When you stay in a 5-star hotel, you may think nothing of asking the concierge to book you a last-minute table at the finest restaurant in the area or to arrange a ticket to that sold-out West End show. What about flying your prized motor half-way around the world so you can complete that classic car journey you’ve always dreamed of? In the world of motors, that’s exactly what Windrush Car Storage offers – introducing the Car Concierge!
What are Windrush’s Car Concierge services?
A traditional concierge is someone who provides personalised services and responds to a client’s needs. As Tim Earnshaw, Director of Windrush Car Storage, says, that ethos applies to motors as well:
“What is a car concierge? It’s literally anything you want with a car. That’s quite a bold thing to say, but, whatever you can dream, we aim to deliver.”
So, it really depends on how big your imagination is, as Tim continues:
“Just imagine. You’ve got your prized car and on your bucket list is driving from the North to the South Island of New Zealand in your car. Could you leave it to Windrush to check your car over, prepare it, get it shipped, do all the customs, and have it there ready for you to do your dream road trip? Yes we could do that!”
Rather than simply exceed expectations, Tim prefers to over-exceed expectations. When he launched Windrush Car Storage 20 years ago, Tim was simply offering secure car storage to other people, just as he was already doing for his own cars.
“I’d put so much effort into all the little details – the security, the alarm system, pest control, dehumidifiers, researching the chargers – I thought other people should benefit from this,” he says.
As the business developed, that offering grew to include taking care of all the little admin tasks associated with owning a car. The tiny details like setting the clock, adjusting the tyre pressures, checking the engine oil and the water levels, renewing the MOT test – these are things that come as standard at Windrush and are all part of making sure a client’s car is ready for the off at any time.
“We take care of whatever the car needs – and whatever you need – to make owning and driving your car enjoyable,” says Tim.
But it’s also about going that extra mile for clients – literally and metaphorically! Here are some examples:
Porsche vs Ferrari
In the 20 years that Windrush Car Storage has been operating, Tim and his team have had a few requests that have kept them on their toes. Perhaps the most memorable was back in the early days, when Tim and his brother helped a client out of a tricky situation in Champagne country.
“One very proud moment that sticks in my mind was in the early days of car concierge,’ says Tim. “One of our clients had two cars in storage with us – a Porsche and a Ferrari. For his 20th wedding anniversary, this client took his Ferrari over to Reims to stay in a chateau with his wife, but at some point on the Friday afternoon the car broke down. We got the call – ‘any chance you can save my bacon and bring my reliable German car to France?’
“My brother and I looked at each other and within 45 minutes, we’d got the Porsche out of storage, loaded inside the Windrush transporter and on its way. The next morning, our client woke up at the chateau and there were two fabulous cars sitting there on the gravel!”
Needless to say, Tim and his brother thought nothing of transporting the limping Ferrari back to Windrush Car Storage in the Cotswolds as part of the return journey and booked it in for a health check with their Ferrari repair provider.
It is these moments, where the Windrush team go above and beyond for clients that you really feel Tim’s passion for cars and their customers. As Tim says:
“If you’re in that scenario, you’re busy working hard, and you buy yourself a car or two, you want to entrust it to people to store it and look after it. But if something goes wrong, who are you going to call? Who else could you ask to bring my car right now down to France to swap it over? It excites me that we can offer this level of service to our customers.”
Of course, it helps that the Windrush team is fastidious about how they look after cars. Thanks to strict processes, every car that is stored at Windrush is maintained, on the button and ready to go – even for an emergency dash over to France!
Mastering a Morgan
The team are always on hand to help customers in all aspects of motoring, whether that’s advising on which cars to buy, suggesting road trips and even acting as co-driver:
“We had a client who had just ordered a Morgan,” says Tim, “They had dreamt of it for years and got it fully customised and specced. But, they weren’t in the country to take delivery of it. So, the client got in touch with us and asked if we would receive it on their behalf.”
Of course, this was no problem, and the team kept the client updated with pictures of the client’s new arrival. But the story doesn’t end there…
“The client was obviously excited to get back to the UK to drive their new arrival. And then we got the phone call – ‘I’ve never driven on the left before. Would one of you mind coming with me for an hour to go for a drive around town and give me a few pointers?’
Understandably, the client was extremely grateful for having someone by their side on their first venture. And as they said on their return overseas, ’’Who else would have done that with me?’
Evolving the Windrush Way
“The concierge service has been such a big thing for us,” says Tim. “It’s been a carefully considered journey, but right from day one, it was always an all inclusive service. We’ve always set the stall out to be what you see is what you get – and actually more than you anticipated. So you get real value – not what you’re prepared to pay but what the car actually needs.
The car concierge term has become part of The Windrush Way that now defines what sets Windrush Car Storage apart, 20 years down the line. It’s an exciting story and one that is continually evolving as clients’ needs – and their cars’ needs – change.
“Car concierge is part of the DNA of Windrush,’ says Tim. “There are a lot of imitators out there now but they only imitate what is on the face of what we do – so they’ve got the nice covers, the nice storage environment, sure, there’s a few ticks in the boxes there.
“But it’s what’s underneath the covers that counts. At Windrush, we really get into the nitty gritty, the way of life of our clients. For us, the answer is always ‘yes’. Our clients value what we’re doing hence why they are a client of ours. We enjoy the challenge of being able to pull off a client’s wildest dreams!”
Explore Windrush Car Storage’s car concierge services
As a valued client of Windrush Car Storage, customer service is at the heart of what we do. If you require any car concierge services please don’t hesitate to get in touch with us.
