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£500k investment sees vehicle leasing firm expand from Yarm to Middlesbrough

Vehicle leasing company AVL has moved into new North East premises to support its growth.

As part of an estimated £500k long-term investment, it has moved into a 9,000sq ft suite of offices within Middlesbrough’s Riverside Park industrial district – nearly five times the size of its former home at Urlay Nook, near Yarm.

Five years ago, AVL (Advanced Vehicle Leasing), the largest independent supplier of contract hire, lease cars and commercial vehicles between Edinburgh and Leeds, was supplying vehicles at a rate of 60 a month. This year it expects to supply 1,500, or 125 a month.

AVL, which had an 18-strong sales team prior to the move, including agents in London, Newcastle, Scotland, Grimsby, Cambridge and Stratford upon Avon, has quickly strengthened with two appointments in Middlesbrough, with plans to recruit a further four around the UK.

“We are not a boom or bust type of business, but have grown steadily and organically over a number of years to the point where we were bursting at the seams at Urlay Nook,” says founder and managing director Stuart Beagrie.

“Whilst we supply vehicles throughout the UK, about 70% of our customers are within a 60-mile radius of here, so the move to Riverside Park positions us at the heart of our patch and, within sight of both the A19 and A66 arterial routes, with the added benefit of superb road access.”

Established in 1997 in Ripon, AVL deals in all aspects of vehicle provision, PCP, hire purchase, contract hire, contract purchase, personal car leasing and lease purchase. It also sells used and ex lease vehicles through a sister company, AVL Trade Sales.

Says Stuart Beagrie “We have what some might call old-fashioned beliefs in the importance of customer care. Regardless of whether the car being supplied is a £5,000 hatchback or a £90,000 luxury model, customers can expect the same standard of service, with all vehicles delivered with the same level of care by trailer.”

Unusually, the move to Easter Park, on the western edge of Riverside Park, has created a miniature enterprise zone at AVL’s new Riverside Park home, with the company joined by its accountants – A Star Accountancy – and a small IT company who are working to improve all aspects of AVLs IT strategy.

Stuart Beagrie adds: “We believe business is a two-way street and a lot of companies we supply vehicles to also end up providing services to us. It therefore made great sense for A Star and the IT company, which is helping us to develop our website and IT infrastructure, to also be based within our premises and, hopefully, grow alongside us.”

On Friday 15th May the new offices were officially opened by Middlesbrough MP Andy McDonald with over 250 customers and suppliers joining Stuart and his staff to celebrate the event.

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