Kwik Fit is a

car servicing A motor vehicle service or tune-up is a series of 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 vehicle manufacturer in a service schedule ...

and repair company in the United Kingdom, specialising in

tyres A tire (American English) or tyre (British English) is a ring-shaped component that surrounds a wheel's rim to transfer a vehicle's load from the axle through the wheel to the ground and to provide traction on the surface over which t ...

, brakes, exhausts, MOT testing, car servicing,

air conditioning Air conditioning, often abbreviated as A/C or AC, is the process of removing heat from an enclosed space to achieve a more comfortable interior environment (sometimes referred to as 'comfort cooling') and in some cases also strictly controlling ...

recharge,

oil change Motor oil, engine oil, or engine lubricant is any one of various substances used for the lubrication of internal combustion engines. They typically consist of base oils enhanced with various additives, particularly antiwear additives, detergen ...

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

History

Sir Tom Farmer Sir Thomas Farmer, (born 10 July 1940) is a Scottish entrepreneur. Early life One of seven siblings in a devoutly Catholic family, in 1964 Farmer founded his own tyre retailing business which he sold in 1969 for £450,000. Farmer retired to ...

opened the first Kwik Fit location in McDonald Road,

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian on the southern shore of t ...

, Scotland, in 1971. In May 1995,

Kwik Fit Insurance Kwik Fit is a car servicing and repair company in the United Kingdom, specialising in tyres, brakes, exhausts, MOT testing, car servicing, air conditioning recharge, oil changes. As of , there are over six hundred Kwik Fit locations in the ...

, 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 two thousand locations throughout Europe, and Farmer sold the company to the

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

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

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

, a leading French-based private equity firm. Kwik-Fit, New Kent Road - geograph

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 14 countries worldwide. The company was renamed from Fortis Holding in April 2010 and consists of those insurance ...

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

Itochu Corporation is a Japanese corporation based in Umeda, Kita-ku, Osaka and Aoyama, Minato, Tokyo. It is one of the largest Japanese '' sogo shosha'' (general trading companies). Among Japanese trading companies, it is distinguished by not being descen ...

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 The Learning and Skills Improvement Service (LSIS) was a not-for-profit company limited by guarantee and registered Charitable organization, charity formed in 2008 to support and improve achievement in the Further Education and Skills sector in En ...

(LSIS) for its further education training programs. This was given following a successful inspection by Ofsted, in which programs were graded 'outstanding'.

References

External links

* {{coord , 55, 56, 3, N, 3, 27, 12, W, region:GB-WLN, display=title Automotive companies of the United Kingdom Automotive repair shops CVC Capital Partners companies 1971 establishments in Scotland British companies established in 1971 Retail companies established in 1971 Companies based in Edinburgh

History

Advertising

Training

See also

References

External links