1car1 UK Car Rental News

THE LAST TIME I was in Leeds was on the occasion of a rock concert starring the English / Canadian singer Bryan Adams. The support act on that memorable night was an almost unheard of line-up called T’Pau, and that evening their mega hit to-be, China In Your Hands, made­­ its debut. Almost exactly 20 years later, I found myself back in Leeds for the first time since that tinnitus inducing, balmy, late-summer evening of two decades ago.

No warm breezes on this occasion however, these having been replaced by a raw northeasterly blasting around most of Yorkshire. With the city experiencing its fair share of January chills, even the local population was feeling the cold and I was quietly going hypothermic, having left Málaga basking in sunshine with 21 degrees showing on the thermometers. No rock concert either, but certainly another success story as I was visiting the premises of 1car1, a fast-rising star in the UK car-hire market.

 Being able to deliver the right car to the right place at the right time, and at the right price, has meant that the company has tripled the size of its fleet and now employs over 500 staff. This expansion has all taken place within the last five years and with over 12,500 vehicles at their disposal, the call centre staff have no problems in finding exactly what their customers want, whether it is for business or private use, daily or weekly rental, or long term leasing. Another popular part of this impressive operation is the van hire section, 1van1. Operating the same work ethics as their business partner, the joint stated aim is to provide quality hire vehicles at one price. 

”The price we quote will be the price you pay, whatever the vehicle,” Rob Gillespie told me when we met up at the head office in Walter Street, Leeds. Recognizing the fact that a large amount of their car hire business comes from mostly British ex-pats in Spain, Rob was recently promoted to Overseas Business Development Manager.

 Andrew Edwards and Cherie Walker complete his team and their mission is to deal solely with business coming in from the Costas, fast cultivating a 1to1 personal relationship with a large number of their regular clients. ”The area that this new concept covers will be expanding into other countries in the near future,” Rob explained as we walked around the extensive premises. In the last 18 months, 1car1 has been working hard promoting the company to the ex-pat market in Spain and this is set to continue at even higher levels during the next year.  Our involvement in a number of sporting events and tournaments up and down the coast, and a presence in the Costa del Sol News and at the This Is Spain exhibition has led to a great upturn in business placed both online and by phone calls to the centre.

 The actual ratio of personal calls versus the Internet is pretty even at this moment in time, but we pride ourselves on the personal touch that we are able to offer when required to do so. To this end, a new telephone number has been introduced for callers from Spain. It is 902 65 44 52 (no +44 is needed) and calls are charged at the local Spanish rate.” He finished by saying, ”There is also a free call back service so if clients ask us, we will phone them back wherever they are. There is a dedicated website for our ex-pat customers as well.”  

This level of service is reflected in the feedback received by the head office team, with comments such as, ”We will certainly be recommending your company to our friends” and, ”What great service we received from start to finish” being typical of the plaudits on file. By now we had walked through the ground floor area of what used to be a large sheet metal factory by the side of the river Aire, not far from the city centre.  Fortunately there is plenty of space available in the building at the moment, as the expansion rate that the company is achieving is creating an on-going demand for more room. We then went up to the second floor and the first area of this part of the sympathetically restored premises is the dedicated staff training section, headed up by manager Paul Bentley. 

It was at this point I also met Matt Carter, the company’s UK and Global Reservations Manager. ”The effective training of staff at all levels is vital to the future of the on-going success story that this company has become,” he commented, adding, ”One of the best ways to see this in action is to take a look in on the call centre itself.”  Obviously, this inner sanctum of the whole operation is Matt and Rob’s pride and joy, and quite rightly so. As we entered the light and airy area, it quickly became obvious that something a little out of the usual was occurring. What could and indeed probably should have been a fairly quiet afternoon towards the end of January was suddenly turning into a potential sales record breaker.

Figures on a large plasma screen visible from all areas of the call centre were changing at an ever increasing pace so shirt sleeves were rolled up and literally everyone got stuck into the job, at which point I felt it best to make a quiet exit and let the experts get on with it. I did speak to Rob later in the day however, and although it wasn’t quite a record breaking performance bookings-wise (that all-time honour so far went to the previous Monday), it wasn’t too far off.  

While the managers and staff were having a celebratory get-together after work, my day ended up on a musical note again. The Spice Girls were appearing in Manchester and that evening found me making my way along the M6 … I was quickly heading northwards, away from Manchester and all of the delights on offer there, towards Kendal where there was some fine jazz being performed in one of the town’s excellent hostelries! 

John Peatey - Costa Del Sol News