Group 1 Automotive is a US-owned automotive dealer network with a significant presence in the UK, operating over 150 dealerships across brands such as Mercedes-Benz, BMW, Audi, Porsche and Volkswagen. The organisation manages a large and geographically diverse property portfolio, including both freehold and leasehold assets.
Following a major acquisition in 2024, Group 1 Automotive doubled the size of its UK dealership network, significantly increasing its exposure to physical, environmental, and climate-related risks. To better understand, monitor, and manage these risks—particularly flood exposure—the organisation partnered with SmartResilience.
The Challenge:
In August 2024, Group 1 acquired Inchcape, doubling the number of their UK sites. With this rapid expansion, they also faced increased climate exposure with limited oversight across assets. Several dealerships made managing environmental risk at scale very complex. Moreover, insurers had raised concerns about flood exposure at certain sites, also indicating a financial concern. Group 1 needed independent modelling and analysis to validate insurer assessments and overall mitigate the flood risk for their 150+ sites.
The SmartResilience solution:
SmartResilience provided Group 1 Automotive with an operationally simple, easy to implement and a centralised, data-driven platform to assess, monitor, and manage climate related flood risk across its entire UK portfolio.
Portfolio-wide visibility: A map-based overview allowing Group 1 to visualise all assets geographically and understand their exposure at a glance.
Flood and climate risk modelling: Advanced hazard identification and future climate scenario modelling to assess both current and long-term flood risk.
Real-time monitoring and alerts: Automated alerts distributed to site managers, leadership, and risk teams, ensuring awareness and preparedness during severe weather events.
Scalable and flexible implementation: SmartResilience rapidly onboarded newly acquired sites, updated asset lists, and adapted to frequent portfolio changes.
Insurance-ready insights: Robust data and reporting that supported insurer discussions and demonstrated proactive risk management.
Direct ongoing support and access: The SmartResilience team provides ongoing support, direct communication channels and proactivity to support a long-term partnership.
Outcomes and Benefits:
Improved risk visibility for multiple stakeholders: Stakeholders across risk, sustainability, leadership, and site management now have a shared, data-backed understanding of environmental exposure.
Enhanced insurance positioning: The organisation can clearly demonstrate to insurers that flood and climate risks are actively monitored and managed, supporting coverage discussions and long-term relationships.
Greater preparedness and business continuity: Real-time alerts enable site managers to take preventative action, implement continuity plans, and reduce potential operational disruption.
Peace of mind: The organisation values the assurance that systems, alerts, and monitoring are in place in case of a flooding event, to provide proactive resilience.
What they had to say about our solution:
SmartResilience provides the visibility and peace of mind we need to make informed decisions and accurately assess our risk, while improving insurer relationships and protecting our business.”
— George Mansfield, UK Insurance & Risk Manager, Group 1 Automotive
