LKQ has officially reopened part of its site in Tamworth as a dedicated area to support its bodyshop customers. The move brings its market-leading portfolio and added value solutions for garages and bodyshops together, to improve and enhance its complete service offering.

More than 80 of LKQ’s independent bodyshop customers attended the re-opening of its dedicated bodyshop site, which houses a brand new, state-of-the-art LKQ Academy training centre, with hundreds of seats available to book.

The centre offers specialist courses for bodyshops including the landmark ‘Sustainability in the Bodyshop’ course launched in 2023, and joins a network of 35 LKQ Academy sites nationwide, which deliver more than 80 different courses.

The upgraded part of the LKQ site (known as T1) is now home to more than 10,500 body panel SKUs across 41,000 locations on 31 aisles, covering 750,000 sq ft, and is next door to LKQ UK & Ireland’s head office and central distribution centre (T2).

More than 30 suppliers now deliver regularly to the new LKQ T1 warehouse, helping to fulfil orders amounting to more than 3,000 outbound body panel units per day, delivered to LKQ’s nationwide branch network.

Aligning its specialist bodyshop and vehicle service, maintenance and repair businesses on adjacent sites at T1 and T2 is part of the LKQ UK & Ireland Group’s focus on ensuring customers in all parts of the aftermarket benefit from its unrivalled product range and availability supported by its industry leading logistics capability.

Chris O’Rourke, Managing Director of the LKQ Bodyshop Division, commented: “Opening our new site is the culmination of more than a year of infrastructure changes, as we invest in the service delivery improvements that underpin our Customer Promise.

“Ultimately, we want to unlock sustainable and profitable growth in partnership with our customers. That means always being there to support them, and being ever-ready to deploy the complete set of solutions they need to navigate rapid technological change in our industry.”

As well as a busy catalogue of training courses available through the LKQ Academy, the LKQ Bodyshop Division is home to the market’s largest in-house training technical team – with more than 20 expert colleagues, with more than 700 years’ combined experience, who travel the country partnering with customers to maximise efficiencies and identify opportunities to drive their businesses forward.

Chris O’Rourke added: “We’re incredibly proud of our market-leading proposition, which has been designed around real customer feedback about the challenges and opportunities in collision repair, one of which is access to affordable training.

“The launch of our new warehouse and training centre – with increased capacity in both areas, and room for continued growth and evolution – demonstrates our commitment to being there for our customers today, tomorrow and in the long term.”

Established in 2013, the LKQ Bodyshop Division goes beyond products to offer aftersales support, training, insights and technical know-how. It sits alongside LKQ Euro Car Parts, LKQ Leisure & Marine and Digraph as part of the LKQ UK & Ireland group of businesses – the market’s largest and leading distributor of parts and accessories for all cars, motorbikes, commercial vehicles and leisure and marine vehicles.