Automotive Electrical

As a family-run firm that has been doing business for more than 40 years, Automotive Electrical’s development has reflected the changing nature of the motor industry.
From starting off in Mirfield, West Yorkshire, doing general car electrics they widened their horizons to ensure fuel hauliers’ vehicles were meeting legal safety requirements and then moved into bodybuilding.
The bodybuilding work coupled with their electrical expertise soon gave them the know-how to be able to transform all manner of vehicles. So now the company designs and equips everything from police surveillance vehicles, mobile cafes and camper vans through to any other specialist vehicles that their customers require.

With major clients such as police forces, local councils and national sporting teams, Automotive Electrical’s expertise had gained it a formidable word-of-mouth reputation.
But the company knew that its expertise did not extend to computers. So when it came to replacing its ageing workshop software system they faced a dilemma.
Director Andrew Hodgson said: “The system we had cost us a lot in monthly payments and any updates cost us extra. It was a system that we were used to because of the number of years we had had it. But it was hard to use – the accounting module was very difficult and it took ages to move from having one piece of information on your screen to finding another.

“We didn’t want to change the way we worked but the system we had just wasn’t good enough for the workshop and stores side of our operation. It could take us ages to track down a 20 pence part for a customer – and that can’t be the right way to run things.’’
Automotive Electrical started looking for a workshop software system that could take the hassle out of running their business. It had to be quite simple to use, set up to suit the way the company worked and offer them the back-up support they knew they would need. They searched for more than two years and nearly signed with one system before discovering Accelerator.

Accelerator has always prided itself on its versatility, its ease of use and the back-up support service that ensures that users can always gain advice and assistance about any aspect of the system.
Andrew Hodgson added: “With Accelerator, we told them exactly what we wanted and why we wanted it that way. And, to be fair to them, they set it up just as we asked.

“The great thing is that it has made things so much easier. It is so simple to get any information up on screen – it’s a real “in your face’’ system that is so much quicker and simpler to use than our old one. Everything from the accounts side through to the workshop and stores is so much easier to run. It means that we can get a lot more out of reports and the back-up service is second to none.

“I’m not a great computer person and I didn’t want to change the way we worked. But after having Accelerator a short while I’ve changed the way we do some things to suit Accelerator, simply because its way of doing things is better than what I was doing.
“Unlike some of the people who wanted to sell us costly systems, Accelerator just told us what they would do for us, how they could do it and exactly what it would cost. And it has made a great change to our business.’’