Auto Windscreens in administration

WHITEVANMAN

Snooze wrote: »

That's Auto Glass, not Auto Windscreens. Auto Glass are the crowd that do mostly insurance work but will change you £10,000 for a replacment windscreen if you're paying for it yourself. I've used Auto Windscreens a few times and found them to be sound guys and do a good job at a good price.

I found the oppsoite to be true of AutoGlass. As my vans had a tendency to gather chips and cracks right before Mot Time I have much experience with them.
On one occasion the Insurer I was with had a £500 excess on Glass!! :eek:
AutoGlass quoted price to insurers of £475, which Id have to stump up, so I called them up and asked them how much If I was regular Joe Punter.....cost £225 heated and tinted.

PasturesNew

Years ago I had a job at a garage at weekends on the tills (back in the days when I had three jobs)... one day a guy pulled into the forecourt with a broken windscreen and came into the shop to ask about getting a little man out to fix it. I picked up the phone and called the number that was on cards on the counter.

The little man duly turned up, replaced the guy's windscreen and he left; the windscreen repairman then walked into the shop and stuck £25 on the counter for me and walked off. I had no idea, but this was a standard commission for calling them out. £25 at a time when I was earning about £10 for a whole day's shift.

cogito

Auto Windscreens have been squeezed to death by the insurers IMO. Running a company of this kind should be like having a licence to print money.

Quentin

Gorgeous_George wrote: »

We recovered the £50 and the excess from the cuprits so it made no difference to us.

The loss of my custom won't bother Tesco much but... every little helps.

GG

You should have recovered the full amount from the culprits, then reimbursed your insurer their outlay.

Then you would only have the incident on your record instead of the claim now there which you will have to declare to new insurers for the next 5 years! (Inevitably resulting in premium loadings far greater in total than the £125 you got paid out!)

ILW

My Missus seems to have a bit of a thing about "Gavin (30)" on the Autoglass adverts.

Said something about him injecting his fluid into her crack.

Should I be worried?

Generali

http://www.deloitte.com/view/en_GB/uk/services/corporate-finance/838627ff0052e210VgnVCM3000001c56f00aRCRD.htm

Auto Windscreens, the number two player in the UK replacement windscreen and repair market, serves major motor insurers, fleet businesses and private individuals. The company operates a network of 68 fitting centres across the UK, 550 mobile units, a distribution centre in Aston, Birmingham and a central call centre. The company is headquartered in Chesterfield, and employs around 1,100 staff and had an annual turnover of c.£63m.


The company had been implementing a major operational improvement plan, changing the business model to deliver significant operational efficiencies. The main aspects of the restructuring plan had been put in place. However, delays in implementation of the IT systems, coupled with lower than anticipated revenues in the final quarter of 2010, had led to cash flow pressures.


The company had been in extensive discussions with a large number of interested parties to provide the funding required to recapitalise the business. However, before a recapitalisation could be agreed, the company received a winding up petition from a large creditor and also had notice from one of its major customers that it was terminating the contract.


Given all the above, management were unable to continue to trade and were faced with no alternative but to request the appointment of Administrators. The Administrators are continuing urgent discussions with interested parties.


Unfortunately, there are no funds currently available to be able to continue to trade the business. The Administrators have therefore approached the major customers to seek urgent funding in order to trade the business in the short term whilst a sale is pursued.

So they made an Ars**al of an IT project, needed to raise more money and couldn't justify it to the bank because they lost a big client.

1100 jobs will not be lost. The business will be sold on as a going concern most likely and most if not all of the employees will keep their jobs although there will doubtless be a few anxious months until it can all go through.

Gorgeous_George

Quentin wrote: »

You should have recovered the full amount from the culprits, then reimbursed your insurer their outlay.

Then you would only have the incident on your record instead of the claim now there which you will have to declare to new insurers for the next 5 years! (Inevitably resulting in premium loadings far greater in total than the £125 you got paid out!)

No worries. No loading the first year when Mrs GG moved from Tesco to Frizzell and now she has a company car.

GG

1984ReturnsForReal_2

ILW wrote: »

My Missus seems to have a bit of a thing about "Gavin (30)" on the Autoglass adverts.

Said something about him injecting his fluid into her crack.

Should I be worried?

Yes.

Your wife has extremely bad taste.

I find that bloke & his voice to be one of the most annoying things on TV & Radio.

ajm1_2

Can anyone advise me, I had my windscreen replaced with Autoglass, I have a heated one, they replaced it in June, I didnt need to use the heated element until Winter, it didnt work so reported its failure to Autoglass, they booked me in for the earliest appointment which was today, and I just found out that the old Autoglass is no longer trading but a new company is now trading as Autoglass and they are not responsible for faulty goods of the old Autoglass and refered me to my Insurance company. I spoke to them and they said nothing they can do. So basically I have a faulty windscreen and no one cares, does anyone know what if anything I can do, or just accept it?

Thanks

worldtraveller

ajm1 wrote: »

Can anyone advise me, I had my windscreen replaced with Autoglass, I have a heated one, they replaced it in June, I didnt need to use the heated element until Winter, it didnt work so reported its failure to Autoglass, they booked me in for the earliest appointment which was today, and I just found out that the old Autoglass is no longer trading but a new company is now trading as Autoglass and they are not responsible for faulty goods of the old Autoglass and refered me to my Insurance company. I spoke to them and they said nothing they can do. So basically I have a faulty windscreen and no one cares, does anyone know what if anything I can do, or just accept it?

Thanks

I'm certainly no expert on this, but, if you paid by credit card, you may be able to make a claim under 'Section 75'. It may be worth a try.

MSE has a help page HERE.

You might also wish to post your question on the 'Consumer Rights' board, where you may well get a better answer. You can find the board HERE.