BURY used car dealership Cartime is planning a £500,000 investment in a new car collection centre, where customers can pick up their purchases in style.

With innovative new features, the new building offers "a new way to buy a used car" – plus a hefty boost to the local Bury economy.

Once completed, the collection centre will be an iconic and attractive building where customers who have purchased a vehicle from Cartime will come to collect it; with the feel and atmosphere of a luxury airport lounge.

The specification includes a comfortable seating area with free-to-use iPads and an open-plan community area with a helpdesk providing advice about cars to the people of Bury.

The centre piece is four glass-enclosed rotating plinths that will serve as display platforms — a way for customers to view their new cars in all their gleaming glory before driving them away.

Cartime owner Matt Kay said: “Our aim with the new collection centre is to enhance the buying experience to a level never-before-seen within a used car dealership.

"It will provide customers with a relaxed and enjoyable way for them to pick up their car once it is ready for collection. As a Bury native, I am also extremely proud to be able to invest in the local economy.”

The centre create about 15 new jobs within the company, and all building work will be contracted to local companies.

In the development of the plans, Cartime worked in partnership with Fletcher Smith Architects, the team behind Europe’s biggest dealership, the recently opened Volkswagen/Audi site in Stockport.

Matt said: “We want Cartime to be the biggest and best used-car dealership in the country so it made sense to enlist the services of the architects behind some of Europe’s biggest dealerships to design our new collection centre.”

Construction on the collection centre will begin on the site of the Bell Lane Car Centre, opposite the existing Cartime dealership within the next six months, pending planning permission.