Leading British car body repair brand ChipsAway, continues its global expansion, with the opening of its first middle-eastern franchise in Saudi Arabia.

ChipsAway, one of the world’s largest car repair networks, has announced its expansion into the Middle East with the opening of a master franchise in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

The expansion marks the next step for the British business, which currently has 300 franchisees in the UK and also has a growing network of international master franchisors across the globe.

Deputy Chairman, Lloyd Evans sees the Middle Eastern move as a fantastic opportunity for ChipsAway:

“Proving resistant to global economic downturn the Saudi Arabian economy has actually managed to maintain growth in difficult times. The buoyant automotive industry is the largest in the Middle East and one of the largest in the world. Auto-sales are currently worth SR69.4bn and are expected to achieve growth of 30% by 2013 which provides some great opportunities for a business such as ChipsAway to thrive and grow.”

Heading up the master franchise in Saudi is Talal Obid Al Osaimi a successful business man who studied for his MBA in the UK at Bangor University. With seven years under his belt of running two repair centres in Riyadh and a wealth of business knowledge gained through his owning a very successful and profitable construction business, Talal is certainly well placed to help develop the ChipsAway brand in the Middle East.

His business partner, Ieyd Al Shammari, brings many years knowledge gained through working in various Operations Manager roles within the Financial Services Sector. With a particular passion for providing the right customer experiences, Saudi customers will soon be treated to high level of service the business is renowned for.

Talal explains:

“We were very excited by the opportunity to trade under the ChipsAway brand in Saudi Arabia. From our very first experiences with ChipsAway we were impressed by the business model and by both its present and estimated levels of growth. It’s easy to see how potential franchisees can make money which presents a great opportunity for developing the Saudi network through franchise investment. Best of all with second hand vehicle ownership so prominent, accounting for 46% of cars, there is a large untapped market for services such as those offered by ChipsAway!”

For more information please contact Melissa Davies-Lawrence, Press Office, 01562 826 711

Notes to Editors
ChipsAway is the UK’s leading specialist in minor automotive paintwork repairs, with around 350 specialists in successful operation around the UK and a network of Master Franchisors worldwide. Franchisees operate from liveried vehicles customised into fully equipped mobile workshops and CarCare Centres, fixed base units. They provide convenient, high quality paintwork repairs within a matter of hours and at a fraction of the cost of traditional body shop methods.
With over 34 million vehicles on the road and up to 17 million minor damage repair opportunities every year, ChipsAway estimates that currently it serves only 3% of its potential marketplace. The quality, value and convenience of ChipsAway ‘on-the-spot’ repairs ensure the company remains the dominant brand in this lucrative and rapidly growing marketplace with franchisees having the opportunity to expand rapidly into a major management franchise with multiple vehicles, territories and CarCare Centres.