AA rescue service for Halfords repair shops

The Automobile Association is rebranding 129 Halfords garages as AA service centres, with design work ‘likely’ to be undertaken in-house.

The news follows the AA’s acquisition of Halfords’ loss-making car repair business, which was bought from The Boots Company last week for £5.75m.

Brand identity work will not commence until the AA ‘is happy with the level of service that staff provide’, says an AA spokesman. Rebranding is ‘a matter of months away’, he adds.

No decision has yet been made about who will undertake the work, but it is likely to be carried out in-house, he says. AA operates an informal roster of consultancies ‘as and when extra resources are needed’, but the majority of design work is done in-house, he adds.

The spokesman refuses to give details of the AA roster.

The roster is frequently updated and extended and any consultancies that have worked with Halfords in the past, including Ideo, Lippa Pearce and Lewis Moberly, may be considered for future work, he says.

The Boots Company, which has owned Halfords for 12 years, says it decided to sell the garages to focus on its retail chain. The AA says the purchase will allow it to extend its services to include regular servicing and tyre fitting.