment, but with the cost of living crisis, managing those cars carefully for our customers is so important, and they welcome that. If it doesn't need brakes for three months, we tell them we will give them a call in three months. That goes into our system, and that gives them another three paydays. When they come back, they've got it in their mind already that they're going to have that cost. That helps build trust, and again, the customers love it.”
While all this is going on, the electrification of the car parc continues: “We invested a lot of money in that last year with EV equipment and with EV training, getting the guys fully qualified. We are now starting to see more and more vehicles come to us. EV owners are savvy and are looking for independent electric vehicle garages, so that investment is really starting to pay off. Tom is our Level 4 EV technician and we have two other Level 3 qualified technicians. The high voltage work is carried out in a quarantined area. We've got a Renault Zoe in today that we're doing a DC/DC converter change on. “
Top Garage
On their experiences taking part in Top Garage 2021, and winning in the business with seven-to-nine employees’ category, Mark said: “We loved it. It did us the power of good. There were so many positives that we took from it. We were lucky enough to get the vote from the judges, and the positivity and the reinforcement that what we're doing is right across the team was fantastic. It helps with staff retention, because they know they're working for a great company. Also, when we're out there looking for people, which we are doing at the moment, we are able to say we are a winner of a national award. This gives us an edge on other companies and reinforces our professionalism and integrity. That was the one thing that I said to my people; This is Aftermarket’s Top Garage. It's got real credibility.
“As far as our customers are concerned, it gives them confidence. We actually had a five-star review on Google a couple of weeks ago It said, ‘I saw this garage as an award winner and so thought they must be doing something right. So, it helps us to win business. It also helps us to retain customers and says we're being recognised for the work that we're doing. It's had a very positive effect on us.”
Future
Looking to the future, we wondered if Mark had identified the next mountain to climb for the garage: “We're growing, so we're taking on two more people, we're expanding the workshop, putting another ramp in. We are also looking at how we can continue to develop our technical capabilities. We've got meetings with various different ADAS equipment suppliers already lined up. We're also continuing to meet the EV and hybrid challenge head-on. We are gold members of HEVRA, and I think that's going to be really important for us to maintain our position and ensure that our knowledge level stays high. It's only going to get busier in this segment.
“We're redeveloping the service desk area early next year. We've got a lovely glass-fronted showroom anyway, so we're going to have separate desks where customers can come in and sit down with us with a tablet there so we can show them the work that's been done and talk through what needs to be done. We are also working with a software company to introduce fully digital service records in the near future.”
He concluded: “We have so much planned. We want to keep the momentum, up, and make sure we stay ahead. It’s not just about the big stuff, it’s about making small but significant marginal gains. We're growing at a good, solid, steady pace, and we need to keep investing in people, technology, equipment and the customer experience. We are building a framework to ensure we remain fit for the future.”
- Monarch of the garages
Kings and Queens of Scotland, when it was time to be crowned, would head for the town of Linlithgow, which sits in the Central Belt of Scotland roughly halfway between Edinburgh and Glasgow to have themselves anointed. Reign-ready Monarchs were not what Aftermarket was looking for when we visited though. Our main point of interest was on an industrial estate on the outskirts; Top Garage 2022 winners Hunters of Linlithgow.
The business, which fields a team of 20 including techs, front-of-house and support staff has two workshops with eight ramps, two MOT bays, a geometry bay, a tyre bay, and a wheel alignment bay in its sizeable and extremely tidy modern building. There’s even a nook housing a pair of washing machines for washing work clothes and technician towels. If that’s not enough, there is also a satellite site housing a bodyshop.
Invest
The family business is led by husband-and-wife team John and Mairi Hunter. The story of the current business began when their previous enterprise came to an end. Mairi explained: “John was the third generation of his family in the motor trade, based in Edinburgh but ultimately we sold up. We lived in Linlithgow, and 21 years ago this building was available. We just thought that the town would benefit from another garage. When we started it was just John, myself and a tyre fitter, and I was helping with tyres and it grew from there. My background was retail, so I just used the skills I had with customers. We built up a great client base very quickly, word of mouth got around and we grew at quite a rapid pace. We were amazed.”
She continued: “Our customers have been very loyal and we're always getting new customers because we invest heavily in training and our facilities. We compete against franchised dealers, and we differentiate ourselves with the personal touch.”
With customers travelling from Edinburgh, Glasgow, Perth and even Inverness, this is clearly working for the business. John pointed out: “We have a lot of people who wait until they're on holiday, coming to visit relatives and they then book their car in with us when they're here. Also, because we're on the rail link halfway between Glasgow and Edinburgh with trains each way every half hour, it’s easy for people to come through.”
