A very high turnout was recorded at a regional trade show organised by the Parts Alliance in Exeter.
The event was held in the function rooms of the Exeter Chiefs rugby club and had a variety of suppliers promoting their wares, running competitions and passing on fitting tips and best practice to technicians.
An added attraction was touring car driver Matt Neil who shared anecdotes about his career with the crowd throughout the evening. Exeter Chiefs’ and England forward Thomas Waldrom also gave special guest interviews with question and answer sessions to follow.
Visitors were mostly customers of branches in the South West. Most of these branches are former Unipart Automotive sites, which were simply re-branded as Parts Alliance.
Paul Dineen, Head of Garage Programmes at The Parts Alliance said: “To host a midweek evening event and attract so many people after the working day was a great achievement. It was also half- term so a number of owners brought their families
along too”.
“Huge credit goes to all the team who worked tirelessly to organise the evening and of course to the supporting suppliers and attending garage customers who made the effort to come along”.
The mix of suppliers included brands like Delphi, Yuasa, Valeo and Remy with the Angry Jester tools and equipment stand also doing brisk business on the night. Trade bodies such as The IMI, The Motor Ombudsman (which revealed it’s new logo at the show) and the IAAF were present, Arthur J. Gallagher Insurance and AA Garage Guide were also on hand to answer questions from technicians.
Appreciative customers included Jenny Hill from East Budleigh Garage, who said: “Thank you very much for a great evening. We all really enjoyed it!”.
Visiting garages gained some excellent value; a whole series of supplier ‘show special offers’ were supplemented by over £5,000 worth of prizes awarded on the night. These included an Android Tablet, Amazon Fire Stick, BTCC Tickets, a 50” Television and a free loan car for a year.
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