Like any busy workshop owner, Phil Bunker is often stretched for time.
He’s the managing director of Heavylec, a truck repair business in Adelaide that specialises in auto electrical. He juggles managing a team of eight staff with keeping customers happy, staying on top of his business administration tasks, and getting his hands dirty installing air conditioning systems as and when required.
Anything that saves time or makes life a little bit easier is welcome.
That’s why Phil became a Capricorn Member.
Capricorn is Australia’s largest automotive cooperative. It provides access to a wide range of Preferred Suppliers, finance, operations, diagnostics and business protection products and solutions to over 25,000 workshop owners across Australia and New Zealand.
Phil bought Heavylec 20 years ago as an established business. He said he was originally attracted to joining Capricorn because it gave him access to a wide range of suppliers he didn’t have a credit account with, and it had the added bonus of reducing the amount of accounts administration he had to do because he would only have to pay one consolidated account at the end of the month.
“I first heard about Capricorn from a local Capricorn Member that I know who had been encouraging me to join for quite some time,” he said. “I sat down with the Capricorn area manager and he was able to answer my questions and help me identify how joining Capricorn could benefit my business.
“We’ve now been with Capricorn for 11 years and have found that the convenience of using a single trade account and having access to so many Preferred Suppliers has been great.
“Getting a trade price without having to identify yourself and being able to access parts easily are another two big pluses.”
Many of Phil’s big regular suppliers are with Capricorn, including NAPA, CoolDrive and JAS. But Capricorn doesn’t just help Members like Phil access spare parts – the cooperative’s list of Preferred Suppliers includes workshop equipment providers and business essentials suppliers for everything from accounting services to telecommunications to training.
Phil said while his business doesn’t do a lot of work on cars – it’s a truck workshop, after all – the diversity of Preferred Suppliers he is able to access through Capricorn had given him the opportunity to take on a range of jobs he might not otherwise have accepted.
Being a cooperative, Capricorn is Member-owned. Phil said being a Capricorn shareholder has been beneficial. In 2023, Capricorn Members shared $82.8 million in both monetary and non-monetary benefits (representing a 26.7 per cent return on every dollar spent with Capricorn), including a 7c per share ordinary dividend to shareholding Members.
Capricorn Members can access business, home and vehicle protection through Capricorn Mutual, and funding for purchases and business expansion with Member-only finance options. In 2022/23, Capricorn assisted Members by providing $49.8 million in loans.
Beyond the convenience of the trade account and access to suppliers, Phil said as a Member he always had the sense Capricorn was on his side.
“It’s been a good relationship and I look forward to it continuing,” he said. “Capricorn just makes life easier.”
He urged other business owners in the trucking, heavy diesel, agricultural and mining sectors of the industry to take a close look at Capricorn to see what it could do for their businesses.
Learn more about how joining Capricorn could boost your business by clicking here.