Halfords has aired its first TV advert promoting its Autocentres.

The fast-growing garage division at the car part and specialist retailer is also sponsoring motoring programmes, such as Top Gear and Fifth Gear, on television channel Dave.

Eight 10-second ads will appear before and after programmes, featuring the sponsorship line ‘Happy Motoring on Dave’, sponsored by Halfords Autocentres’. The ad premiered yesterday.

The retailer has signed a 12-month sponsorship contract with the channel, with Autocentres making up the first six months of activity.

Halfords Autocentres marketing director Rory Carlin said: “This campaign marks our first foray into TV and comes almost a year since we completed the re-brand of our network and aired our first radio advertising campaign.

“The Halfords Autocentres brand continues to go from strength to strength and our marketing investment helps drive awareness and understanding of our core proposition.”

The adverts have been developed to communicate Halfords Autocentres’ “trustworthy and friendly establishments where customer service comes first” using short humorous scenarios depicting customers expressing their thanks.

Across the 13 weeks to December 30 the Autocentres experienced a strong like-for-like increase of 10.9%. Halfords, which has more than 240 centres, believes there is potential for 600 across the country.

One of Halfords Autocentres sponsorship ads.