Kwik Fit is a

car servicing A motor vehicle service or tune-up is a series of Maintenance (technical), maintenance procedures carried out at a set time interval or after the vehicle has traveled a certain distance. The service intervals are specified by the Automotive industr ...

and repair company in the United Kingdom. As of , there are over six hundred Kwik Fit locations in the United Kingdom. Kwik Fit also has locations in continental Europe.

History

Tom Farmer opened the first Kwik Fit location in McDonald Road,

Edinburgh Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...

, Scotland, in 1971. In May 1995, Kwik Fit Insurance, part of Kwik Fit Financial Services, was formed, and has since grown to become one of the leading car insurance distributors in the United Kingdom. In October 1999, Kwik Fit had grown to over 2,000 locations throughout Europe, and Farmer sold the company to the

Ford Motor Company Ford Motor Company (commonly known as Ford) is an American multinational corporation, multinational automobile manufacturer headquartered in Dearborn, Michigan, United States. It was founded by Henry Ford and incorporated on June 16, 1903. T ...

for US$1.6bn. A decision by Ford to concentrate on its core business led to the sale of Kwik Fit in August 2002, to

CVC Capital Partners CVC Capital Partners plc is a Jersey-based private equity and investment advisory firm with approximately €186 billion of assets under management and approximately €157 billion in secured commitments since inception across American, European, ...

for only £330m. In June 2005, Kwik Fit was sold for £800m, to

PAI Partners PAI Partners is a French private equity firm based in Paris. It is one of the oldest firms in the sector, with its origins dating back to Paribas Affaires Industrielles, historically the principal investment arm of Paribas, which started opera ...

, a French-based private equity firm. The Kwik Fit Financial Services arm of the business, was sold by PAI to Fortis Insurance UK, now

Ageas Ageas is a Belgian multinational insurance company co-headquartered in Brussels. Ageas is Belgium's largest insurer and operates in 13 countries worldwide. The company was renamed from Fortis Holding in April 2010 and consists of those insuranc ...

(UK) Limited, for a figure of £215m in July 2010. The tyre retailing and service centre business was bought by Itochu Corporation in March 2011.

Advertising

First shown in 1984, the adverts "You Can't Get Better than a Kwik Fit Fitter" were broadcast on the main television channels, in the United Kingdom. The "Kwik Fit Fitter" returned to television in August 2008, with the campaign "You'll Be Amazed at What We Do".

Training

Kwik Fit received its first national training award in 1990. In January 2009, Kwik Fit was awarded ''Beacon'' status from the Learning and Skills Improvement Service (LSIS) for its further education training programs. This was given following a successful inspection by

Ofsted The Office for Standards in Education, Children's Services and Skills (Ofsted) is a non-ministerial department of His Majesty's government, reporting to Parliament. Ofsted's role is to make sure that organisations providing education, training ...

, in which programs were graded 'outstanding'.

References

External links

* {{coord , 55, 56, 3, N, 3, 27, 12, W, region:GB-WLN, display=title 1971 establishments in Scotland 1999 mergers and acquisitions 2002 mergers and acquisitions 2005 mergers and acquisitions 2011 mergers and acquisitions Automotive companies established in 1971 Automotive companies of Scotland Automotive part retailers Automotive repair shops British companies established in 1971 British subsidiaries of foreign companies Companies based in Edinburgh CVC Capital Partners companies Ford Motor Company Franchises Itochu PAI Partners companies Retail companies established in 1971 Retail companies of Scotland Scottish brands

History

Advertising

Training

See also

References

External links