Tom Matthews, Sales Manager from MotoMine, a leading motorbike dismantling and parts supply company, discusses its beginnings in 2005 as Surrey Motorcycle Parts and its transformation into part of 4th Dimension Innovation. He shares insights into MotoMine’s significant growth, its comprehensive motorbike services, and innovative software solutions. Tom also elaborates on the type of staff they seek to maintain excellent customer service.
From Surrey Motorcycle Parts to MotoMine
We started breaking bikes as Surrey Motorcycle Parts in 2005 and created the MotoMine Parts brand just last year in order to bring our parts and Cat N bike sales under one banner. We all fall under the umbrella of 4th Dimension Innovation, which is the largest motorcycle claims handler in the UK, hence the focus on bikes. Currently, we employ 450 staff across three sites and provide services including repair, claims management and logistical support, not to mention sales both through eCommerce and our Honda dealership in Farnham.
MotoMine’s Approach and Specialised Software Solutions
It may sound obvious, but the greatest difference I’ve seen from car dismantling is that when you set a bike down and walk away – it falls over! A car provides its own rolling platform, which lends itself to a reverse production line model. This is something we are looking into currently, but having a non-uniform unstable object is a real challenge for us. There are also major differences in the tooling needed for certain brands with some needing unique tools not used for anything else. We use bespoke software for our insurance claims services and a web-based inventory management system to help transfer listing data to our eCommerce sites, but recently, we have also implanted custom live tracking software to monitor jobs as they move from pre-inspection to breaking through to listing, imaging and upload. This is proving a big help in organising resources as we scale the business.
The Ideal MotoMine Staff: Passionate Bikers or Skilled Dismantlers?
I think it depends on the role we are recruiting for. In Sales or the Warehouse, a keen knowledge of bikes is definitely required, but when breaking, sometimes it helps to see a bike as just a machine to take apart—it helps to remain objective. When dealing with customers, the more we know, the better. Bikers tend to be a well-informed bunch, so being able to engage with that is key.
Process for Assessing and Providing Motorcycle Parts
As a biker, taking in a bike that’s been in a serious accident can be a shock to the system for obvious reasons. We inspect parts before listing them to ensure they are fit for purpose, and depending on the nature/extent of the incident, we can sometimes salvage only a handful of parts. Other times, it can be almost the entire bike. We will only sell a part that is fit for purpose, of course, but we also have to be mindful of the condition since so many parts on a bike are visible from the outside. Our most popular parts tend to fall into two categories: there are the bits that hit the ground most often, like mirrors, levers, footrests, etc, and then there are the more desirable parts, like aftermarket exhausts, quick shifters or trick suspension parts where customers want to upgrade their existing set up.
Accelerating Growth
We are growing all the time, and in fact, we are currently looking into moving into a larger premises since we have outgrown our current base! In preparation for the move, we are running trials in the ATF to determine how we will be breaking bikes moving forward as more space opens up new possible techniques. At present, we have access to far more bikes than we break, so there is easy growth to be had as we gain more space and keep improving our processes.
Ultimately, as long as there are bikes, there will be a need for our parts, and we will keep supporting the biking community.
Find out more about MotoMine.
