8:41 am, May 27, 2026
The remains of failed used car dealer Cazoo could remain in administration for another two years after the firm was granted an extension by the High Court.
The controversial retailer imploded spectacularly in 2024 after racking up hundreds of millions of pounds in debt and administrators have been working on a resolution ever since.
The process had been required to be wrapped up by this month, but an extension has now been granted until May 2028.
New documents filed at Companies House show that the administration of Cazoo’s former holding company – now known as CHL 1 Realisations Limited – has officially been extended by order of the High Court.
The filing, lodged under the Insolvency Act 1986, confirms that joint administrators Matthew Mawhinney and David Phillip Soden, both of Teneo Financial Advisory Limited, successfully applied for the extension through the Business and Property Courts of England and Wales.
The application was granted on May 15 and the administration will now continue until May 21, 2028. The paperwork shows that the extension was granted directly by the court rather than through creditor consent.
Similar filings were also made on the Companies House pages of Cazoo’s former property and trading companies, which are now listed as ‘CL 1 Realisations Ltd’ and ‘CPL 1 Realisations Ltd’, respectively.
The firms were all previously granted 12-month extensions to the administration process this time last year.
The move marks the latest chapter in the dramatic fall of Cazoo, which launched by Love Film and Zoopla founder Alex Chesterman as an online-only used car sales business in 2019. It grew rapidly during the pandemic but racked up hundreds of millions of pounds in losses and never made a profit.
It floated on the New York Stock Exchange for an initial valuation of nearly $8bn (£5.6bn), but its share price collapsed some 99% in the following years before its collapse into administration in May 2024.
Car Dealer reported last year that the firm still owes nearly £76m to unsecured creditors, who may never get their money back.
As of last December, the outfit’s administrators had been paid nearly £5m for their work since the collapse.
Administrators sold the Cazoo name and online marketplace to Motors for £5m and it is now operating independently as a used car advertising platform for the motor trade. The current trading business is unconnected to the administration of the former used car sales firm.
You can learn more about Cazoo’s rapid rise and fall here. Car Dealer also produced a special documentary about the firm, which can be watched on our YouTube channel.
