From Pumping Petrol to Aston Martin

Sunday, January 7th, 2018

Gisela VilaBack to blogs >

When you enter the new BVH showroom and service centre you get the feeling everything has been meticulously planned, as Richard Houghton company director of BVH shows me through the new facility. His enthusiasm is contagious as we pass the sparkling Aston Martin, I'm thinking this car was made for me! Jet black with cream leather interior how much was this marvelous combination of art and engineering? A mere £126,000. Richard assures me that the price is a steal; I'm thinking to afford it I would have to steal it! We move to the purpose-built service centre it looks to me more like an operating theatre then somewhere to have your car serviced. Richard says "I'll show you the gym!" The gym is complete with every conceivable piece of exercise machinery, not forgetting the pool table. He shows me around the sales and rental areas with their high-tech 7-inch LCD display telephones, we arrive back in the showroom to relax with a great cup of coffee and have a chat about the BVH business.

How has your business changed since you started?

Back to 1968, we formed our first business known as Cleveland Street Service Station. Originally the business' main focus was fuel sales and vehicle mechanical repairs. As the business grew, it was clear that our customers required other services that we were unable to provide at the time. A number of our customers were renting vehicles locally and then using our service station to fill up. That's why we set up Cleveland Van Hire in 1975 to meet our customers' needs and changed the name to Birkenhead Car & Van Hire in 1985 when moved to a new purpose-built rental facility in Conway Street, Birkenhead.

How do you see your business in the future?

We moved into our new larger premises in Hind Street, Birkenhead in October 2018, this will enable us to expand all aspects of our current business. Our contract hire division has grown rapidly over the last five years and will continue to do so, along with our used car sales division. Being able to retail our used vehicles will enable us to be more competitive in what is a very price driven market, and because we know the history of our hire vehicles with service support, we can provide more reliable vehicles for our customers.

What is your proudest achievement in the company?

Moving to our new flagship showroom and purpose-built service facility in the centre of Birkenhead. We have taken our time transforming a derelict building in the centre of Birkenhead into a state-of-the-art Car Showroom, bringing life back into the area. We have been inundated with positive comments about the showroom, from people just passing through the area.

What unusual events happened within the business?

One of the funniest events was when one of our customers was on holiday in Russia and telephoned to say that one of our vans was being unloaded off a container ship, thinking it may be stolen. However, it transpired that we had sold the vehicle to a Russian seaman who had taken the vehicle back home full of British goods. Over the years we have had a number of phone calls from customers travelling all over Europe, who have spotted our vehicles whilst abroad. BVH 'Van Spotting' has now become a pastime to our regular customers.

What is your company's biggest asset?

We employ a fantastic team of staff, from our sales and rental and service centre teams through to our accounts department. All our staff give 100% to BVH and this is something that we are also very proud of. More than half of our staff have been with us in excess of 15 years period.

Do you have a motto that guides the way you do business?

"Always there when you need us". Being a family run business, we are always available. Both myself and my Father regularly take calls at evening and weekends to assist our customers.

If somebody was starting out in business today what advice would you give them?

Be 100% Customer focused as this will guarantee customer loyalty, which is something that we constantly strive to achieve.

Did anyone inspire you or influence your business?

Personally, I would have to say my Dad Richie. His work ethic is second to none, and at 77 he is still working a five-day week.

Why did you choose Digitel over other suppliers?

Digitel have been supplying BVH's communications for over 11 years from our telephone system to lines, calls and broadband. We have always been very happy with the support and advice Digitel have given to BVH. We are not telecommunications experts so we look to Digitel for advice and guidance for our communications needs. That's why we chose Digitel to supply the new system for our new 4-acre site.

How has the Digitel system helped your business and improved your communications?

At BVH it's about continually striving to improve all areas of our business for example, with our old system we had to pay monthly for 10 telephone lines and calls plus an annual maintenance contract to maintain the telephone system. When Digitel recommended that we switch to their new Temovi Cloud System, it was an easy decision because we no longer have to pay for lines, calls or maintenance. The Digitel solution provided Wi-Fi speeds of 867 Mbps, this coupled with Digitel's Temovi system mobile app downloaded onto all mobile phones allow us to stay in touch with customers regardless of where we are on site. In addition, Digitel upgraded our broadband to Fibre broadband which now allows us to provide 150 Mbps for both voice and data for our staff and unlimited free Wi-fi access for our customers.