Tom Hogans - Gone into voluntary liquidation

richiemack

Yer also forgetting Pat Keogh in Limerick who closed after 40 years in business. Ireland was rated as the top buyer of the 3 series in the world per capita so it's no wonder theyre the first to go.

mchammer

Discodog wrote: »

I have watched "Order Takers" (sorry but I have never met a car salesperson in Ireland) look at someone in their showroom as if they are dirtying the new carpet.

that must have been me in the lexus showroom a while back:D.... I know the the shame a carpet dirtier feels in a nice new showroom

cowlove

galwaybob wrote: »

Who is minding the purse strings on these places. 10 years of a boom with unprecedented sales of over priced cars and a few months into a downturn and the whole lot is ****ed!

Apparently Mr Hogan was playing in the property game and thats where all the money has gone.

And the petrol pumps in Galway were sold years ago so they should be safe enough.

Gaillimh1990

web site now closed

Sponge Bob

cowlove wrote: »

Apparently Mr Hogan was playing in the property game and thats where all the money has gone.

Lots of businesses have been brought down by exposure to property speculation , it was a national mania in Ireland for far too long .

JoeA3

forumfiend wrote: »

I may be wrong about this but I believe it happened right here in Galway. Ashe Motors were BMW and Nissan dealers and they closed in the late 1980s.

I remember Ashe Motors, wow that's a long time ago. I think they were based where Advance Tyres is now, and the old Higgins Garage (now Argos!) was next door to them.

I'm not sure they actually went bust though...perhaps just closed down, or sold up. I remember Windsor motors coming along and taking the Nissan franchise, and Barry's having the BMW dealership where Curry's is today.

As someone else mentioned, Motorpark continues to heavily advertise the fact that they are still authorized BMW service agents... they even carry some new BMW stock in the showroom! I've noticed this trend a lot in the past year, e.g. Monaghans are now VW service agents, Western Motors are still Merc service centre, despite losing the sales franchise to Cunningham Higgins. All these big dealers have one thing in common - the car sales side of things has gone into meltdown so they are all hugely relying on the servicing / parts business... whether that's enough to keep their glass showrooms ticking over in the long term is doubtful.

schoolbag2

Discodog wrote: »

Hogan's may of made history as I can't recall a BMW dealer ever going bust. Car sales may be down but the main profit centre is servicing. Strangely Barry Motors ran ads offering warranty servicing after Hogan's took over.

People have not stopped buying cars but they are delaying buying & they are now becoming aware of the Irish rip off. There is still a huge amount of money in Galway & all the dealers have to do is provide excellent service with genuine value for money.

1. they havent gone bust(as far as we know based on the facts we have to hand).
2. The main BMW dealership did the exact same thing a few months ago(VOLUNTARY Liquididation)

forumfiend

JoeA3 wrote: »

I remember Windsor motors coming along and taking the Nissan franchise.

IIRC, C. Egan & Co. had the Nissan dealership between Ashe Motors closing and Windsor opening. They were originally from Tuam where they also had a Nissan dealership. I think that's closed now and replaced by an Aldi or Lidl.

schoolbag2

cowlove wrote: »

And the petrol pumps in Galway were sold years ago so they should be safe enough.

Petrol pumps were sold to esso after he first built his showroom but tom hogan bought them back about 5yrs ago.

schoolbag2

JoeA3 wrote: »

I'm not sure they actually went bust though...perhaps just closed down, or sold up. I remember Windsor motors coming along and taking the Nissan franchise, and Barry's having the BMW dealership where Curry's is today.

Barrys were originally in Terryland shopping centre where Kearny Cylces are now(tiny showroom), then they moved to where Currys are, then they bought Higgins Ford Dealership(where argos is now) and also bought/set up Honda Galway(then located where FBD is in Bohermore) and then moved them all to the Motorpark

?Cee?view

Higgins has been owned by Barrys for years (i.e. over 40 if not more years). They (Barrys) developed the whole Omniplex, Currys etc. They may still own all that. Barrys, Higgins and Motorpark are all the one.

JoeA3

churchview wrote: »

Higgins has been owned by Barrys for years (i.e. over 40 if not more years). They (Barrys) developed the whole Omniplex, Currys etc. They may still own all that. Barrys, Higgins and Motorpark are all the one.

Indeed, yes... Barrys / Higgins have always been one and the same, I think the Barry & Higgins families set up the original "Higgins of Galway" way back whenever that was...

Then they just happened to operate in separate locations until the move to the (at the time relatively huge!) Motorpark facility. That was late 1998 / early 1999.

Anyone remember Tom Hogans used to have a tiny little garage I think in Bohermore? That was as recently as the late 1980's if I recall. Western Motors also operated out of a dingy old showroom off the Tuam Rd (on the hill there near the Huntsman) up to the late 1990's.

