QUICKS is the latest dealer group to join the scramble for higher-margin prestige new car business with the £45.5 million acquisition of Caverdale's dealer network. The deal doubles the size of Quicks' empire and adds a handful of prestige and specialist marques - Jaguar, Land Rover and Chrysler - to the group's portfolio, catapulting it into the top 10 dealer groups with 48 outlets. Both companies operate 24 outlets.

Caverdale, which trades as Godfrey Davis, Dunham & Haines and Moto Baldet, is abandoning car retailing and will now expand its activities in industrial products, accessories and cycle and motorcycle retailing. The Quicks board believes the deal offers opportunities to make economies of scale and significantly strengthen the group's operational management.

Caverdale Motor Retailing managing director Richard Barber will join the board of Quicks and head the enlarged car retail operation, reporting directly to Quicks Group managing director Alec Murray. The acquisition, which also includes a used car outlet in north London and parts franchises in the Midlands and South-East, will give Quicks wider coverage and increased volume of higher margin sales.