Evans Halshaw has extended the reach of its online-focussed Car Store operation with the opening of new branches in Bristol and Norwich.

Taking the total number of Car Stores to five, the new outlets join existing outlets at Birmingham, Slough and Chessington and Norwich and add to a strategy which will eventually see 40 such locations established across the UK.

Created exclusively for online Evans Halshaw customers, Car Stores serve as a local ‘click and collect’ style pick-up point for www.evanshalshaw.com’s 1.5 million online customers taking advantage of its Move Me Closer and Sell Your Car services.

By utilising the brand’s Move Me Closer scheme, customers are able to browse 20,000 used cars from Evans Halshaw dealerships across the UK and have their preferred model moved closer to them to view.

The Sell Your Car service means customers can book a car valuation appointment online or over phone, and following a face-to-face valuation, Evans Halshaw will buy any car – even if the seller is not purchasing a vehicle.

The company believes that people are ready to adopt the new format.

Stuart Foulds, Evans Halshaw’s national franchise director, said: “We know that many of our customers do the majority of their research online and that visiting a dealership is often the last stage of the process.

“There has been a strong demand for the Move Me Closer service from certain customers so we invested in destinations that could serve those customers at a location more convenient to them.”

Bristol’s new Car Store is located near to Makro on the Cribbs Causeway Estate.

The new Car Store at Norwich is also near to a Makro supermarket on the Broadland Business Park.

The operations have created a total of nine new jobs and both include a dedicated area where customers can access and browse over 20,000 used vehicles online.