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Sidlow Gatwick - ceases trading

Who. Me?

Active Member
Mar 24, 2007
88
0
Yes, I think they've gone under.

The company that I work for hires its cars from the Horley branch.

Our admin rang them this morning to book one to be told that the administrators had just walked in and shut them down.

I walked past at lunchtime and there were four car-transporters queued up outside. Looked like they were there to take the stock away.

Drove past their VW branch in Horsham tonight, and the stock is still there, but all the VW signs have been obscured.

I've an 18 month old Leon that I bought from the Horley (formerly Hookwood) branch and I'm worried as to how I stand with the third year of its waranty.

I thought the third year was a 'dealer' waranty?

What happens if the dealer ceases to exist? Do I have no waranty in the third year??? :cry:

TBH, I'm surprised that they've gone under. The branches all looked profitable and the Horley show-room had literally just finished being rebuilt (it housed their Seat, Audi and Alfa-Romeo dealerships).
 

warren_cox

Back from the dead
What happens if the dealer ceases to exist? Do I have no waranty in the third year??? :cry:

TBH, I'm surprised that they've gone under. The branches all looked profitable and the Horley show-room had literally just finished being rebuilt (it housed their Seat, Audi and Alfa-Romeo dealerships).

1) I'm sure the warranty has to be honoured by SEAT UK if a dealer goes under. They will hopefully point you at another local-ish dealer.

With respect to being surprised with them going under, never be surprised. Just because a business turns stock over doesn't mean its making profit or managing its internal costs well.
 

m0rk

sarcasm comes free
Staff member
May 19, 2001
27,787
33
Clanfield, UK
the dealer has to buy the warranty, so as long as they did that when you bought the car, you're OK
 

FrostsSeat

Guest
I'm shocked, i thought they were quite profitable.
I haven't heard anything here about them - it's a shame, a lot of people are going at the moment, another local dealer has closed 4 branches.

It's a shame when it comes to this.
 
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12345

Guest
A Little Help

I used to work for sidlow until yesterday they were a great company to work for and it is a real shame they have gone into administration but you never know they might bounce back yet, in referance to third years warrenty on the car i think this is with the AA Used car warrenty ??? i would give them a call as hopefully should be valid but odviously cant guantee that :cry:
 

Who. Me?

Active Member
Mar 24, 2007
88
0
Sorry to hear about your situation. Were you at the Horley branch.

I saw a bunch of staff leaving the Horley office yesterday lunchtime.

With regards the third year waranty, I'll be checking out the paperwork over the weekend.

The car was bought new just under a year and a half ago. I hope third year on new car policies was underwritten.

With regards criticism of Sidlow, I had bad experiences from new, but things had improved (for me at least) a lot since they moved the Seat operation round the corner in to Horley.

To be fair, only one of the problems was dealer related (delivery damage - although that is the one that was never properly fixed), all the other problems were manufacturing or design faults.

Seat should be thoroughly ashamed of themselves for letting those faults go through quality control. I have a little sympathy for dealers who have to pay for their staff time and parts up front and claim them back. Must be an administrative nightmare.
 

jamiebennett81

Guest
not surprised, bloody awful and piss poor service from them!
 

uuf361

Active Member
Jun 29, 2008
68
0
I bought my new Leon from them in September - they were very good as far as dealers go and friendly, honest, good at returning calls etc.....and the service manager was a really good guy (only just moved with Sidlow from Audi to Seat) and a family friend of many years.

My problem is that my car was damaged whe delievred and they were due to repaint the door shortly (had already fixed the other issues) but guess they won't be doing that now.........

Fortunately, I have all the corrspondence e-mails saved so guess I will call Seat UK on Monday to fgind out what happens now..............

Feel bad for the 100+ Sidlow employees.......................
 

uuf361

Active Member
Jun 29, 2008
68
0
Oh, and drive past early yesterday morning (5am) and although some cars had been rmeoved I reckon there will still at least 50 on the forecourt....

Oh and this afternoon my (Sidlow supplied and fitted) rear parking sensors have stopped working :-( Car is only 2 months old......something else to discuss with Seat UK in the morning.
 
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SEATcarsdirect.co.uk

Guest
Just to let everyone know we will be happy to help where we can with any issues that you may have



Irfan
 

Moonshine1571

Guest
New car purchased Wed 28/10 from SEAT Gatwick but not received - help!

Hello,

I am asking this on behalf of my colleague, who purchased a car from the Seat Gatwick branch last Wednesday. He paid his deposit and was due to collect it today, there was no mention of the closure at the time.
He had been phoning all week but never managed to get through until this morning when the cleaner promptly replied that no-one was there and that they were under administration. After reading these forums and news on the matter, I can see what has happened but we're not sure how to proceed.

Will he still be able to get the car and if not at the very least will he receive his deposit back? He's been on the phone since 9am this morning phoning various numbers (including Grant Thornton), but no-one is really giving him any useful information and they keep passing him from one person to the next saying 'i'm not dealing with that anymore' or 'no, i don't know who you could call' and 'all you can do is write a letter' and putting him through to answerphones/ filled up voicemail systems.

Any suggestions? He would really like to have the car, but is this now completely out of reach?

Thank you
 

m0rk

sarcasm comes free
Staff member
May 19, 2001
27,787
33
Clanfield, UK
Did he pay for his deposit on credit card?

If not - he needs to contact the administrators to lodge himself as a creditor. Sadly though he'll get somewhere between FA, and almost FA.

If the deposit was on a C-Card, contact the card issuer & they'll refund it (if it was over £100)
 

FrostsSeat

Guest
If need be I can have a look on central stock and see if his car is still there (If it was new) drop me an e-mail give me a ring and i'll see if I can find anything else out for you.
 

Poirot178

Guest
The majority of the staff were great at Sidlow. The MD did shaft the VW guys as the SEAT/Alfa guys were at least paid at the end of October. The VW staff were not paid a bean, which means that they loose their Septmeber & October commission and Basic salary for October. The MD did not act well, considering he still has a fleet of cars outside his mansion and apparently cannot be touched. I feel really sorry for everyone there.
The word on the street is that "in time" both sites will keep the franchises but will be under a new company. I have heard that VW are very keen to get someone back into Horsham asap.
 

JamJay

California Bound
I am too, worried about my warranty. I have roughly 6mths left on it but it has proven handy to have it in the past, I have used it on 3 occasions so far. I purchased my LCR from the Reigate Rd branch before they relocated to the A23 site & I live about 1mins drive away, quite convenient for repairs :)...well not now.

As my car is a 2003 model with a 1yr used car warranty, have I now lost this or how do I find out if Sidlow purchased the warranty from Seat UK?

I took a run last night and there are no cars left on the forecourt, just one lonely white Leon in the show room. The lights were still on so at least they can still pay the electricity bill :D
 
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