Wheel repair firm expanding to meet demand

The innovative alloy wheel repair service offered by DA TECHS has found such great demand that it is expanding the facility it opened just over six months ago.

The Adlington firm is making a further £30,000 investment into the custom-built unit it revamped at a cost of £100,000 in January following unprecedented levels of demand for its services.

DA TECHS' new unit is five times larger than previous, allowing the firm to serve demand from both private and commercial clients for alloy wheel repairs.

Demand surged when DA TECHS began to repair both standard alloy wheels as well as diamond cut alloys, for all makes of cars.

Repairing standard alloy wheels now accounts for around one third of all business in the Adlington Unit.

Technician supervisor Andy Rimmer has also been recruited to help supervise work and make sure standards are maintained as volume continues to increase.

Co-owner Phil Barnard joined the company full time in April and DA TECHS is looking to recruit apprentice technicians who are interested in developing their career at an innovative firm that has significant expansion plans.

DA TECHS’ mobile diamond cut alloy repair service which makes repairs at dealerships and car supermarkets across the North-West is now operating at capacity, being called upon by dealers across the region including in Preston, Blackpool, Chorley, Bolton, Rochdale, Bury, Colne, Widnes and Winsford.

The innovative mobile service is highly prized by dealers as it means they can turn around vehicles to prospective buyers much more quickly, saving them thousands of pounds over the course of a year. For example, one large car supermarket has reduced the turnaround time for repairs by 75 per cent, from four days down to one.

The van was introduced by co-owners Jamie Baxter, a former sales manager at BMW Williams Bolton, and Phil, who spotted the potential to install the lighter repair lathe in a van and offer a mobile diamond cut alloy repair service to car dealers such as the one where Jamie used to work.

It took six months of planning to work out how to configure a Mercedes Sprinter van with everything that was needed – not just the diamond cutting lathe, but spray booth, heat lamps, extraction and its own power – with the van finally on the road in February 2017.

Chairman Pete Radcliffe said: “The last few months have been a real roller coaster. There’s been a massive increase in demand and it’s been a lot of hard work along with a steep learning curve, making sure we’re investing in the right equipment to put the business on a sustainable and successful footing. "There can sometimes be a risk in expanding too fast – for example we have to keep an eye on cashflow when we’re investing so much in new kit. We think though we’ve got the balance right and there will be some more announcements from us in the next few months.”