7:00 am, February 19, 2023
Mackie Motors’ appeal against a High Court ruling that meant all franchise car dealer agreements could be ‘ended in just a week’ is to be heard next month, it has been confirmed.
Boss Kevin Mackie told Car Dealer the hearing would take place before three judge’s in the Court of Appeal in London on March 15.
The 54-year-old says Renault and Nissan’s finance provider, RCI Financial Services – wholly owned by Groupe Renault, unlawfully withdrew key financing, access to essential franchise services and terminated contracts with just seven days’ notice.
The move effectively sank the near-50-year-old Mackie Motors business overnight, but in July last year, the High Court threw out a bid to claim damages.
Despite the setback, Mackie vowed to fight on and won the right to appeal against the verdict back in December.
The popular industry leader says the hearing, which is in four weeks’ time, will shine a light on the potential damage the ruling could have on franchised dealers all over the country.
Mackie also believes the ramifications will also have an impact for dealers who are currently in negotiations to move from the traditional franchise model to the new agency or hybrid models of working proposed by manufacturers.
‘The banking industry and investors are funding something they think has a rolling two year agreement,’ he said. ‘The market cap of PLCs will not take into account the fact of the seven days’ notice for termination of such services.
‘In the previous court hearing RCI actually claimed that whilst dealers are targeted to order cars from the manufacturers, manufacturers don’t actually have to supply them with any cars if they don’t want to, yet dealers are tied into sales performance targets.’
Describing his own treatment by Renault, Nissan and RCI, Mackie said the termination after 45 years is painful for his family and parents to live with on a daily basis.
He added: ‘Imagine that you have 75 employees – and these are people that have mortgages – that come to work for an alliance dealership but actually they don’t realise, and neither does their mortgage provider, that RCI are saying they can come in and terminate any dealer in the country for no reason on seven days notice.
‘I’m not trying to paddle my own canoe here – if this can happen to me it could happen to anybody. It is absolutely wrong.’
Last year, an RCI Financial Services spokesperson told Car Dealer: ‘While we are unable to comment on any ongoing legal proceedings, RCI Financial Services was very pleased with the earlier decisions of both courts to uphold that we acted lawfully regarding our contract with Mackie Motors.’
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