Revolutionising rental

McNicoll Vehicle Hire is a Business Reporter client

By sticking to its key values and not following the crowd, McNicoll Vehicle Hire has built itself up from a local daily rental company to the key supplier of cars and vans in Scotland

In 2006, McNicoll Vehicle Hire was acquired from the founder Dick McNicoll. The business consisted of a mixture of 22 old cars and vans and was a well-known brand in Linlithgow, West Lothian, supplying the local community with daily rental hires. Since the acquisition, the business has grown from strength to strength with the focus being on providing a platinum, friendly service to its customers. In 2014, the business acquired Edinburgh’s Condor Self Drive, another well-established local company with the same values as McNicoll. It then opened its third site in Newtongrange, Midlothian, to further increase its coverage and strengthen its hold on daily rentals in central Scotland.

Over the years, the business model has grown to include commercial companies looking for longer-term hires. By offering the same quality of vehicles as national companies and implementing the levels of service that were provided to local customers, it soon became the go-to company for short-, medium- and long-term hires in the region.

In 2019, it opened its fourth depot and first key commercial facility in Livingston, just off the M8 motorway connecting Edinburgh and Glasgow. It employed staff with experience within the commercial hire sector to help grow this side of the business, and in 2021, it added a further commercial site in Newbridge, Edinburgh, to help it grow in line with its goals.

Today, it claims it is the key player in vehicle hire in central Scotland for daily rentals and commercial hire. It is rated number one for vehicle hire on booking.com and prides itself on giving customers a quality of service unprecedented in the tourism car rental market. Due to the phenomenal number of satisfied customers leaving reviews, it has a ‘Superb’ rating on the site.

In its commercial business, McNicoll has secured key contracts with large blue-chip organisations and, with a fleet of 1,500 vehicles, provides a sole supply deal to companies throughout the UK.

As a business, it always sticks to its values and ensures all customers receive a platinum service, whether they want to hire one vehicle for a day or 100 vehicles on hire for a four-year contract. This has been a key driver in organic growth over the years, with the company doing things the McNicoll way and not following the crowd.

When Covid-19 and lockdown hit in March 2020, the company worked rapidly to put the business in its strongest position before giving back to its customers. It stopped all charges on customer vehicles and allowed customers to keep the vehicles throughout the pandemic, taking a massive financial hit. This ensured customers didn’t have any costs while their businesses were closed and that when they were ready to trade again, they had vehicles at their disposal. It further cemented McNicoll’s relationships with its customers and created a stream of new customers who heard about their way of operating.

Since 2020, its ‘on hire’ rate has grown by 170 per cent, and over the past three years, it has enjoyed a 77 per cent increase in its turnover. It has allowed the company to grow its staffing levels and improve its structure.

2022 brings new challenges with the well-publicised shortage of vehicles in the marketplace, but due to the brand’s calculated foresight, it has gathered a large number of vehicles over the past 12/18 months while limiting disposals. This has allowed McNicoll to support its current customers’ needs while also having enough excess stock to supply the summer tourism car market and hit commercial growth targets for 2022.

David Stewart, Managing Director of McNicoll, said: “With rising inflation really affecting individuals and businesses, we will continue to look at our business every day to minimise the impact on our customers and provide them with the service they expect.”

For further information, visit mcnicollvehiclehire.co.uk

Originally published on Business Reporter