Car Dealer "Dissolved" on Companies House

dvines

Hi

I was thinking of buying a used car from an independent dealer...

When I checked the Co. name on Companies House it says "Dissolved" 9/2010



The Co. Name and Address etc all match the Car Ad/ their Website so it is definately the same place.

I have noticed cars from them for sale on Autotrader for a long time so they have been trading for along time, and their website claims "since 1996" but their date of incoprpoation on Co. House says 4/2007.

I am assuming this is something I should be concerned about... ??

Tilt

dvines wrote: »

Hi

I was thinking of buying a used car from an independent dealer...

When I checked the Co. name on Companies House it says "Dissolved" 9/2010



The Co. Name and Address etc all match the Car Ad/ their Website so it is definately the same place.

I have noticed cars from them for sale on Autotrader for a long time so they have been trading for along time, and their website claims "since 1996" but their date of incoprpoation on Co. House says 4/2007.

I am assuming this is something I should be concerned about... ??

Why? There are plenty more dealers out there!

Strider590

They should be reported, it's fraudulent and illegal to trade under a dissolved company name. They are liable to criminal proceedings if they continue.

thenudeone

Are you sure the name was exactly the same?
For example "Rob Jones Motors Ltd" may be a dissolved company but "Rob Jones Motors" can still trade as an unicorporated sole trader.

dvines

Their website just says the name of the Co. but without the word "limited" after the name (Co's House calls them XX Limited )

can they carry on trading if they are no longer "XX imited" ... just as XX ??

Strider590

Could equally be a dodgy character using a dissolved company name in order to look honest at first glance.

Flyboy152

Strider590 wrote: »

They should be reported, it's fraudulent and illegal to trade under a dissolved company name. They are liable to criminal proceedings if they continue.

:wall:

Why do you come out with these things?

Flyboy152

dvines wrote: »

Their website just says the name of the Co. but without the word "limited" after the name (Co's House calls them XX Limited )

can they carry on trading if they are no longer "XX imited" ... just as XX ??

Well, there you go.

They may have been trading as XX and Co., from nineteen ninety-six to two thousand and seven and again from last year. As the company was "dissolved" and not "liquidated," I'd say there would be less to worry about. It is possible that a family member or previous director has taken over the company.

Evilm

You can trade as XX but actually be legally incorporated as YY Limited. It should say somewhere on your paperwork that is the case. (or even just trade as XX as a sole trader.

If they cite a Limited Company number on the webpage see where that leads. If it leads to the dissolved company then that is an issue as they should no longer be using that number.

There are legitimate reasons limited companies get dissolved (as well as worrying ones) but if you are worried then buy from some one else.

If you search the company number here you may find out if someone else called for their dissolution (or if a creditors meeting was called etc): http://www.london-gazette.co.uk/

Strider590

Flyboy152 wrote: »

:wall:

Why do you come out with these things?

http://www.companieshouse.gov.uk/about/gbhtml/gp4.shtml

"From the date of dissolution, any assets of a dissolved company will be 'bona vacantia'. Bona vacantia literally means “vacant goods” and is the technical name for property that passes to the Crown because it does not have a legal owner. The company’s bank account will be frozen and any credit balance in the account will be passed to the Crown"

Therefore trading when dissolved, is in fact fraudulent as the goods (and funds) you are trading do not belong to you? no?

p00hsticks

Strider590 wrote: »

http://www.companieshouse.gov.uk/about/gbhtml/gp4.shtml

"From the date of dissolution, any assets of a dissolved company will be 'bona vacantia'. Bona vacantia literally means “vacant goods” and is the technical name for property that passes to the Crown because it does not have a legal owner. The company’s bank account will be frozen and any credit balance in the account will be passed to the Crown"

Therefore trading when dissolved, is in fact fraudulent as the goods (and funds) you are trading do not belong to you? no?

But in most cases surely you would ensure that a company does not have any assets prior to getting it dissolved ?

So for example, if someone decides that in future they would rather do business as a sole trader rather than a limited comany, then they would sell all the assets of the company to an outside party, distribute the proceeds of the sale to the shareholders of the company and then apply to Companies House for the (now penniless) company to be dissolved.