Superbike Factory Victim - his Tracer was in for service.

[McCabe-Thiele (Ted)]

I was talking to my brother in law today, his eldest son has lost his two year old Yamaha Tracer when they went bust. When he went to collect it after a service they was just Security at the gate. Refused entry, went through his solicitor, for a £9k bike that he owned, registered in his name, he has ended up with £120 as a creditor as HMRC have first chunk of any assets.

Apparently there was a law change a few years ago, everything on site is impounded and treated as an asset. The fact that he is the registered owner who paid cash for the bike is irrelevant.

[Yetanotherbike]

My 80 Year old neighbour was quite lucky by comparison. He bought a Kawasaki adventure style bike from them and was waiting for the V5 to come through. Then he discovered that they had gone bust a few days after purchase. He's had to apply for the V5 directly from the DVLA and has cost him £25. It doesn't sound right to me that you can be the registered and provable owner of a vehicle and yet have it treated as an asset because clearly it isn't 'their' asset, it's yours. They can't sell it, as it's not theirs to sell. However as we know, the law is an ass, which is often practised by assholes
Some good legal advise called for methinks. 

[Green1]

Unfortunately if you're at the bottom of the pile. You will almost certainly get nothing.
I had two contractors go bust on me years ago and was owed £40,000. An airless sprayer worth £2000  was left on site. Never to be seen again.
Every couple of months l would receive a letter saying expenses are going up and I was likely to receive less.
Three years passed and I received a cheque for £300 that I couldn't bank because they spelt my name wrong.

Fingers crossed the bike is returned. But it's likely going to be a long wait if it does
The V5 is not proof of ownership find the receipt for the bike and anything that can back it up.

[McCabe-Thiele (Ted)]

The Solicitors advice was there was no hope of him getting his bike back, due to a change in the law quite a few years ago I don't know how much it cost in legal fees to receive the £120 interim payment.

I assume the bike will become the property of the Official Receiver, then sold at auction.

[Laverda Dave]

That just sounds unbelivable how a company can go bust and take your property with them. The really anoying aspect is a company doesnt just go bust overnight, those in charge know long before the event they are in serious trouble but continue trading. 
A few years ago there was a double glazing company around here that went bust overnight. Customers had paid for windows they never recieved whilst others were left with half finished installations and worthless warranties. A couple of weeks later the company re-opened in the same premises and called themselves by the same name but added the word 'company' to avoid any legal challenges from former customers.

[Orcade-Ian]

When I was selling my 1500 'Wing, Ecosse Motorcycles in Aberdeen offered me a great price for it against a new 350 Forza Maxi Scooter.  It was February and the bike was immaculate after a deep clean over the winter, so I fired the 'Wing down from Orkney to Aberdeen by Courier, together with all paperwork.  The Forza was not due til early May and it never occurred to me that I had put myself in such a foolish position, with such a large company with another branch in Dundee.  The Forza arrived without problem and a collection of the company owner's bikes disappeared from the Dundee showroom a matter of days before they went bust. 
At the 'fire sale' of the assets, the 'Wing went for a fraction of what they paid me, together with a great many customers bikes in for service and repair.
Had this liquidation happened between me sending the 'Wing and receiving the Forza, I would have been seriously out of pocket - the insurance would not have been interested as I had 'given the bike away'

Lesson learned, never do a deal like that again,

Ian

[kent400]

I was employed by a large finance company for many years who were involved with financing cars, heavy goods vehicles and coaches.
These vehicles were subject to Hire Purchase agreement and lease agreements. When a company enters liquidation a liquidator is assigned and this has happened here. The liquidator has to identify what assets are the property of the company so any assets subject to finance agreements are not assets. If the machine is the subject to a finance agreement contact the finance company

Exactly the same applies here, the machine is not an asset of the company in liquidation so in this case the owner may need proof of p ownership and the V5 is not proof of ownership. The original invoice for the machine will help here but where this could become 'tricky', there could be machines sold to the dealership by the owner but the dealership would need to have advised DVLA  immediately so a refund of the road tax can be made. Most dealerships can do this online.

If you go to to the dealership website you can see who the liquidators are and what efforts they make to ensure any machines that are not assets of the company. See note one on the website. The liquidators have engaged an agent, these people are often most unhelpful 
and so make contact with the Liquidator and check on the DVLA website to check the present status for possible keeper change and if  the VED is still current.

Hope this helps

 
 

[McCabe-Thiele (Ted)]

I've told the lads Dad about what's been said here.
I think if he contacts the Official Receiver in writing with proof of purchase and a copy of the V5 he should eventually get the bike back. I've read about cases where owners have had their vehicle back after a couple of years.

Fortunately the bike is for leisure not every day transport, I do hope the £120 payment he has been given does not sign his rights away.

[Bryanj]

Surely if the bike was in for work and he has not had a bill or paid anything he is in debt to the firm not asking for money owed so the insolvency people should treat it differently

[McCabe-Thiele (Ted)]

Surely if the bike was in for work and he has not had a bill or paid anything he is in debt to the firm not asking for money owed so the insolvency people should treat it differently

I agree, he was collecting the bike after the service etc.
Whilst he was there a couple of others arrived to collect bikes in similar circumstances. One owner had a Triumph Rocket 3.

[kent400]

As the machine was serviced and ready for collection an invoice would have been raised for the cost of the work. The administrator should have the company records and if those are held on a computer system access to that.

The cost of the service is owed to the company so the administrator would need to recover that and that assumes that all records are available. Effectively the lien is transferred to the administrator. 

The liquidation can take months to complete. 

[Oddjob]

From all accounts there is a Q&A on the superbike factory website which specifically deals with vehicles in for service etc. Says to contact the administrators at sbk@kr8.co.uk with proof of ownership and they’ll store the bike securely until it’s resolved. It’s question 6 on the q&a section.

[Bryanj]

Surely just because its on their premises does not make it their "asset" what about all the leased and hired equipment that firms have, in transport immediately a firm goes insolvent all the leases end and vehicles have to go back

[neat street]

I would be curious as to what your insurence company say`s as this may come under a `stolen bike`???
When working in the power tool industry, we had a few firms go `bust` on us, as as long as we could prove the goods were not paid for (by invoice and serial No) we would get the tools back as they were still our property until paid, I am sure this would be the same? (with your invoice and log book)

[badger_eng]

A snippet from today’s MCN [ Guests cannot view attachments ]