James Harris, centre, of Motorhome Retrofits with his team staycations have led to a huge demand for the Poole business
The boom in staycations has led a Dorset retrofit car electronics company to open a specialist motorhome business.
Motorhome Retrofits is based in new premises in Poole, Dorset, and demand for its services has soared – and it is even attracting customers from the continent.
Its engineers are busy installing wifi, top-of-the-range audio-visual equipment, 360-degree high definition parking cameras, navigation systems and high specification security.
Due to much foreign travel being unavailable, sales of motorhomes have rocketed.
The National Caravan Council reported last July that registrations of motorhomes and campervans were up 71 per cent on the same time the previous year.
This sales growth has continued and after spending many tens of thousands of pounds on a motorhome, owners want them improved.
James Harris, who founded Advanced In-Car Technologies in 2003, became inundated with requests to retrofit motorhomes.
So the company bought a new unit on the Brixey Business Park in Fancy Road opposite the existing business and launched Motorhome Retrofits.
He said: “We are well known for retrofitting cars with top quality workmanship – we have more than 20,000 YouTube followers and hundreds of five star reviews.
“Last year after the first lockdown we worked tirelessly to catch up and then we kept being asked whether we could upgrade motorhomes.
“There was clearly a growing market so we decided to launch a specialist business in a dedicated building.
“People can spend well over £100,000 on a motorhome which don’t always come with modern technology and there are other extras that people want.
“Those new to motorhomes often request 360-degree cameras which help give them confidence to drive – and all the footage is recorded.
“Safety is extremely important as repairs to bodywork can be expensive.
“We also install navigation systems with up-to-date maps that include height, length and width details. Many owners also want bigger navigation display screens.
“We fit wifi because owners want to be able to do on the road what they do at home, and security is a big deal with the value of goods inside so we provide reassurance with top systems.
“Demand is so great that we’ve had owners from France and Portugal come to us for a retrofit – and one client wanted us to fly two engineers to the US to do a job.
“While we are not the cheapest, we pride ourselves on the high quality of our work.”
Notes to editors:
James Harris launched Hands Free Solutions in 2003, installing hands free kits in cars. Later he re-branded to Advanced In-Car Technologies Ltd and the business grew and developed a large YouTube following and gained clients from around the country. In 2021 the company launched its Motorhome Retrofit business to take advantage of the boom in sales of motorhomes. Both businesses are based in Brixey Business Park, Fancy Road, Poole.
For more information contact Ed Baker at Deep South Media on 07788392965 or ed.baker@deepsouthmedia.co.uk