Then the boom came along and they all built massive glasshouses....

schoolbag2

JoeA3 wrote: »

Indeed, yes... Barrys / Higgins have always been one and the same, I think the Barry & Higgins families set up the original "Higgins of Galway" way back whenever that was...

Then they just happened to operate in separate locations until the move to the (at the time relatively huge!) Motorpark facility. That was late 1998 / early 1999.

Anyone remember Tom Hogans used to have a tiny little garage I think in Bohermore? That was as recently as the late 1980's if I recall. Western Motors also operated out of a dingy old showroom off the Tuam Rd (on the hill there near the Huntsman) up to the late 1990's.

Then the boom came along and they all built massive glasshouses....

Tom hogan was where londis are now in father griffin road at one stage too.

I heard the barrys and higgins fell out because <snip>

Zzippy

schoolbag2 wrote: »

Tom hogan was where londis are now in father griffin road at one stage too.

I heard the barrys and higgins fell out because BLAH BLAH BULL**** RUMOUR BLAH BLAH

Post reported. You should think carefully before posting unsubstantiated secondhand rumours about a private individual. The thread was about Hogans closing down, you had no need to drag another private individual into it. I know Michael Barry, and while I have no idea if what you wrote is true, its a disgraceful thing to post on a public forum, and I'm sure he wouldn't want to read it.

ukgalwaymcguire

all this chat about who used to be in what premises.
WTF does that have to do with tom hogans going into liquidation???
????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????

What_Now

Ref: Tom Hogan motors.
I've read all the posts about all dealer bosses being fatcats, all I
can say is that it's very narrow minded to tar everyone with the same
brush. We all know there were dealers buying helicopters and so on but
most of these guys used there dealerships as collatoral to finance
their property portfolio.

Not sure many dealers out there can hold there hands up and say they made big money in the good times,
because any potential profit showing on the books was tied up in used
stock anyhow. Used cars became an elaborate piramid scheme in which
both dealers and customers got caught up in. I never heard any
customer complain during the good times when asked for €2,500 for a one
year change to a new car. Will we learn from this? Not sure. If the
good times returned would things be any different? I would like to
think so but I don't think so.

What gets up my nose is that, the government have not offered one bit of help to the motor Industry, bar
an extension on paying the VAT bill. VAT clawback is one of the
biggest gripes at the moment.

If a garage buys in a trade in for:
€10,000 it breaks down into €8,230 + 1,770 VAT

With exceptional circumstances ie VRT changes 2008. The car sells for a loss.
€8,000 which breaks down to €6,584 + 1,416 VAT

The
dealer still has to pay the higher VAT bill of 1,770. Where is the
logic in that. Exceptional depreciation partially as a result of ill
timed VRT changes by the Greens, and the dealers of Ireland are
supposed to absorb the VAT clawback. Get real! I'm not saying this is
entirely the Governments fault but they have to take a large percentage
of the blame. We're not looking for a bank bailout, just some common
sense, to save what, if added up is a huge Industry that employs
massive numbers both directly and indirectly.

A 'NON FATCAT' Franchise Dealer.

ukgalwaymcguire

What_Now wrote: »

Ref: Tom Hogan motors.
I've read all the posts about all dealer bosses being fatcats, all I
can say is that it's very narrow minded to tar everyone with the same
brush. We all know there were dealers buying helicopters and so on but
most of these guys used there dealerships as collatoral to finance
their property portfolio.

Not sure many dealers out there can hold there hands up and say they made big money in the good times,
because any potential profit showing on the books was tied up in used
stock anyhow. Used cars became an elaborate piramid scheme in which
both dealers and customers got caught up in. I never heard any
customer complain during the good times when asked for €2,500 for a one
year change to a new car. Will we learn from this? Not sure. If the
good times returned would things be any different? I would like to
think so but I don't think so.

What gets up my nose is that, the government have not offered one bit of help to the motor Industry, bar
an extension on paying the VAT bill. VAT clawback is one of the
biggest gripes at the moment.

If a garage buys in a trade in for:
€10,000 it breaks down into €8,230 + 1,770 VAT

With exceptional circumstances ie VRT changes 2008. The car sells for a loss.
€8,000 which breaks down to €6,584 + 1,416 VAT

The
dealer still has to pay the higher VAT bill of 1,770. Where is the
logic in that. Exceptional depreciation partially as a result of ill
timed VRT changes by the Greens, and the dealers of Ireland are
supposed to absorb the VAT clawback. Get real! I'm not saying this is
entirely the Governments fault but they have to take a large percentage
of the blame. We're not looking for a bank bailout, just some common
sense, to save what, if added up is a huge Industry that employs
massive numbers both directly and indirectly.

