Motorcycle dealers going insolvent - what rights do customers have?

WizardMinty48

Here in Devon, three main motorcycle dealers have gone insolvent as part of the Marsh group. Triumph, Harley Davidson & Yamama motorcycle owners are left high and dry with warranties, service plans and specialist support all gone for their bikes. Me included (hence the post!)

I thought I was doing the 'right thing' buying a trusted used bike from a main dealer who offered 24 months warranty, a service plan and specialist support. A couple of weeks back I received a Facebook notification that the dealer had gone bust and an Exeter insolvency firm had taken charge of them.

What are my rights regarding the warranty and service plan?

The service plan intermediary wont refund me my payments and just refer me to the administrators. 

Aylesbury_Duck

Read your paperwork for the service plan.  You mention an intermediary - do the policy documents say what happens in these circumstances, i.e. is the service plan portable so can be used at any participating dealer elsewhere?

If the warranty was provided by the dealer and not a third party, it will cease to exist.

tacpot12

If you write to the insolvency practitioner, they may be able to confirm that you can join the list of creditors of the business and may receive some cash back. It's won't be much, but might be better than nothing. 

DullGreyGuy

WizardMinty48 said:

Here in Devon, three main motorcycle dealers have gone insolvent as part of the Marsh group. Triumph, Harley Davidson & Yamama motorcycle owners are left high and dry with warranties, service plans and specialist support all gone for their bikes. Me included (hence the post!)

I thought I was doing the 'right thing' buying a trusted used bike from a main dealer who offered 24 months warranty, a service plan and specialist support. A couple of weeks back I received a Facebook notification that the dealer had gone bust and an Exeter insolvency firm had taken charge of them.

What are my rights regarding the warranty and service plan?

The service plan intermediary wont refund me my payments and just refer me to the administrators. 

Need to check the paperwork, some of these things will be done by the merchant themselves in which case when they go bust so do their policies. Others will be written by a third party like an insurer in which case as long as they received the monies for the policy/service then it will continue regardless. 

Clearly the administrators have only just been called in, assuming which entity it is then Companies House dont even have it noted yet. In many cases the company's assets are sold off and the company itself shut down but on occasions administrators either manage to turn the business around or find a buyer for the whole business in which case your contracts continue once its out of administration. 

The other Q is, how and when did you pay for these things? Potentially there may be routes under Chargeback or S75 both of which are funded by the banks if the merchant is bust.

lisyloo

Check the paperwork to see if it's an insurance backed warranty (probably not but worth 10 mins checking).
It's unlikely you'll get anything back as an uninsured creditor. HMRC, the liquidators and employees are all before you in the queue, but you can still of course make your claim.
Otherwise did you pay by credit card?
I always put a little on credit card as there are section 75 rights where the credit card company are liable. It doesn't have to be the whole lot and if they make a charge for paying by cards then I pay the charge to get this cover.
Chargeback is not a right and is time limited so less useful.