About Us

Stafford has been providing quality automotive sales, servicing, and hire since September 1983. All those years ago it started from the rear of a Hove grocers shop renting out one single van. The first year up to 1984 saw rapid growth in its vehicle rental market with the introduction of car hire and minibus hire to compliment the already popular, however limited, core fleet.

On the 1st of August 1984, Strafford Rent a Van purchased its first brand new vehicle, a single Ford Fiesta from Endeavour Motor Company registration number B440 GAP for a sum of £2,487.00. A few months later a brand new 15 Seat Renault Minibus was added together with a new Renault 1-ton Trafic van. All those years ago this was high finance.

1986 saw the opening of a new head office on Hove seafront, East Sussex, which involved the demolition of a former Texaco petrol station forecourt, construction of a new purpose-built reception with the installation of custom-designed computer software named `Easyhire` which was the 1st of its kind.

In 1991 the head office was moved from this location to a far larger 1-acre site in the centre of Brighton. The former Hove seafront site was passed on to Churchfields vehicle hire followed by Enterprise Rent a Car who remain there to this day. 

Today the sales department of Straffords manages the sale of ex-hire vehicles, purchasing new and used vehicles for resale as well as sourcing vehicles to order for many long-standing customers around the UK.