Vauxhall administration

Sixbynine

Hello,
Hoping someone could offer me an opinion or maybe even some insight into where I stand on this.
When I bought my vauxhall 4 years ago I got a service plan with the finance agreement. For the first 3 years this was great. Had my service every year no payment.

This year they collected my car from work then rang me up and informed me it would be £250. I explained the service plan and was told now vauxhall have gone into administration and go vauxhall was not honoring those plans.

I asked for the number of the company handling the administration and was given a number to Smith and Williamson. Who informed me my service plan should be honored.

So i went back and forth with vauxhall - who by now had done the service and was essentially holding my car hostage.

I spoke the manager who stuck to this 'not honoring it' line and gave me some explanation about how now vauxhall had my money for the plan and had not released it to go vauxhall - not my problem as far as I can see?

I phone the financial ombudsman who were wishy washy and basically said it could take months to investigate - months without my car, not really an option.

By now I was at the garage at 1830 at night with a tired and hungry 11 month old baby and was clearly going to get absolutely nowhere with this manager who refused to speak the administrators himself and just produced a standard letter saying the company had gone into administration. He 'graciously' reduced the fee to £200 and we paid on credit card just to get my car back.

I since contacted the citizen advice beaureu who were also a bit vague and said if I could 'prove they owed me then they owed me' which is pretty obvious. And if I could have proved they owed me I wouldn't be in this situation! My agreement paperwork obviously says they owe me the service but they argument is they're no longer the same company.

If I had been told by the administrators 'sucks to be you but yeah they're right' I'd have paid and just grumbled about it at home. But since they've insisted I should not have I'm angry that this vauxhall garage seems to be scamming customers to cover they're own losses as a result of the company going under. At no point during the booking process or collection did any one inform despite me repeatedly making sure the service plan would cover it. I was then told 'we don't have enough time to tell all our customers' as if it were my fault for not being up to date on which motoring companies are struggling financially! which frankly is just rude.

I don't know if anyone has had similar issues with vauxhall since they went into administration?
Or if anyone can offer some advice on how best to go about getting my money back or at least reporting vauxhall if they are in the wrong so they can't carry on doing it....

Honestly not sure where I stand legally since the company I made the agreement with basically no longer exists....

ian103

Surely it will depend if you have manufacturer service plan or a service plan with a garage. You need to read the documentation to see if your plan s direct with Vauxhall or others. I would then be speaking to Vauxhall customer services.



I had a Toyota in the past that I purchased what I thought was a Toyota service plan and it was actually the garages, the garage ceased trading. I thought I'd lost the money Id paid to the service plan, however Toyota Customer services were brilliant, they sorted everything, but from then on Ive been wary of service plans .

Sixbynine

Hmm I hadn't considered that.
I'd assume since it was purchased with the car finance it was manufacturers.

I don't think there is any customer service to talk to. Now vauxhall have gone and everythings being handled by the administrators who've stated and emailed me stating the plan should be covered.

Go vauxhall point was now vauxhall had the money not them so they couldn't cover the cost of my service.

Thatndidnt seem like a customer problem? It's up to them to claim the money back if need be.

TadleyBaggie

I must have missed the news that Vauxhall are in administration....

They were sold to PSA last year but still appear to be trading normally as far as I can see.

Sixbynine

Apparently it happened in May so its recent.
Effectively they are trading normally under the new name go vauxhall.
My husbands direct debit service plan is still fine. Its just these prepaid ones they're being difficult about.

AdrianC

TadleyBaggie wrote: »

I must have missed the news that Vauxhall are in administration....

They were sold to PSA last year but still appear to be trading normally as far as I can see.

"Vauxhall" haven't gone into administration.

A third party provider of the service plan finance policy may have, but Vauxhall Motors Ltd (the same limited company as was formed in 1914) certainly haven't. They made a change to the directorships yesterday, another last week, and officially lodged the 2017 accounts the week before.
https://beta.companieshouse.gov.uk/company/00135767

DoaM

I've done a quick search and everything I've found talks about Now Vauxhall going into administration and being taken over by Go Vauxhall.

So Vauxhall (the manufacturer) is not in administration but one of their franchised/authorised dealers is. (I appreciate that the OP does mention both companies, but due to the lack of capitalisation it's not obvious).

This suggests to me that it was a dealer service plan and not a manufacturer-backed service plan.

Inner_Zone

Now Vauxhall and Go Vauxhall are were / are two franchises, not Vauxhall themselves as above now part of PSA..


https://www.am-online.com/news/acquisitions-and-deals/2018/05/03/now-motor-retailing-sites-bought-by-vauxhall-s-dealer-group

Sixbynine

Thanks for clarifying.
I have to be honest I've no idea and am simply repeating the info I've been told.

So if it was a dealer plan (Now vauxhall) and Go vauxhall bought the dealerships surely they take over that responsibility - that seems to be what the administration company was telling me.

I fully understand why they don't want to! It's a money pit for them.
But if that's what's been agreed then surely tough !!!!?

It seemed to me the director of this particular garage is just trying it on with customers because he figures he can get away with people not understanding and thinking it sounds reasonable?

AdrianC

DoaM wrote: »

I've done a quick search and everything I've found talks about Now Vauxhall going into administration and being taken over by Go Vauxhall.

So Vauxhall (the manufacturer) is not in administration but one of their franchised/authorised dealers is. (I appreciate that the OP does mention both companies, but due to the lack of capitalisation it's not obvious).

This suggests to me that it was a dealer service plan and not a manufacturer-backed service plan.

Ah, that makes a LOT more sense.

It's probably related to Vauxhall's rejigging of their entire dealership network - https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-43789933

Sixbynine wrote: »

So if it was a dealer plan (Now vauxhall) and Go vauxhall bought the dealerships surely they take over that responsibility - that seems to be what the administration company was telling me.

Not necessarily. Go have simply bought some assets of the Now group from the administrators, but not all. If the assets not purchased include the service plan business, then you're still a creditor of Now.
http://cardealermagazine.co.uk/publish/go-motor-retailing-acquires-four-vauxhall-sites-london/150179

ian103

Why not try speaking direct to Vauxhall Customer services and see what they say, but you need to have all the information / documents to had. They may well have the answer as you wont be the first person asking.