The fully equipped workshop is designed to improve customer service for customers who previously relied on the Dealer’s Birmingham service team to maintain and repair their vehicles.
In addition to Mercedes-Benz commercial vehicles, Midlands Truck & Van is responsible – like other members of the German manufacturer’s Dealer network – for sales and support of the popular FUSO Canter light truck range.
Its new, four-bay workshop remains open until 10pm on weekdays, and on Saturday mornings, so customers can get their vehicles serviced outside normal hours, reducing vehicle down-time.
The facility was previously a Vehicle Maintenance Unit managed by another Mercedes-Benz Dealer, Intercounty Truck & Van – like Midlands Truck & Van, a part of the Ballyvesey Holdings group – and used to maintain online grocer Ocado’s Tamworth-based Mercedes-Benz fleet of 220 vans and 25 tractor units.
Service manager Lee Hendricks transferred to Midlands Truck & Van, along with warranty and R&M administrator Kim Busby, partsman Sean Milliner, and the depot’s six technicians. ‘This facility plugs a gap in coverage for Midlands Truck & Van,’ Hendricks said. ‘There are big opportunities to grow the Mercedes-Benz business here in Tamworth.’
Meanwhile, construction work is now underway on Midlands Truck & Van’s new, £3.5-million dealership in Wolverhampton. This state-of-the-art facility is being developed on a four-acre site at an ideal location, alongside the main A454 at Bentley. It will incorporate office space, a comprehensively stocked parts department and a fully-equipped, 24-hour workshop with Authorised Testing Facility (ATF) for truck MoT tests.
Dealer principal, Jon Divers, said: ‘We hope that our Wolverhampton team can transfer from their current base in Willenhall, in time to be open for business at their new home by the end of the first quarter of 2015. The focus will then switch fully to the next phase of our major investment programme, a second purpose-built dealership, within a short drive of Birmingham city centre.’