9:34 am, March 7, 2023
Used car dealer Cazoo has told staff it will be shutting down all of the customer care sites it earmarked for closure last month.
In a briefing to staff issued yesterday, the online used car dealer told employees that it would be shutting down 15 customer centres out of the 22 it currently operates.
The slide pack sent to staff – which has been leaked to Car Dealer – confirms Cazoo will be retaining sites in Birmingham, Bristol, Chertsey, Lakeside, Manchester, Northampton and Wembley.
Cazoo has been contacted for comment.
The Chertsey and Northampton sites have already been sold to Arnold Clark who will continue to lease them back to Cazoo. The Grangemouth customer centre has been sold to Peter Vardy.
All other centres previously operating have been removed from the Cazoo website. They will now be closed and staff not able to find roles elsewhere in Cazoo will be made redundant.
The document relates specifically to the customer car centres and does not mention the prep sites that are set to close too.
Staff could be made redundant as soon as next Friday (March 17). Cazoo has told staff they will not need to work their notice.
Hundreds of staff were put on threat of redundancy when the consultation period began. It is not known how many staff will lose their jobs.
The slide pack shared with staff said: ‘We are now in a position to be able to close this consultation process as all open topics of discussion have been closed and we do not propose to hold another consultation meeting.
‘The consultation period will continue to run through until 17th March during which time people can continue to be redeployed etc however we will begin to proceed with next steps.’
It is understood enhanced redundancy packages have been offered to the majority of staff which will give them more money than that laid out in government redundancy regulations.
However, some older staff will not get enhanced packages.
The Cazoo document told staff: ‘Our policy has been created to ensure that a minimum payment of at least four weeks is made to all employees regardless of their length of service as we believe this is the fair and right approach.’
The Cazoo document answers questions raised by staff regarding the Cazoo acquisition of the lease of the Southampton customer centre, as revealed by Car Dealer last week.
It says there may be roles for Cazoo staff at the Snows used car site, but that they will have to apply via the dealership group’s website.
Snows confirmed to Car Dealer it hoped to take over the site from April 1.
Cazoo is set to update the New York Stock Exchange with its plans imminently as well as reveal its full year results for 2022.
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