Vehicle salvage firm gets green light to double up in Scotland and create jobs

Vehicle salvage and online auction business Copart is pressing ahead with plans to double up in Scotland after securing final planning consent for a large site in East Kilbride.

Having gained planning permission for the 31-acre site, the firm anticipates that its new operation centre will be fully operational in 2023 and bring “many new job opportunities” to the area. Plans for the centre had been flagged early last year.

The expansion in Scotland is part of Copart’s growth and investment programme to meet continued demand from customers, including most of the UK’s major insurance companies and thousands of nationwide automotive customers.

The firm’s strategy combines a programme of land acquisition with “continuous improvement” at existing sites and reinvestment in transport, services and technology.

Phil Briggs, UK director of operation centres, transport and engineering, said: “We’re passionate about continuously growing and improving our services to customers, so we’re very excited to secure final planning permission for our new operation centre in East Kilbride, which will provide annual storage capacity for over 49,000 vehicles.

“Alongside our existing 30-acre site in Whitburn, it offers the potential for Copart to handle around 100,000 cars per year across Scotland, doubling our operational capabilities in this part of the UK.

“With extreme weather events increasing in Scotland, the provision of latent storage capacity is more important than ever.”

Copart UK was established in 2007 and handles more than 400,000 vehicles each year through online auctions for a variety of customers. These include finance companies, banks, dealers, fleets, rental car companies and the insurance industry, as well as franchised, independent and wholesale motor traders.

Copart UK handles vehicles collected for the likes of fleet operators, motor traders and finance companies for salvage and remarketing via a global online auction.

The Scottish expansion follows a series of similar growth announcements from the company over the past year, including a major new customer service centre in Bedford, the quadrupling in size of its Bristol operation centre, and a new 68-acre UK “super centre” in Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk.

Jane Pocock, managing director of Copart UK & Ireland, added: “Because of the strategic and unrivalled positioning of our sites across the UK, we are proud to say that we are never far from communities, and therefore our customers.”