A 'NON FATCAT' Franchise Dealer.

WHY.
why do you feel the need too post this?
this long arse speech about not making any money
GO ON WITH YA SELF YEAH..
THIS IS ABOUT average wage people sadly loosing there jobs

that you NEED to make some long arse statement about how much money you make.. makes me think..
YOUR A GUILTY FAT CAT..
this isnt about you.. this is sympathy for the people who have lost there jobs in the motor industry, who very likely will not get another job

not about you, or your unbeliveable poxy profit margins
THANK YOUR LUCKY STARS YOU HAVE A JOB.. FAT CAT Franchise Dealer

JoeA3

ukgalwaymcguire wrote: »

all this chat about who used to be in what premises.
WTF does that have to do with tom hogans going into liquidation???
????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????

Shock horror, a thread on boards slightly deviated off topic... :rolleyes:

All we were doing was highlighting how Tom Hogans (among many others) are long long established local businesses, who up until the boom years operated on a tiny scale (and during the gloomy 1970s and 1980s!), usually in ram-shack buildings... and now they are suffering as a result of perhaps over-stretching themselves just as the recession took hold.

schoolbag2

ukgalwaymcguire wrote: »

all this chat about who used to be in what premises.
WTF does that have to do with tom hogans going into liquidation???
????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????

its a discussion board:rolleyes:

what do you want us to post, continue talking about the place being closed

Discodog

Whilst I have no intention of defended anyone the profit margin on a new car, even a BMW, is a lot less than you might expect. The situation is being made far worse because many franchise owners have lots of other irons in the fire. Also their sales teams have no idea of how to prospect for business so they sit in an empty showroom.

The other key factor is that in an impending recession dealers are reluctant to act. I can remember that, as the UK left the ERM which caused an instant recession, I had a Porsche 959, 2 Testarossas, & a Countach in stock. Their value halved in 48 hours !. But we had to liquidate. The situation will not get better soon so dealers need to bite the bullet & clear the decks so that they can focus on selling again.

The service situation re Barry Motors is odd to say the least. It would never of happened in the UK as BMW are pretty quick to litigate. It could be a potentially intersting situation if Hogans could prove that they lost service revenue.

CrowdedHouse

Discodog wrote: »

The service situation re Barry Motors is odd to say the least. It would never of happened in the UK as BMW are pretty quick to litigate. It could be a potentially intersting situation if Hogans could prove that they lost service revenue.

No the strange thing is that there are(was) two service outlets in a relatively small area,Barrys are genuinely a BMW authorised service centre (on the BMW web site).I had warranty work done there last December.

Discodog

If Barry's were going to stay as a service outlet then Hogans must of been mad to take the franchise. Some interesting reading here:

http://www.manufacturingdigital.com/BMW-Ireland_1306.aspx

Whilst I would agree with What_Now's vat comments the Irish dealers have had a vitual monopoly thanks to VRT. Also Galway dealers have been trading in a fast growing city that is isolated enough to discourage shopping around. The same argument enabled service departments to charge rediculous rates knowing that one could not easily go elsewhere.

I know somone who was so peed off with Barry's that they booked their BMW into a dealer in Bristol. The money they saved paid for their hotel, meals, ferry etc.

Maybe What_Now would like to publish his hourly service rate & the amount the mechanics get ?.

leninbenjamin

Discodog wrote: »

I know somone who was so peed off with Barry's that they booked their BMW into a dealer in Bristol. The money they saved paid for their hotel, meals, ferry etc.

I thought a lot of people went to, was it Tullamore? sometimes 50% less even.

from the rumours i heard, the reason Barry's lost the franchise was because it was their service that was losing customers. i.e. people buy car off Barry's, take car in for service, have a crap experience and are overcharged, then either took their car elsewhere and didn't look back at Barry's, and maybe buy a Lexus or Merc next time round to be rid of the hassle. By the sounds of it, the fact Barry was still a service outlet was nothing to be afraid of.

schoolbag2

Discodog wrote: »

I know somone who was so peed off with Barry's that they booked their BMW into a dealer in Bristol. The money they saved paid for their hotel, meals, ferry etc.
.

No way is that possible unless it was for massive work(a few grand), I have never seen a return ferry from roslare for for less €200, add in that its nearly a 1,000 mile road trip(thats 1000miles less driving between services), hotel, not to mention the opportunity cost of taking 2days of work(at the minimum alot more if it was for major work).

Unless they had other business in Bristol its shear lunacy. Just go to the North, they would be exactly the same price as the UK, but less days off, no ferry and alot less mileage.

biko

This thread has gone overboard (or whatever the equal automotive term is)