AN online car traders will open its doors in a town shopping centre this week, bringing jobs to the area.

Cazoo will open its sixth UK customer centre in Bishop Auckland this Saturday, following openings in Manchester, London, Bristol, Cardiff and Birmingham earlier this month.

The centre will stand in the location formerly home to Imperial Cars, which was acquired by Cazoo in July.

The trader has since invested £1m into refitting the site, creating 15 new customer-facing and vehicle-servicing jobs.

The Northern Echo: The centre will allow customers to view cars they can then purchase online Picture: SARAH CALDECOTTThe centre will allow customers to view cars they can then purchase online Picture: SARAH CALDECOTT

Cazoo has ambitious plans to open a total of 16 sites across the UK before the end of the year, creating over 200 new job opportunities, and the company is currently working on securing further locations in the North-East which they hope to open early 2021.

Launched last year, Cazzo develops sites as local distribution hubs, giving customers the option of collection in addition to home delivery, and providing service centres to handle all of its customers needs.

Neil Smith, retail director at Cazoo, said: “We have been delighted by the overwhelmingly positive response of consumers to our online car buying proposition.

"With our ever-increasing number of sales, these new customer centres will provide more options to our customers on when and how they want to receive their Cazoo car and will allow us to serve them better through our own service centres.

"We’re excited to be opening in Bishop Auckland as we reinvent the car buying experience and continue our mission to provide better selection, transparency, convenience and peace of mind to used car buyers across the UK.”

The Northern Echo: The customer centre will bring with it 15 jobs Picture: SARAH CALDECOTTThe customer centre will bring with it 15 jobs Picture: SARAH CALDECOTT

Every Cazoo car comes with a full seven-day money back guarantee and a comprehensive 90-day warranty.

Buyers can browse cars for sale online at the customer centre with purchases made online.

Cazoo owns and fully reconditions all cars before offering them for sale on its website.

With thousands of cars on offer at any time, they are stored centrally and available for either delivery anywhere in mainland UK or collection from a customer centre in 72 hours.