BCA to develop new 65-acre remarketing ‘mega centre’ in Bristol

BCA has announced plans to develop a new 65-acre remarketing ‘mega centre’ in Bristol, with the capacity to handle over 120,000 vehicles each year.

The remarketing giant said in a statement that the planned site – located within easy access of J18 of the M5 – will operate 24/7 to deliver defleet and logistics, cosmetic and mechanical preparation, vehicle remarketing, imaging and retail ready preparation.

BCA announced the offer of a new retail ready used car stocking source in September, just weeks before it went to market with its controversial, customer-facing cinch used car retail platform.

Earlier this month cinch secured a £50m finance facility from HSBC and Natwest to boost its inventory with around 5,000 vehicles.

Development of the new BCA Bristol location is already at “an advanced stage”, according to BCA, and will create “significant employment opportunities”.

Its statement said: “The new mega-centre brings together the collective expertise of the wider BCA Group Operating Divisions to deliver the most efficient used vehicle facility in the UK.  

“BCA Bristol will also utilise BCA’s advanced decision intelligence services to optimise remarketing channel selection and refurbishment opportunities for customers.”

BCA chief operating officer for UK Remarketing, Stuart Pearson, said: “BCA’s new 65-acre development in Bristol will create a new standard within the industry, utilising the latest digital technology to deliver a range of multi-channel remarketing, logistics and technical automotive services to meet the needs of our customers.”

“The new centre, with the capacity to store over 10,000 vehicles on the ground at any one time, forms a strategic part of our growth plans and delivers on our stated intent of driving further efficiencies for our customers across the used vehicle supply chain.”

Pearson added: “BCA is handling growing volumes of stock from both new and existing customers across the range of services the group offers. 

“Additional capacity such as this new facility in Bristol is critical to bringing liquidity, efficiency and choice to the automotive sector.”

Funding boost for cinch

The new BCA Bristol site is not the only new means of leveraging growth at BCA, with growth at cinch resulting from a new funding package which includes £35m from HSBC UK and £15m from NatWest.

The funds will be used to bolster cinch’s own inventory programme with around 5,000 new vehicles and cinch said that, along with its dealer partner stock, this will make it among the UK’s largest direct-to-consumer platforms.

Geoffrey Head, cinch’s finance director, said: “This finance facility from HSBC UK and NatWest comes at a pivotal time for our business and will allow us to further develop our end-to-end digital offering for consumers.

“The pandemic has drastically changed consumer behaviours and the ability to sell vehicles online will continue to be critical across the automotive sector. We are committed to developing this offering for both our consumers and partners across the industry.”