Partner Article

Former AA Chairman among investors in flourishing Newcastle-based digital car servicing marketplace

Newcastle-based WhoCanFixMyCar.com, a digital marketplace for car servicing and repairs, is the subject of investment from Active Private Equity, the growth capital firm specialising in consumer brands and services.

The platform, which has grown 10-fold in the past 18 months, does for car servicing and repairs what other well-known online platforms have done in insurance, holidays and used car sales. Over 118,000 customers have now used WhoCanFixMyCar.com, choosing from a growing list of over 6,600 garages nationwide.

Also investing in the team is industry veteran Sir Trevor Chinn, former Chairman of the AA, Kwik-Fit and the RAC, and currently Senior Advisor to CVC Capital Partners.

WhoCanFixMyCar.com was founded by Ian Griffiths and Alistair Preston, who saw an opportunity to bring transparency and convenience to a market which is notoriously hard to navigate.

Through WhoCanFixMyCar.com, drivers specify a service or repair on their vehicle and receive detailed estimates for the work required from locally-registered garages. The user can then select a garage based on location, price, availability or feedback from previous customers.

As well as offering transparency to drivers, WhoCanFixMyCar.com also provides garages with incremental business, via an efficient no-win-no-fee marketing channel. The top five registered garages have, between them, won over 1,000 new customers via the platform.

Active, founded by entrepreneur-investors Gavyn Davies, Spencer Skinner and Nick Evans, has a strong track record of investing in the consumer, leisure and retail space. Last year they raised a new fund backed by a small team of long-term committed partners including Sir Charles Dunstone, founder of Carphone Warehouse and Chairman of Talk-Talk.

The investment will further accelerate WhoCanFixMyCar.com’s growth and will allow the business to develop and expand its range of services to UK drivers and garages.

Alistair Preston, co-founder of WhoCanFixMyCar.com said: “We are delighted to be partnering with such a strong investment team made up of proven entrepreneurs. This investment will allow us to consolidate our market-leading position and focus on growing our core audience on both sides of the marketplace.”

Spencer Skinner, from Active Private Equity, who will join the Board, said: “We’ve been extremely impressed by how much Al and Ian have achieved to date, and the demand they’re seeing from both car owners and garages. We think there’s a great deal that this innovative company can bring to the automotive market – which has seen relatively little digital innovation outside of car sales - and we’re delighted to be making this investment. We look forward to bringing our experience of partnering with entrepreneurs to take companies to the next phase of their growth.”

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