Family business
As well as servicing and repairs and the bodyshop, car sales is part of the mix. According to Workshop Manager Johnny Campbell, the range of offerings has been partly responsible for the way the business has evolved over the years: “When you build one thing, you realise you need to be doing something else.” While they are set up to work on all makes of cars, they do have a Volkswagen and Audi specialism. Service Manager Keith Fraser observed: “This is the kind of commuter town where there are a lot of Audi and Volkswagen owners, and it grew from there.”
As well as a wide and loyal customer base, the team have also stuck with the business. “I’ve been here since 2015,” said Keith. Looking at Johnny, John said: “He had a friend working here and when he was a teenager he kept coming in asking for a job every week Eventually I said to Mairi, ‘you have to take him on!. “I started here when I was 19,” Johnny pointed out, “now I’m 34 and I’ve just become a father.” Keith then observed: “It’s a real family business. Last week I called in to say I was having childcare issues. John said ‘bring the kids and I’ll watch them here’. It’s got that nice kind of atmosphere. What makes a difference with the customers, and obviously we do keep them is that, the little things mean a lot; The cups of coffee, the friendly faces. We're not maybe the cheapest, but we do go the extra mile.”
Then there is training. Keith said: “Johnny’s first course was 2008 and he started in 2008, Mairi has always been a firm believer in staff development. We've always got at least two technicians doing training as we purchase the annual training package and we just put them through as many courses we can. Johnny was the first Level Four EV technician, and we've now got three in-house.”
John observed: “There's nothing worse than having to turn a car away. We learned early on not to outsource if we could help it. We used to buy all the dealer diagnostic kit, but we have streamlined over the years. You can get coding done onsite with a remote access, so you don’t have to outsource it to the dealer and you don't have to spend thousands of pounds on the equipment either. We try and cater for everything. We don't just want to be a service centre. We want to make it all-inclusive, because you get the repeat custom as well as the new cars that the customer buys down the line. On the EV side, we are part of HEVRA now, so if there are any questions we know where to go.”
One-stop-shop
Commenting on their experience in Top Garage, John said: “Winning was a total surprise and such credit to the guys for their presentation and all the work they put into it. It was a learning curve, but also showed us where we can improve.”
Keith noted: “Johnny and I were delighted to be able to present the platform that John and Mairi built at the Top Garage final for 2022, and actually become winners. It's testament to the hard work and effort that they've put in. It was good to go down and enjoy the Awards Evening as well, for us to go It was intimidating as well though because it's taking yourself out of your comfort zone, but we thoroughly enjoyed it.”
Looking ahead, while the team took a break from Top Garage 2023 so they could give it their all again in 2024, there is a lot coming up for the business. “I am trying to get a new building for our bodyshop” said John. That is not the only area where there could be changes, as Mairi pointed out: “Because we cater for so much, and we have so many cars in and out that we are struggling with parking.”
While a new bodyshop could be nearby, the business is unlikely to move from its long-term base. “We’re know as being here” observed Mairi. John concurred: “We've got the tyres, we've got the top and bottom workshops and reception. The reception renovation was carried out a few years back and We have the building layout to suit our needs.”
John noted: “There is a vet opposite. That was our car sales showroom a while back, but the vet came out with a fantastic offer for the building as he couldn’t find any premises with parking. Now he sends his customers to us. We are a dog-friendly garage. Our dogs, Marco and Gino are both normally walking about the service reception and the waiting area, and are very much part of the garage.”
Mairi continued: “Where we have the bodyshop, we have now outgrown it, hence the need to move again. We used to just use the bodyshop for our own car sales and customers, but we have now opened it up to the insurance companies. That's expanded very quickly as well.”
It might end up being a little more than that, John concluded: “We might put more down there because we are at capacity here with ramps, techs and everything here. We can feed the mechanical into the bodyshop and vice versa, making a one-stop-shop.”
- Top Garage 2023 winners revealed
The following businesses have been named as the winners of Top Garage 2023, including the winner of Top Service Adviser, and the first ever winner of the brand-new Ben Workplace Health and Wellbeing award.
Business with 1-3 employees: Presented by Delphi
Drive Green Motor Services, Suffolk
- Moving on up
These days, you have to keep moving. When they won Top Garage 2022 in the 1-3 staff members group, A&J Fleetcare were based in the arches under Leeds Station in the centre of the city. However, this was just a short halt on their way from an earlier long-term base to their new home, on a small trading estate on the way into the centre.
