Falle's Garage

Bagot Road garage in the 1950s

From the company website

Falles Motor Group

Falles Motor Group is an independent family owned company, which has been trading since 1926 when the business was started by the current chairman’s grandfather. From modest beginnings repairing motor cars, the company today is involved in all aspects of the motor trade, from new and used vehicle sales and repairs, to commercial vehicle leasing and petrol forecourt operations in both Jersey and Guernsey.

In Jersey, at Bagot Road Garage they have been the sole Renault franchise dealership for more than 40 years. At Falles Accident Repair Centre, they have the longest established and one of the largest vehicle accident repair workshops in the island. Also in Jersey, they operate two busy petrol stations, Falles Service Stations, both with convenience stores attached, one at Longueville in St Saviour, and the other close to the Airport in St Brelade. They also have the largest van hire business, Falles Van Hire, based at the Longueville premises.

In Guernsey they have two petrol stations with convenience stores attached. Vale Service Station at Vale Garage Complex, on Braye Road in the Vale, and Cobo Service Station in Castel.

History

Falles Motor Group started out as Falles Engineering Works, founded in 1926 by Jean Pierre Vernon Falle, who ran a motor repair and engineering business from a small workshop in Norcott Road in St Savioury. In 1930 he moved the business to new larger premises around the corner in Bagot Road, and it is from these Bagot Road Garage premises that much of the group’s operations are directed from today.

After returning from working in Canada, the founder’s son, Jean, joined the business, expanding it further and by 1957 the business was formally registered as Falles Motor Works Ltd, and two years later land near the airport was purchased and a new garage was purpose built here named Falles Airport Garage.

By the early 1960s the company’s various activities included car sales and repairs, and fuel sales, which were spread out over three sites in Jersey.

Hire cars

The company also set up a car hire business, Falles Hire Cars, to cater for the ever increasing number of visitors coming to the island.

In 1968 Vale Garage was purchased in Guernsey and from these premises, Falles operated a Vauxhall and Bedford franchise dealership and petrol station. It also extended its Falles Hire Cars business there.

During the 1970s and 1980s, Falles Hire Cars became the largest car hire business in the Channel Island,s running a fleet of up to 2,000 cars in the height of the season, also setting up a branch close to St Helier Harbour and another at Southampton Airport, in order to cope with demand. However, with holidaying trends changing, inevitably visitor numbers started to decline towards the end of the 1990s and Falles Hire Cars fleet was wound down and sold in 2003.

In the same year, Jean Falle jnr’s son, Helier Falle, joined the company and was appointed chairman of the group, after having spent time studying and working in England. With a new management team in place, with Craig Seager having been appointed as managing director, efforts were made to focus on continuing the service at Bagot Road Garage’s Renault franchise as well as at Falles Accident Repair Centre and also to concentrate on building up and increasing the market share of the group’s core petrol station activities, with the more recent purchase in 2012 of Cobo Service Station in Guernsey.