Leading dealer group owners are becoming richer and richer according to the Sunday Times Rich List. Arnold Clark, Jack Tordoff, Sir Peter Vardy, and the McKee brothers - who run the Carcraft car supermarket - have all climbed up the chart of the UK's richest people.

Last year was a tough one for Arnold Clark but the firm has recovered, recording £15.4 million profit on sales of £980 million. Clark owns all the company with trusts investing in franchises in England. The firm is now worth an estimated £185 million and the paper added an extra £10 million to account for Clark's yacht and property making him 166th in the list. In 2001 he was 245th.

Success at Carcraft has paid dividends for Noel and Darren McKee who have made the Rochdale-based firm in to a leading car hypermarket. In 2000, profits stood at £26 million on sales of £141.2. This means they jump from joint 320th to joint 272nd in the list. Sir Peter Vardy leaps from joint 669th to joint 465th.

His firm turns over more than £1.3 billion, with profits of more than £30 million.

At joint 514th - up from 562nd - is Jack Tordoff, head of Bradford-based JCT 600. He saw his business make £6 million profit in 2001 and wants this to increase to £6.7 million in 2002. However, it was not a good year the IM Group.

Profits at the Birmingham-based cars and property business fell to £24.8 million in 2000 meaning a drop from 81st place to joint 96th place in the list for owner Robert Edmiston.