Creditors owed £1.14m as luxury car retailer Autovogue enters liquidation

Liquidators have listed 61 creditors owed a combined total of £1.14m after luxury used car retailer Autovogue slipped into liquidation this month.

Documents filed with Companies House yesterday (March 26) showed that BCA Partner Finance was the main creditor of Staffordshire-based Autovogue, which ceased trading in February – leaving a trail of dissatisfied customers.

The stock funding provider is owed over £635,000 and appears in a list alongside firms including the National Westminster Bank, HMRC and Micheldever Tyre Services in the list compiled by liquidators at Southampton-based Quantuma Advisory Limited.

Back in February AM reported that Autovogue, which was founded by managing director Stuart Brown over 25 years ago, had ceased trading after blaming “failing used Jaguar Land Rover vehicles” for its faltering financial fortunes.

The claim came as former customers of the retailer formed an 'Autovogue AVR Victims' Facebook group to gather evidence of vehicles left with "finance markers" related to outstanding stocking loans.

A statement posted via the Autovogue website at the time apologised to customers and listed a number of reasons for the business’s failure.

It stated: “With deep regret and a heavy heart Autovogue UK Limited has ceased trading.

“Unfortunately, in recent years and with the development of the global economy after COVID-19, further compounded by Ukraine and high UK inflation the automotive sector has been hit hard with significant pressures.”

Among the issues Autovogue claimed it had faced was a £198,000 repair cost for “huge additional costs and continuing issues with failing used Jaguar Land Rover vehicles”.

Autovogue’s statement said that the business was co-operating fully with Leonard Curtis and its finance partner to "lift any finance markers still to be removed from some potential car finance agreements", adding: “This is the directors’ primary concern in order to give stability, comfort and a solution for customers and in due course to be removed.”

In response Autovogue's allegations about the reliability of the Jaguar Land Rover vehicles it had sold, a spokesperson for the manufacturer said: “At Jaguar Land Rover we are committed to ensuring our clients receive the highest possible levels of service throughout the ownership cycle. As such we have an established Approved Used service network offering a transparent market-leading scheme for buyers of pre-owned Jaguar or Land Rover vehicles.

“We have 124 Approved Used retailers in the UK all offering a minimum 12-month Approved Warranty, 12-months of 24/7 Roadside Assistance, 165 multi-point inspection and an independent mileage and history check so that we can provide our customers’ peace of mind when buying a pre-owned vehicle. We also operate a 30 day/1,000 mile conditional vehicle exchange agreement, part-exchange service and complimentary driving experiences as standard.”