Rob motors ahead with ChipsAway

Less than four years on from the launch of his ChipsAway franchise, Rob Hussey has taken another substantial leap forward with his successful and rapidly growing car paintwork repair business

Such was demand from customers for his ChipsAway services, Rob Hussey had to take on his son Barry and another van last October. As the client base continued to soar from adjacent territories, Rob opened a new 1,300 sq.ft ChipsAway CarCare Centre in March, ideally located near to a large Park and Ride car park facility and a major supermarket just off the A14.

Despite the recent economic downturn, Rob has been working flat out, with full order books for weeks ahead.

"It's great to be in demand," he says, "but customers don't like to have to wait for a month or more to have their repair done – and before Barry joined me, I'd been working seven days a week just to keep on top of enquiries. Our newly-fitted out ChipsAway CarCare Centre has meant we can process twice as many vehicles as before and provide even better services to customers. This is a significant investment in our future and we're really excited about it!"

According to Rob, although previously he'd spent 25 years working in the motor trade, becoming a ChipsAway franchise owner has made a huge difference to his life. He has found that working for himself has brought him real flexibility and an excellent income.

When Rob first decided he wanted to work for himself, he looked at a range of franchise opportunities in the automotive industry in line with his interests.

"For me, ChipsAway outshone them all," he confirms. "They were really professional with a solid structure and good training and the management team are so open and friendly. We quickly developed a real rapport – they're great guys!

"With my background, it was easy to pick up the practical skills, but the business experience, encouragement and strong support from ChipsAway was key in the early days," he recalls. "My launch campaign was great and I still do lots of marketing locally, but increasingly I have a solid customer base of people who don't even ask me for an estimate – they know the quality of my work and trust me to get on with it. I also get loads of business from word of mouth recommendations, which is a fantastic feeling."

Rob is always booked for weeks ahead and says there is certainly no shortage of work. "I'm making plenty of money and my business is booming, so there's only one way to go," he declares, "and that is up!"

He concludes that he definitely made the right decision with ChipsAway and is looking forward to the beginning of a new chapter in the development of his business.

"I just love the job and the satisfaction of working for myself," he says. "The time is definitely right for us to continue our expansion and we've had absolutely tremendous support and huge enthusiasm from the team at head office – I know we're going to do well as between us all, we have the passion and determination to really make it work."

Reported by Megan Dunmore