Colewood Automotive has appointed Chris Higgins as its new finance director to help develop new business relationships and support the growth of the company.

Higgins will work closely with the board to manage and control the companies within the group to ensure financial and regulatory requirements are fulfilled, said the company.

His career spans over 20 years and he brings experience in finance for the automotive industry, including 12 years as finance director at Kwik Fit.

Travis Coleman, group chief executive officer, said: “We are delighted to welcome Chris to Colewood Automotive and we are excited to see what his considerable experience in our sector can bring once it is focused on developing up our automotive offerings.”

A new tyre offering for fleets has been created for the Allstar ServicePoint online service, maintenance, and repair (SMR) portal through a new partnership with Colewood Automotive.

Higgins started his career training as a chartered accountant in London, specialising in SMEs where he qualified and continued to work as a manager for several years.

As part of the executive management team at Kwik Fit Fleet, he helped oversee turnover growth from circa £100m to £240m between 2000 and 2012 and was responsible for the introduction of the Point of sale automated authorisation for fleet tyre transactions, said Colewood Automotive.

The company said Higgins also has expertise in designing and writing database reporting and control systems, integrating non-financial systems with financial and operational systems.

Founded in 2017, Colewood Automotive builds and operares ecommerce tyre websites in the UK, including sites such as Asda Tyres, eTyres and RAC Tyres.