founded 1951 founder frank mckee defunct 2015 headquarters rochdale united kingdom products used cars car finance website www.carcraft.co.uk carcraft was an independent group of used car hypermarkets established in 1951 in rochdale greater manchester england with 11 locations around the country . stocking cars from alfa romeo to volvo . carcraft was established by frank mckee and was bought out in 1998 by his sons noel and darren mckee . this was in a 50 million deal backed by the royal bank of scotland s development capital arm . 1 contents 1 history 1.1 awards and recognition 1.2 showrooms 2 references 3 external links history edit carcraft was established in 1951 by frank mckee in rochdale . in 1998 his sons noel and darren mckee bought the business from him in a deal backed by the royal bank of scotland s development capital arm valuing it at 50 million . in april 2000 carcraft acquired a car supermarket located in newport from car group for 10 million whilst car group was in receivership . it also purchased a former carland store located in sheffield . 2 in december 2000 carcraft was put on sale with a price tag of 200 million . 3 in december 2005 carcraft became the first independent second hand vehicle retailer to create and found a contract hire car company . 4 named all in one leasing the business provided services to companies who have small to medium fleets of cars with carcraft leasing them new vehicles then replacing them and selling the used vehicles at its used car supermarkets throughout the country . in october 2006 carcraft acquired another four sites from carland which were located in chertsey enfield lakeside and stockport . 5 in april 2014 a management buyout was led by current chief executive robin bridge and was backed by apollo ventures for an undisclosed sum . on 30 april 2015 the company was placed into administration suffering substantial losses and failing to keep up with rival marketing marketing spend was 100k a week with a return of average sales of 200 cars a week carcraft was doomed . staff were told by the administrators the very same day leaving over 500 people with no redundancy pay or notice . 6 the carcraft brand is now owned by the rix brothers reg and louis rix who also own carfinance247 7 a firm fined 30 000 in 2016 for sending 65 000 spam text messages . 8 awards and recognition edit in april 2011 carcraft received recognition from experian for achieving the number one most visited website for the uk automotive and dealership category earning it an experian hitwise top 10 award . it also received a quality driven award for exceptional customer service awarded by steve hodgkinson from easi drive . 9 dead link showrooms edit carcraft had 11 showrooms located across the united kingdom . there were centres in the following areas birtley chertsey enfield knowsley merseyside lakeside leeds manchester trafford centre newport rochdale sheffield wednesbury references edit carcraft set for 200m sale . the telegraph . 2000 . retrieved 2013 11 29 . carcraft buys sheffield centre . gforces . carcraft set for 200m sale . telegraph.co.uk . title business briefing publisher manchester evening news year 2005 accessdate 2014 01 08 title carcraft expands publisher auto express year 2006 accessdate 2014 01 10 http www.manchesteadministratorro.uk news greater manchester news carcraft closes rochdale jobs live 9154882 http www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk business carfinance247 motor ahead buy carcraft 9752347 milligan brian 15 september 2016 . finance firm fined for sending 65 000 spam texts . bbc news . retrieved 15 september 2016 . internet search accolade for carcraft . click manchester . 2011 . retrieved 2011 04 18 . external links edit carfinance247.co.uk carcraft carcraft linkedin company profile carcraft twitter profile uk car group v t e automotive industry in the united kingdom manufacturing in the united kingdom economy of the united kingdom companies and marques commercial vehicle 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