"If you manage very tightly and keep your eye on the ball, there’s a future in the trade."

Key facts

• Aug 2000: Opened with three employees and 5,000sq ft workshop
• Dec 2001: Ends first full-year trading, with 16 staff and £900,000 turnover
• Aug 2003: Moved to a larger site of 12,000sq ft and introduced paperless system
• Feb 2004: Acquired Emanuel Brothers; kept its original name
• March 2005: Acquired Steve Co Motors; renamed as Autotech ARC
• Nov 2007: Acquired Wycombe Car Body Repair and renamed as Autotech High Wycombe.
• Dec 2007: Ends year with 97 staff and £6 million turnover

The development of computer-based estimating in the late 1990s heralded the onset of the paperless bodyshop, according to many industry experts.

But most bodyshops weren’t listening; their dependency on paper was too great. 

Not so Autotech. Since 2003, when the Slough-based bodyshop moved to its current head office site, all documents have been scanned on to its computer network. 

Duncan Leftley, Autotech managing director, says it means little or no paperwork and it saves two staff per site.

Instead, his four sites – three in Slough and one in High Wycombe – are visited by a part-time member of staff working 25 hours a week who carries out administration.

“We’re very committed to using IT to save money. But it has to be a well-organised system,” says Leftley.

Indeed, there is back-up at each site and cross-site back-up too, to be on the safe side. Recently, the network went down, and Leftley said it “momentarily caused mayhem”.

Having acquired its fourth site, Autotech High Wycombe, at the end of last year, Leftley says it is now a time for consolidation.

Further expansion

While he would like to acquire a fifth site in 2009, “it all depends what happens this year”.

Like many businesses, Autotech is feeling the impact of utility bill increases, which “has an effect on everything”, says Leftley.
And the company has also invested on achieving Kitemark certification. It’s due to have all four sites approved by October.

Leftley believes the Kitemark is a good standard: “It looks at the repair quality rather than paperwork like some manufacturer approvals.”

But it’s a costly process, at around £15,000 per site, as well as investment in equipment and assessment fees.

“It means getting back to the floor, and is certainly good for the trade,” Leftley adds.

One of its insurer providers – Esure – will pay a higher hourly rate for kitemarked bodyshops, but others are not so willing.

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