Member Article

Leeds motor auction drives on with major investment

A family run motor auction business, based in Morley, has invested a quarter of a million pounds to assist with its growth plans as a new management team is appointed.

Independent Motor Auctions (IMA) was bought by the Lane family in 2006 and since then the company has experienced continued growth in a competitive marketplace with turnover increasing year on year.

To help with its growth, IMA has now invested around £250,000 in two new transporters which allows vehicles to be delivered efficiently to customers. The fleet itself is now made up of a nine-car artic transporter, a five-car rigid transporter and the two new six-car transporters.

The Lane family originally bought into Independent Motor Auctions in 2002, taking full ownership from March 2006, with John Lane running the business alongside his son, Justin, and daughter, Melissa. John has recently retired from IMA with Justin taking over as managing director and Melissa as operations director.

Justin returns to IMA having spent several years working for a large company in the sector and has himself nearly 30 years’ industry experience. In addition, in 2013 Justin was chairman of the National Association of Motor Auctions, the industry body representing auction companies with a reputation spanning almost five decades, having been established in 1969. The organisation represents a broad mix of members from small family businesses to large national PLCs.

IMA is the only independent, family-run motor auction business in West Yorkshire and operates from Scotland down to Birmingham counting major names such as Vantage Motors, Jennings, SG Petch, Richard Hardie, Derek Slack, Cars2, Burrows Motor Group, John Roe Toyota and many more as clients.

The company occupies five acres on Bruntcliffe Lane in Morely and employs a team of 16 with three auctions every week. In addition, IMA has also launched an online auction site and mobile app to assist with its growth, which has created two new jobs.

Speaking about the business’s growth, Justin Lane said: “As a company, Independent Motor Auctions continues to grow faster than the industry itself and we’re always keen to reinvest where we can to enhance what we offer our customers. We have a longstanding reputation in our industry and we’re very proud to be one of few auction businesses that is independent and family-run.”

Melissa Lane added: “The foundation of our business has always been on providing the best customer experience and offering a personal service in a very competitive and largely dominated marketplace. Our new management team has a combined sector experience of over 100 years in this industry and we work hard to encourage young people into our company by providing comprehensive training to ensure that motor auctions continue to thrive in the industry for years to come.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Anna Addison Associates .