A CELEBRITY singer left a small car dealer “star struck” after taking an expensive engine out of his business.
Tom Stoneman, 38, owner of Aspire Automotive Ltd, was stunned to find out that music star Rag ‘n’ Bone Man discovered luxury driving online before completing the purchase from his Rayleigh dealer on Rawreth Industrial Estate.
Tom has been running the company for only seven years and is already attracting a prominent clientele.
Tom shared his disbelief when he found out the Bentley he was selling would go to Rag ‘n’ Bone Man.
He added, “I was humming. It’s massive right now.
“He found the car in person online and then his agent contacted us to say there was a man who was interested in the car.
“Me and my colleague delivered the car to him. It was nice to meet him, but it was so surreal.
“I was a little impressed.”
Continue reading:
Meet the inspiring Basildon Doctor who taught 32,000 people during the Covid Crisis
Man “taken to the hospital” after crashing head on
Looking back at the growth of his business, Tom said, “I was born and raised in Rayleigh. I started working for a BMW garage, then I just drove off on my own.
“I started with five cars and now we’ve built it up to about 60 cars.
“I started in a portacabin, gambled and now it’s paying off.
“We worked really hard to build a reputation and now we’re selling cars to footballers and now we’re selling cars to Rag ‘n’ Bone Man.”
The big sale made Tom “proud” of what his business achieved.
He said, “It is the fact that he came to us. He decided in favor of the vehicle and came to us, which is a proud achievement for us as a company.
“The fact that we have someone with their status makes us proud as a company.”
The company now hopes to expand with more cars and the move to a larger location.
Tom added, “Right now we’re in the industrial area, but we really want to go up to 100 cars and expand and build our customers’ reputations.”
