Jennings Kia is an independent, privately owned company, which has been in business from 1917, so over a century of dealing with customers, cars and all that involves.
It is a franchise group, which means that private entrepreneurs purchase the rights to open and run a location of a larger company. The franchising company, or franchisor, signs a contractual agreement with the franchisee, explaining in detail the company’s rules for operating the franchise.
Among the cars that Jennings supply are Ford, Mazda, Seat, Mitsubishi and Kia. Jennings themselves say that the reason they have been successful is down to the high level of customer service, because of this they have been recognised and awarded ‘The Chairman’s Award’ – which is Fords highest award for customer satisfaction, not just for one year but 20 years!
Septimus Jennings started as repairing bicycles in a garden shed around 1890, this was just a hobby. Later in 1911 they bought their first premises in Northumberland selling bicycles and cars, 1917 they became one of the first companies in the country to be appointed by Ford Motor Company. In 1984 they opened in Stockton -On-Tees. 1912 S Jennings Ltd was registered with Companies House.
1992 The Jennings family was bought out by Alan Bentley, 1995 saw them opening in South Shields.
1999 they start building a bespoke site in Middlesbrough which opens in 2000. This site became a multi-franchise site catering for Ford, Mazda and Seat.
2005 there was another buyout by present Group Managing Director Nas Khan. Nas Khan launched his own charity in 2010 ‘The Emaan Foundation’ raising funds for the flood victims of Pakistan.
2011 Saw the opening of Jennings KIA in Washington, England. This site also has a service department for Ford and Mazda. Used, approved by Jennings Kia’s are also for sale.
2012 saw celebrations all over the North East for 100 years of business, they are proud to say that they have looked after generations of families motoring needs – something that very few companies can boast.
2013 Jennings Kia is launched in Teeside, this is Britain’s biggest Kia dealership. 2016 saw the dealership being placed third in Kia’s national sales league table at the same time as celebrating their third anniversary on site.
2014 Jennings open a Mitsubishi dealership in Middlesbrough
2015 A new bespoke site in Gateshead is opened for a Transit Centre. Jennings also take over Leeds Harley-Davidson Group.
The Jennings Motor Group have built up a strong customer base by ensuring that customers are looked after with professional staff who explain details with the customer by being honest and reliable. They deal in high quality vehicles and believe that their pricing structure is competitive and fair. All the staff are very proud of the motoring heritage that they are a part of, and many staff have been with the company for a long time. Staff training and progression within the company means that their staff are very knowledgeable, which gives customers the confidence to buy and bring their vehicles back for maintenance.
Photo of a Kia Rio
Kia cars are sold with a 7-year warranty (or 100,000 miles) at no extra cost to the customer, which certainly gives customers peace of mind, but Kia are equally confident that their product will not let the owner down. The good thing is should you sell your car within the seven years the warranty is transferrable to the new owners. The advantage of this it helps keep the value of the car buoyant. The 7-year warranty is the longest warranty of its kind in Europe. Kia state that their cars are built to one of the highest car manufacturing standards in the business, because of this the cost of maintaining your car is lower.
Jennings also maintain that they are continuously improving the security and safety of their vehicles, they have their own crash test laboratories in Namyang using state of the art computer simulations ensuring that all of their range of vehicles are tried and tested for the safety of the occupants. The Kia range have achieved the full 5 star Euro NCAP rating (this was introduced in 2009 based on four important areas -Adult protection (driver and passenger), this is determined from frontal and side impact and whiplash tests. Child protection this is with regard to the protection offered to the child by the restraint systems in both side and front impact tests and taking into account the size of the child. Safety Assist technologies, this includes the seatbelts, electronic stability controls and other systems inbuilt in the vehicle. Pedestrian protection this is dealing with the structure of the bonnet and windscreen and the height of the bumper. The star rating was introduced in 1997.