June 2019

as cars were becoming more complicated, they were more likely to arrive here with faults. In the economic climate at the time people were more likely to say they were going to sell the car because they’ve been told they have got this problem or little issue. We really had to get into the diagnostics side to make sure cars were right before they were sold. We then started to build up a reputation, as we became really good at it. It was one of those situations where you take to it like a duck to water. "Then other traders started to get wind that we were fixing things that people said could not be fixed. This is what OC Diagnostics was for, which I run myself. It has enabled me to progress this side of the business, where in fact it has become its own business." B rilliant businesses are quietly working away right across the UK, as you all know. If you get off the M25 and drive into London from the north and get deliberately yourself lost, you are bound to enter Enfield eventually. Drive around for a little while, and you will find local prestige used car retailer Town Car Sales. It is a real family-and-friends affair, as co-founder Gary Brillus explains: "My brother Danny and I own the company. We have mum coming in to help, and our wives do bits and pieces. Even my next door neighbour, Brian Turner, has joined as our Sales Manager. It contrasts with the main dealers, where you were encouraged to be quite cut-throat and be an individual, whereas here everybody is working together, making sure that things are right, parts are ordered and customers are informed." The company first opened its doors in 2005: "It started very small, just my brother and me, but we already had a lot of experience. Our dad was in the motor trade. We used to help him. I grew up fixing on the chrome bumpers and vinyl roofs and all that. We used to also help with the cleaning of the cars. That progressed onto where we decided we wanted to get proper jobs, so we started working for main dealers. That took us up to 2003, when we decided to move on and do our own thing." They wanted to do things the right way: "The main dealer environment is not what you imagine it to be. You think that because you are in a main dealer you get to supply people with the type of service that they deserve. We felt it was lacking. We thought, naively, that we could do a better job than was being done before and still 60 AFTERMARKET JUNE 2019 GARAGE VISIT www.aftermarketonline.net TALK OF THE TOWN Above: Gary (centre) and the team Aftermarket visits Town Car Sales to see Top Technician 2019 semi finalist Gary Brillus make money. The reality is that it is really expensive to do the job right. You earn less money, you work harder, but the job satisfaction is there and the customer satisfaction is there, which is obviously great." Alongside the showroom, Gary runs a garage business that caters for both their existing customers gleaned from sales, general consumers and a burgeoning trade clientele. He explains: "OC Diagnostics is the workshop division of Town Car Sales." Based behind the street-facing retail shop-front, the workshop has two ramps, and there is also a small bay outside for cleaning and finalising vehicles for sale which is undercover as well. It is about 5,000 square feet in total. If car sales was the main focus, why push into the garage side? "In the last decade we were finding that