It’s NZ’s top car dealership, but Trust Motors began amid chaos.
Staring financial ruin in the face, a retired senior corporate executive risked what life savings he had left in an uncertain business venture - bankrolling a new car dealership in Auckland with his son.
“It was do or die, the last chance saloon” says Jonathan Hiscock of his decision four years ago. “I had just lost the majority of my retirement savings investing in another business which went to the wall for reasons beyond my control and George (his younger son) and I had no idea whether this new venture would work.”
But work it did. The business - Trust Motors in Manukau - has been named both Auckland’s and New Zealand’s No 1 Rated Dealership in the large dealership category in the 2023 BuyerScore Awards and been placed in New Zealand’s top 10 dealerships across all categories.
Trust Motors is a large-scale dealer of used high-performance cars, customised utes and family SUVs and Hiscock believes their “rags to riches” story is due to the unique culture they have created.
“The business is built on trust. We are professional, but down-to-earth; we see ourselves as service providers rather than salespeople and have created a workplace where everything matters down to the last detail. Our motto is ‘how car buying should be’.”
All of this was far from certain when they decided to take the plunge back in mid-2019. Hiscock senior, who through the 1990s and 2000s sat on the board of several high-profile companies in the UK, Europe and the Middle East, had bankrolled the earlier business for the elder of his two sons.
“When the first business failed, I was left with virtually nothing - just a pile of debts and suicidal thoughts,” Hiscock says. “If it hadn’t been for the unswerving support of George, I probably wouldn’t be here today.
“There seemed to be no way out. It would have been easy to throw the towel in, but we stuck at it, one gruelling day at a time, seven days a week.”
He says their initial plan was to work through “the chaos that had been left behind and honour all outstanding financial obligations. As the bond between father and son became unbreakable there came a point where, together, we thought we could build something special.
“Most of our friends thought we were mad as did the bigger names in what is a very competitive car industry,” he says. “It was touch and go to begin with; we sold my house and used the modest sum that was left after clearing debt as start-up capital (and) started from ground zero at the back of an old furniture factory with a desk and six cars.
“As the saying goes, ‘there is no gain without pain’. We vowed to stay strong to our principles and founded Trust Motors on three core values: honesty, kindness and treating our colleagues, customers and suppliers with respect and dignity.”
For most of their first year it was just father and son sweeping floors, cleaning cars and closing a modest number of deals: “It wasn’t easy, but it was a great lesson in humility - staying humble as we grow has become very important to us both.”
Four years on and the hard work has paid off. Trust Motors now employs 13 people at its fully enclosed 4000sqm showroom in Manukau and, says Hiscock, has become one of the most popular destinations in New Zealand for prospective car buyers.
George, who is dealer principal, says he and his Dad have never forgotten their roots. “It’s always been a question of doing the right thing, one customer at a time.
“We don’t use advertising agencies or actors that make claims that don’t match real customer reviews,” he says. “We manage everthing in-house, treat every customer as if they are our last and rely heavily on trust and word of mouth.”
He says the BuyerScore awards vindicate this approach. “We are delighted to have been rated the number 1 large-scale dealership in New Zealand and we’re immensely grateful to the hundreds of customers who have taken the time to submit feedback - and for the trust they have placed in us.”
BuyerScore is an independent rating and review collection service for over 250 vehicle dealers in New Zealand. It helps dealerships collect genune feedback from verified customers (the 2023 awards were based on feedback from 162,000 customers).
All feedback is displayed online which, George says, empowers consumers with a voice to help thousands of others make better car buying decisions and benefit from better customer service.
He says Trust Motors has won numerous other awards for quality and service and consistently scores 4.9 stars on Google and Facebook.
For more information go to: trustmotors.co.nz/
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