OUR STORY
VINTTRO was the brainchild of our CEO, Simon Bennett.
Right from a very young age he has always been a avid car enthusiast and when he turned just sixteen he got his first job at a local tyre fitting firm called National Tyre Services.
This job enabled Simon to meet various companies when fitting tyres to their fleet vehicles and here it was where his enthusiasm was first spotted by a Transport Manager, Michael Keeble at Allied Bakeries.
Michael invited Simon to join the team as a fuel pump attendant, where he would refuel all the fleet vehicles as well as maintaining the oil and water. In those days if you stuck at this job for two years you were then invited onto the apprenticeship program, which Simon duly completed as a coach builder / panel beater. He spent seven years at Suffolk college on a one day a week release plus two evenings, which included the qualification of an HND in transport law.
Simon remained as a panel beater for over 14 years on the “shop floor” and one day when he returned home from work his newly married wife said there is an interesting position in town at a motor Insurance claims management company. They were looking for panel beating experience as the position was to review and authorise crash repair estimates. He applied for the position, had the interview and to his surprise was offered the job.
Simon really started to excel in an office environment and again his enthusiasm for cars and the industry quickly got noticed, which resulted in back to back promotions all within a five year period.
Holding a senior position as Chief Motor Engineer in a major claims management company gave Simon much confidence, he soon realised that he had the attributes to run his own company.
In 2004, Simon started a company with his fellow directors and over a period of nearly eleven years staff numbers grew from 4 to over 130, they had two sites, Ipswich and Dublin. This success led to an acquisition by an American corporate enterprise and their company was sold in 2015.
Since then Simon has gone on to own other companies working as Director and MD, which thankfully have all been a success and this experience is what has brought him to VINTTRO.
As a classic English and Italian car enthusiast, in 2015 he got together with one of his best friends and they started to promote the VINTTRO brand initially as a car club that would meet and arrange road trips. It was here that the two of them could really see the potential in the brand, particularly as the road trips became more in demand.
Now coming back to Simon and his best friends' love of cars, they decided to register VINTTRO as a company tailored around their passion for cars. To do this they both knew that to have a successful company you have to have great people, people who have enthusiasm, drive, commitment, have a caring attitude towards others, be ethical and professional at all times.
Simon and his best friend then met up with fellow VINTTRO member Jonathan Howard, who had also been involved with owning successful companies and is another avid car enthusiast. Jonathan was then invited to join the team and together they started to write a business plan for VINTTRO. This process then identified our IT and marketing requirements. These two positions were then also brought into the fold.
As time passed in August 2023 VINTTRO had an opportunity to merge with another company, and further investment was introduced by Simon’s ex business partners he used to work with from 2004 - 2015. This investment has enabled VINTTRO to grow again and bring in new services and products that relate to the lifestyle that is driven by car enthusiasts.
With the new ownership being Simon, David Hayward and Jason Balls the board has never been stronger. New products and services are constantly being explored and implemented and the company is confident that it will grow and expand at a rate that is manageable, as well as keeping a key focus on its clients needs along the way.
We are creating a go-to place for lifestyle services such as insurance, finance, vehicle logistics, tours, events and online products.
This environment is designed for our clients and we’re doing this through cutting edge technology, great people and managed investment.
Let's see where it takes us ;)