Garage closes - what about my free MOTs?

AX_Man · Post by **AX_Man** » 05 Jan 2007, 12:00

I've found out that Lovekyn's of Kingston have closed. I bought my Saxo there and as part of the package was a lifetime of free MOTs. Does anybody have any ideas what will happen to this?

Also does anyone know why they closed? They were a really nice dealer and will be sadly missed.

citronut · Post by **citronut** » 05 Jan 2007, 13:09

little wonder they have gone if they are giving free MOTs for life on purchasing a car from them
regards malcolm

jeremy · Post by **jeremy** » 05 Jan 2007, 13:23

Your contract was of course with them, not Citroen, the premises or even the directors personally - so they go bust - in which case you become an unsecured creditor of the company.

Whats left of the company will be looked after by a liquidator - so you should find those handling the liquidation and tell them the situation. You should then supply them with details of your claim - and who knows - if there are any assets after the preferential claims and all fees have been paid, you may recieve a dividend (x pence in the £)

I expect by the time you get it you will have forgotten all about it - these things can take time.

JohnD · Post by **JohnD** » 05 Jan 2007, 14:58

Lovekyns was also my local dealer - not that I had much to do with them. I used them for the first service on my C5 (purely for the sake of the warranty) and although there was only 10K miles on the clock, the bill came to an eye-watering £257. All it got was a change of oil & filter plus a cabin filter. So with prices like those, they shouldn't have gone out of business.

Maybe the writing was on the wall in June of last year when the auditors resigned. Later in October they had a change of directors, then in November, administrators were appointed.

In 1998 when I bought my 2.1 Xantia from them, the sales guy made a point of telling me about the 'free' MOT for life. Being a cynical b******, I took it as being a test that I wouldn't pay for - but make up for it in the cost of the repairs that they would be bound to find.

AX_Man · Post by **AX_Man** » 05 Jan 2007, 15:53

I made sure I got the car serviced thoroughly elsewhere a couple of weeks before the MoT very cheaply - and last year did a long trip from Rickmansworth to Kingston around the M25 so the engine was nice and warm for them. Being low mileage (i.e at over 5 years old its just done 30000 miles) its in good nick and didn't have any problems passing.

My worst MoT in the AX was at Charlie Browns where it cost me £220 to put things right they sell such as tyres and brakes.

AX_Man · Post by **AX_Man** » 08 Jan 2007, 10:54

Update.

Citroen HO phoned me. As stated above the contract was with the dealer not with Citroen UK so won't be honoured.

Apparently they were shocked about Lovekyn's liquidisation and the first they knew was when a customer rang them up to know why the doors were locked!

AX_Man · Post by **AX_Man** » 09 Jul 2007, 12:45

Surprised I got a letter form Lovekyns telling me my car was due its MoT. So I rang them up and they are now operating purely from Ewell, new owners have come in and bought the name "Lovekyns". They are not therefore obliged to give the free MoTs, although if you pay for their extorniate service they will give it free. I told them precisely where to go.

AndersDK · Post by **AndersDK** » 09 Jul 2007, 13:51

Now-now young man

The new owners have no legal obligations on the former owners acts. I consider it very kind on their behalf to send you a MOT reminder. That is SERVICE in the good old honest meaning of the word.
You dont win anything at all in this world smacking the door on kind people, who just want to build up their business.

Its like keep on barking at a new neighbour, just because the old neighbour was a messy head on his premises.

_kid_ · Post by **_kid_** » 09 Jul 2007, 14:37

Better still go to a council run mot station, they don’t do repairs and are totally fair-if it fails then it is genuine. I have used Leicester city councils’ own station for three years and they have been excellent, infact just passed my xantia on Thursday with no advisories- a lovely 13 months MOT

a full description below

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/travel/cheap-mot

AX_Man · Post by **AX_Man** » 23 Jul 2007, 10:48

_kid_ wrote:Better still go to a council run mot station, they don’t do repairs and are totally fair-if it fails then it is genuine. I have used Leicester city councils’ own station for three years and they have been excellent, infact just passed my xantia on Thursday with no advisories- a lovely 13 months MOT

a full description below

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/travel/cheap-mot

None of the councils around here (near Slough) have their own centres.

I used a garage by my work I was recommended for the Saxo. £45, plus needed a tyre and headlight adjustment so bill came to £99, inc £10 labour.

For the AX went to completely independent MoT only centre, car passed with a list of advisories which I'll get done. Headlights adjusted, tried to fix boot catch. £49. No extra labour charge.