The business is made up of Alan Landale (A.K.A ‘A’) on the tools in the workshop and his wife Jeanette (I.E ‘J’), handling the office and reception side upstairs.
When we visited, it was only two weeks after they had moved in. In fact, some of the paint was still wet. Once we had unsticked ourselves from a wall, we asked Alan how it was going: “It’s absolutely brilliant. I wish we had stumbled across the place before. We had been signed up on it for a while, but I didn't think it would come up. Then suddenly they rang and said it was ready. It's all under one roof, with two bays and parking in a brilliant location just off the main road.”
Improvement
As far as Alan was concerned, it was an improvement on what they had in the centre: “It was a nice set up but we were getting the noise pollution from the trains going over, which affected the customers as well as communication between the office and the workshop. Some customers were finding it awkward to get to as well.” They only stayed there for 16 months. For the first 19 years of its existence, the business was based a short drive away in the Harehills district of the city.
Many of their existing customers have travelled with them to their new site, as you would expect, but geography is not an issue for them. Alan explained: “We have been part of the DPF Doctor Network since 2020. We have built a reputation on this side, but with the diagnostic work and the electrical testing we do as well, we find customers are coming from a lot further afield. They have come from Manchester and even Newcastle.”
The business has been evolving over the years: “I always kept up with training, always tried to do better. I've moved away from mechanical. We still do it, we still look after genuine customers, doing MOTs, repairs and servicing, but that's not the focus. We do a lot of trade work as well. We are problem solvers.”
There is a downside though: “You also get a lot of the jobs where they've been everywhere, tried everything, spent a fortune and then you are the last stop because they're totally fed up. It's good in a sense, but sometimes it makes it hard if there's a lot of different things that have been messed about with. They’ve been to other garages and they had a lot of parts just chucked at the problem. End result; The customer has already paid out a fortune, so you need to be accurate with your diagnosis. I just want it right in the end, so I can hand it back and say ‘there you go, it’s fixed’.”
Top Garage
Beyond the technical accomplishments, A&J Fleetcare were recognised as an overall achiever as a business by being a winner in the smallest business class in Top Garage 2022. They entered first in the previous year, before going on to win. It was an experience, as Jeanette explained: “When Alan first entered us into Top Garage, it was quite daunting. I said ‘what have you done that for?’ We then made it to the semi-final, and so we entered for 2022. At the Awards Evening, when we won I told him ‘nothing will ever beat this’. We advertise that we won Top Garage 2022, and we told our regular customers and they are really proud of coming to us now, knowing that we know what we're talking about and we're winners and we're up there with the training.”
With Top Garage, winners are those who are running their business the right way, in terms of internal processes and customer care. Despite already having their trophy, Alan and Jeanette continue to work on their business, via advice from business mentor, Aftermarket contributor and Kalimex retained marketeer Dee Blick. Jeanette observed: “Dee has brought us a good mindset on where we want to be, how we can do that, how we can achieve things and be even better than we are now. She has helped us in a huge way behind the scenes. You know you're good at your job, but a lot of people never really sell themselves. She helps us do that.”
Next goal
Looking ahead, Alan and Jeanette are going to keep pushing to be the best. “Our next goal is to win In Top Garage 2023,” said Jeanette, “but no matter what happens, we're still going to keep moving forward with Dee for the mentoring. We are also going to keep marketing ourselves; videos on Facebook, and now we've just joined TikTok. We also want to be more on board with customers, keeping them up to date with our progress within the business where we're at Not just bring the car, fix it, we want to keep them informed of all the training, everything else like that. This is especially of regular customers, because they believe in us a lot. They keep saying, you're doing so well, you do an amazing job, and that gives us an uplift.”
Alan observed: “We are thinking about doing a monthly news article to customers, just to keep them updated each month.”
One thing they are not going to do is let success run away with them, as Alan noted: “I've always been comfortable in two bays. I've got the ambition for us to be the best, but I don't want to get too big too fast. We've always got a nice volume of work, so it's a matter of balance. Garages can have more ramps and more staff, but being bigger does not always mean you get more profit. We've always had a family orientation, so it's a case of coming out of our comfort zone to build, while also being happy with where we are at.”
- Top Garage 2022 winners revealed
The following businesses have been named as the winners of Top Garage 2022, as has the first ever winner of the brand-new Top Service Adviser award.
Business with 1-3 staff
A&J Fleetcare, Leeds
- Top Garage 2022 winners revealed
The following businesses have been named as the winners of Top Garage 2022, as has the first ever winner of the brand-new Top Service Adviser award.
Business with 1-3 staff
A&J Fleetcare, Leeds
