The story
Prior to 1993, it was originally known as Lucas Autocentres, with 62 garages.
Nationwide Autocentre was founded in January 2001, as a former subsidiary of Lex Autocentres, owned by Lex Service plc when it was under the leadership of Andy Harrison. Since 1999, these were part of the RAC's motoring division, when it was bought by Lex.
41 former Lex Autocentres became Nationwide Autocentres when the company was formed by private equity group NGBI (National Bank of Greece Private Equity), who sold their stake in February 2006, when the chief executive was Tom Dunn. From 2006, it was owned by five managers in a management buyout.
Acquisitions
It bought 96 Lex Autocentres from the RAC in April 2002, and 54 Stop'n'Steer garages from Kwik Fit in February 2003.
Halfords Autocentres
On 18 February 2010, it was confirmed that bike and car parts chain Halfords was to buy the company in a £73.2 million deal. The first four rebranded Halfords Autocentres opened in Derby on 24 May 2010, plus one in Solihull.
Over three hundred Halfords Autocentre outlets are now open across the United Kingdom.
From Wikipedia’s article on Halfords Autocentre, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.3