Darlington Body Shop Enjoys Rapid Expansion

The Darlington body shop of North-East dealer group, Drive Motor Retail, has gained approved repairer status for the MG franchise alongside eight other car manufacturers in the past twelve months.

Approval status for MG was achieved in the last month, making it the ninth different manufacturer the Darlington body shop has added to its offering since June 2020 having previously been a Vauxhall-approved centre only.

The body shop, which mainly carries out work for insurance companies, is now able to offer accident repairs on vehicles from Peugeot, Citroen, DS, Volkswagen, Audi, Seat, Skoda, Cupra and MG. This means the Darlington body shop is repairing the widest range of vehicles of the nine Drive Motor Retail body shops in the UK.

Jason Bond, body shop director at Drive Motor Retail said: “We are delighted to have achieved approved repairer status in Darlington with so many new manufacturers. It has been a difficult year for the accident repair industry, with fewer car journeys being made due to the pandemic.

“Widening our approved status to include more manufacturers makes us more attractive to companies who are looking for body shops to work with, or for our existing clients who can now use our services for more vehicles than previously.

“We hope that Darlington will serve as a blueprint for our other body shops as we look to bring more manufacturers on board more widely across the UK.”

Joint managing director of Drive Motor Retail, Rob Keenan said: “The expansion of the body shop is fantastic to see and is testament to the fantastic work of our talented automotive repair staff who are exceptionally good at what they do.

“These are exciting times as we press ahead with our growth plans and look to partner with more franchises in both the retail and body shop areas of the business.”