History

A FAMILY BUSINESS

Partmaster has been involved in the automotive industry for well over 45 years.

In its early years its current founder Tony Covic set up a small single car garage in West Auckland under the name Covic Motors where he was both a panel beater and mechanic.

On July 10^th 1967 Covic Motors was incorporated which also saw a move to new and larger premises, still in Lincoln Rd Henderson.

With the new premises Tony secured the rights to a new vehicle dealership selling Austin Morris vehicles and Nuffield Tractors, and with the addition of a motor spirits license Covic Motors became the first Europa Petrol Station in Henderson.

Covic Motors continued to expand and with the advent of deregulation of the oil industry leased its petrol operations to B.P. and embarked on commercial property development, which it continues today.

Partmaster was formed 15 years ago after the redevelopment of the original Covic Motors site to provide employment for a group of loyal employees of Covic Motors.

In its early years Partmaster operated a single outlet in Lincoln Rd, and with a limited product range consisting of spark plugs, oil filters and fan belts Partmaster started to service the automotive trade.

Start up was very difficult as the market was strictly a closed-shop operation, and with no one wanting to supply us we had a very limited product range.

As demand grew, fuelled mainly by our enthusiasm and attitude, we started to look at sourcing our products directly.  This was brought on by several factors -trying to cut out the middle man and wanting to have access to product lines that we were constantly being denied supply of in New Zealand.

After two years operating from our base in Henderson we opened our second outlet in Christchurch, and it was roughly at this time that Partmaster won the contract to supply the B.P. network nationwide. This infuriated our opposition but signaled our arrival on the market as a serious contender.

After branch number three was opened in Penrose we purchased Auto Trade Supply which had previously been a supplier to us and was one of the oldest automotive suppliers in New Zealand with outlets in Auckland and Hamilton.  These were eventually re-branded as Partmaster stores which made the Partmaster network then total five.

The Partmaster network currently numbers 14 branches with additional sites forecast for the next eighteen months.

While constantly growing in size Partmaster remains a family owned and operated business, focused and determined to be the largest independently owned Automotive Parts Wholesaler & Retailer in New Zealand.

If you have any queries please call, or submit the email contact form. We look forward to hearing from you.