Kings and Queens of Scotland, when it was time to be crowned, would head for the town of Linlithgow, which sits in the Central Belt of Scotland roughly halfway between Edinburgh and Glasgow to have themselves anointed. Reign-ready Monarchs were not what Aftermarket was looking for when we visited though. Our main point of interest was on an industrial estate on the outskirts; Top Garage 2022 winners Hunters of Linlithgow. The business, which fields a team of 20 including techs, front-of-house and support staff has two workshops with eight ramps, two MOT bays, a geometry bay, a tyre bay, and a wheel alignment bay in its sizeable and extremely tidy modern building. There’s even a nook housing a pair of washing machines for washing work clothes and technician towels. If that’s not enough, there is also a satellite site housing a bodyshop. Invest The family business is led by husband-and-wife team John and Mairi Hunter. The story of the current business began when their previous enterprise came to an end. Mairi explained: “John was the third generation of his family in the motor trade, based in Edinburgh but ultimately we sold 56 AFTERMARKET OCTOBER 2023 GARAGE VISIT www.aftermarketonline.net Aftermarket recently took the high road to Scotland to visit Top Garage 2022 winners Hunters of Linlithgow up. We lived in Linlithgow, and 21 years ago this building was available. We just thought that the town would benefit from another garage. When we started it was just John, myself and a tyre fitter, and I was helping with tyres and it grew from there. My background was retail, so I just used the skills I had with customers. We built up a great client base very quickly, word of mouth got around and we grew at quite a rapid pace. We were amazed.” She continued: “Our customers have been very loyal and we're always getting new customers because we invest heavily in training and our facilities. We compete against franchised dealers, and we differentiate ourselves with the personal touch.” With customers travelling from Edinburgh, Glasgow, Perth and even Inverness, this is clearly working for the business. John pointed out: “We have a lot of people who wait until they're on holiday, coming to visit relatives and they then book their car in with us when they're here. Also, because we're on the rail link halfway between Glasgow and Edinburgh with trains each way every half hour, it’s easy for people to come through.” Family business As well as servicing and repairs and the bodyshop, car sales is part of the mix. According to Workshop Manager Johnny Campbell, the range of offerings has been partly MONARCH OF THE GARAGES
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