For hire - a Rolls Royce!

A CLASSIC car enthusiast from North Yorkshire has been given a steer to start up a new business.

Robin Morgan, 57, has turned his passion into a career with the launch near Skipwith of a new self-drive car hire company boasting a selection of 1960s and 1970s sports cars and classic saloons.

For years, Robin tinkered with classic cars in his spare time while working as a director of an IT company. With a phone call to Business Link York and North Yorkshire, he was able to set the wheels in motion for the launch of Country Lanes Classic Car Hire.
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Enter Heidi Green, a Business Link adviser who steered him through marketing strategies, cash flow forecasts and business plans.

One month and £50,000 worth of investment on from its launch and now the company is already looking to expand as demand grows for use of his fleet of six, from an MGB Sports and a Porsche 356 replica to a gleaming Rolls Royce Silver Shadow.

Hire prices, including insurance and breakdown cover, range from £140 for the MGB sports car to £200 per day for the Silver Ghost.

Naturally there are stringent security checks on the clients, and the vehicles can be hired for an unlimited period, in which case prices can be more favourable.

Robin first began to restore classic cars as a trainee service manager with Appleyard's Motor Distributors in Leeds.

After ten years in the motor trade, he began a career in sales and marketing of capital equipment, but latterly found himself running the northern branch of Team Spirit Software in Clifton Moor.

He said: "I can't speak more highly of the advice of Heidi. Of course, I was familiar with business, but when you don't have a marketing department or web designer down the corridor, you need guidance."

Typically, his vehicles are hired for a single day - such as a birthday, a special anniversary memory "or, quite often, people who simply want to try before they buy, but there are those who hire it for an extended period for a week - touring North Yorkshire and wanting to do it in style," he said Heidi referred Robin to a bank and solicitors to discuss contract legalities, and the business took off with a roaring start, forging links with Yorkshire Tourist Board to encourage tourists to get a true taste of the British countryside while driving British classics.

Now he is busying himself preparing a 1927 Humber limousine for wedding work later in the year and actively searching for a further two cars to add to the fleet.

He said: "It's funny to think that I only contacted Business Link in July last year and here I am with my mind already set on expansion."

See the article HERE

Posted: 21 Mar 2007