Garage visit 43 www.aftermarketonline.net JULY/AUGUST 2025 programme, through which it also shares LKQ training, and staff are encouraged to discuss their goals. “The LKQ Academy helps massively, and they are listening to ideas we send them.” Talking about issues affective garages was how Ant started with social media about 18 months ago. “There are so many cool things happening with independent garages that I was talking to people about – then I thought better to put stuff out there. I personalise it as a normal garage man and that’s how I approach things.” On the future of the industry, Ant said it’s important to remain positive. “If we keep talking negatively about skills gaps and so on then it will feel negative. “There are so many cool things about cars that people like. No one is getting into the business to make money — they are doing it because they like cars. It’s a vocation. So, it’s important to look after, invest in and nurture staff and to give them a good workplace.” Ant said AAK is always reinvesting in the business. “If the garage earns £1,000 that’s for the garage. Then if we need new equipment or to invest that in staff, that’s what we do. You need to do that because if you don’t have the best people to work on the cars, you don’t have a business. “I’ve got really good technicians and we deal with a lot of breakdown services. We know money is tight, but our customers also appreciate dealing with familiar faces who can talk them through what work needs to be done now to avoid a potentially bigger bill later. “We also now have a third front-of-house person to help that process and spend time with customers discussing work that might be needed and why.” He is also always keen to put his garage’s skills to the test. The former Top Garage winner said: “If there is an award out there we’ve won it at some point, I like challenging ourselves with those competitions.” “But there are a lot of cars on the road and the ratios in terms of garages is good, so if you’re doing a good job there are enough cars out there for your business to survive. “And, with LKQ, I hope I can represent the average garage and help us all grow our businesses. “I’m just someone who fixes cars, but we now have the ear of the biggest aftermarket seller in the UK if not in Europe. It’s not been done before and it’s definitely something special.”
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