The chain – previously known as Car Clinics – was bought by Bikenet for £3m from Dixon Motors in January this year and renamed Just Car Clinics. Since then Bikenet has changed the focus of its business from internet-based retailing to collision damage repair.

Just Car Clinics estimates it will more than double the number of vehicles passing through its bodyshops this year to 26,000, with the busiest time coming in the autumn and winter months. The operation suffered last year after Dixon was acquired by the Lombard subsidiary of Royal Bank of Scotland, which also owns Direct Line. With the majority of its work coming from insurance firms, business slowed, as these insurers were understandably not keen to channel work to a major rival.

Car Clinics was not seen as a core business to Dixon. Just Car Clinics now boasts all the major insurers as clients, with 95 per cent of its business coming from the insurance sector.

“Since the acquisition of Just Car Clinics, the vital thing has been to get the business standing on its own two feet. For the rest of this year we will be looking to increase profitability at each site and ensure they are fulfilling their capacity,” says David Hickey, chairman of Just Car Clinics. “In terms of 2004 we will be looking to expand within our region, and that could include the acquisition of new sites. However, the major growth area is in car repairs.”

Just Car Clinics currently operates across 13 sites across Yorkshire, Lincolnshire and Nottinghamshire and employs 191 staff.