Driven by Trust: Stewart McClelland Cars Marks 40 Years on the Road

From a farm outside Portadown to a long-standing used car business built on reputation, good contacts and honest service, Stewart McClelland reflects on four decades in the motor trade.

On Coharra Road, just outside Portadown, Stewart McClelland Cars has the feel of a business that knows exactly what it is. It is not trying to be the biggest or the loudest dealership in the country. Instead, it has spent around 40 years doing something far more valuable: earning trust, one customer and one car at a time.

Founded by Stewart McClelland, the business has remained under the same name and ownership from the beginning. That continuity matters. In a trade where confidence can make or break a purchase, Stewart’s approach has always been rooted in reliability, careful buying and standing over what he sells.

A business built on reputation

Ask Stewart what has kept the business going through high interest rates, Covid, quiet winters and changing markets, and the answer is not complicated. It comes down to people, judgement and hard work.

Two buyers help source stock, supporting Stewart’s focus on finding the right vehicles for his customers.

For Stewart, buying the right car is the hardest and most important part of the job. He relies on trusted contacts, careful checks and a practical understanding of what customers really need.

“The car has to be what it says,” he explains. “It has to be as described and stood over. That’s the most important thing.”

Quality over quantity

Today, Stewart McClelland Cars generally keeps around 20 vehicles in stock, with the mix changing depending on the market. There is no attempt to chase volume for its own sake. Instead, the focus is on condition, history and value.

“Good history and good condition — that’s the main thing,” Stewart says. “Bring the customer the right car and the customer will travel a little to get the right one.”

The modern motor trade has its own challenges, not least the increasing complexity of cars. Stewart points to diagnostics as one of the biggest nuisances, with warning lights and electronic faults often causing headaches for dealers and customers alike.

Cars are prepared before sale with servicing and MOT attention where needed, and regular customers can also be supported after the sale. For Stewart, that follow-through is part of the responsibility of selling properly.

Local, flexible and personal

Although the business keeps established opening hours — typically five and a half days a week, with Saturday opening until mid-afternoon — Stewart is quick to point out that flexibility matters. Because he lives beside the premises, he can often accommodate customers by appointment.

That personal service can extend to lifting customers from a nearby train station, around two miles away, and bringing them out to see a car. If they decide not to buy, he will take them back again.

It is a small detail, but one that says plenty about how Stewart sees the business. Selling a car is not simply a transaction; it is a relationship that may bring a customer back years later, or send a neighbour through the door on recommendation.

He is proudest when someone arrives because a friend or neighbour has spoken well of the business. In a local trade, word of mouth is the most valuable advertising of all.

A down-to-earth approach

Stewart describes himself without fuss. He has always liked cars, but he also enjoys meeting people, doing business face to face and leaving customers with enough confidence to recommend him to someone else.

His favourite car at the moment is a Porsche Cayenne — not because it is flashy, but because it suits him. “It’s a nice car to drive,” he says. “Not too boastful.” That phrase could almost be a motto for the business itself.

His roots remain firmly connected to the land. Born on a farm, Stewart still uses a pick-up and keeps an interest in growing apples. That practical, grounded outlook carries into the showroom: useful, honest, dependable.

When asked for advice for first-time car buyers, Stewart keeps it simple: go somewhere reliable, somewhere with a good reputation, and somewhere that will stand over the car if anything needs attention.

“If you take a five-year payment on a car, you want it to last five years,” he says. It is straightforward advice, but it reflects the philosophy that has shaped the business from the start.

Still doing things the right way

After four decades, Stewart McClelland Cars remains recognisably itself: locally known and built around trust rather than flash. The stock may change, the diagnostics may be more complicated, and the market may move with the seasons, but the core values have stayed the same.

Determination, good contacts and customer confidence have carried the business through quieter months and harder times. Above all, Stewart still enjoys the work: meeting people, keeping his hand in, and making sure the car on the forecourt is one he can properly stand over.

It is a simple formula, but in the motor trade simple does not mean easy. It means doing the right things consistently, year after year, and on Coharra Road, that is exactly what Stewart McClelland Cars has done.