Tom Hogans - Gone into voluntary liquidation

sgthighway

As the title says. Doors are shut.

ukgalwaymcguire

what every single one? as in across the country and all dealerships or just galway, even in galway they employed a lot of people, and there toyota bmw and lexus, they only just got the bmw as well.
wow im shocked

sgthighway

Closed in Ennis too.

I posted this in Motors Forum too.

andrewdeerpark

Gone in Clonmel aswell I do see the front door open but access to forecourt not allowed.

I assume the mechanics can collect their toolboxes and staff pick up personal belongings.

Shame isn't the first and won't be the last

mchammer

sgthighway wrote: »

As the title says. Doors are shut.

can't believe it- that was an institution that place! what next for galway?

dec25532

Think all 150 jobs gone including 40 in Galway. Announcement this morning to staff.

sgthighway

mchammer wrote: »

can't believe it- that was an institution that place! what next for galway?

A car auction

big b

Tough business to be in this year.

Heard they had been losing sales staff all year, but I reckon they still had a lot of employees on the books.
Big loss for the town jobwise.

snubbleste

I do hope the Tánaiste and the media stage a press conference to annouce these employment losses seeing as they are in the area

cornbb

snubbleste wrote: »

I do hope the Tánaiste and the media stage a press conference to annouce these employment losses seeing as they are in the area

Yeah I was listening to the news about Boston Scientific this morning (great news btw) and I'm sickened at the guaranteed presence of ministers at these events, claiming all the credit, whereas they will completely disclaim any responsibility for every mess they've created.

Wompa1

Will the bank have to auction off whatever second hands they have!? Anyone know about that?

Zzippy

Is the service centre in Ballybane closed too? Woulda thought that would still be viable, after all people still need to get their cars services/repaired...

will the petrol pumps go aswell?

got my free health checkup there a while back.. guess i def wont be getting my quote done now

topper75

Wompa1 wrote: »

Will the bank have to auction off whatever second hands they have!? Anyone know about that?

In for the kill Wompa? you oul' vulture you! :pac: I was actually going to browse Hogan's this week, so I'll be circling overhead myself.

No joke re the jobs though. 40 is a lot, and we have to presume the car sales skillset doesn't transfer too readily in the current circumstances.

diverdriver

I'm sickened at the guaranteed presence of ministers at these events, claiming all the credit, whereas they will completely disclaim any responsibility for every mess they've created.

So true, the irony is that the Tom Hogan motors is literally across the road from Boston Scientific, two minutes walk if that. Any jobs gain totally wiped out. The politicians had to pass the place on the way out.

Jobs are not so secure in BSCI either, remember they closed the Donegal plant and my word on the inside says that they are changing shifts in order to save money with fewer lines running. A lot of the low level, low paid jobs there could be moved elsewhere quite easily. The majority of workers there are on rubbish money by whatever standard you apply but it's still considered to be expensive compared to other countries.

Creating 45 new jobs for graduates is fine. But most people need the ordinary jobs which are a lot harder to find.

Wompa1

topper75 wrote: »

In for the kill Wompa? you oul' vulture you! :pac: I was actually going to browse Hogan's this week, so I'll be circling overhead myself.

No joke re the jobs though. 40 is a lot, and we have to presume the car sales skillset doesn't transfer too readily in the current circumstances.

Lookin out for number 1. The guys in Hogans seemed really nice. One of the nicer car places from my limited experience. I have been in there looking around the last couple of months.

I've heard that other garages are given first option on the cars by the banks...so they can then bump up the price and screw us and thus complete the circle of lies

galwaybob

Has anyone been in the dole office in town lately, the place must be gone nuts. It was busy enough during the boom.

Kazooie

Jesus. Thats a Galway institution. The petrol station too?

KevR

GalwayNews.ie is reporting that 70 people were employed there.



I wonder if the petrol/diesel pumps will stay open. Surely they will - it was always one of the busier petrol stations in Galway.

kinetic

A sad day indeed , especially in my experiences of dealing with galway garages they were the best of them.

KevR

diverdriver wrote: »

So true, the irony is that the Tom Hogan motors is literally across the road from Boston Scientific, two minutes walk if that. Any jobs gain totally wiped out. The politicians had to pass the place on the way out.

Jobs are not so secure in BSCI either, remember they closed the Donegal plant and my word on the inside says that they are changing shifts in order to save money with fewer lines running. A lot of the low level, low paid jobs there could be moved elsewhere quite easily. The majority of workers there are on rubbish money by whatever standard you apply but it's still considered to be expensive compared to other countries.

Creating 45 new jobs for graduates is fine. But most people need the ordinary jobs which are a lot harder to find.

I was of the understanding that they ceased their manufacturing operations in Donegal but relocated the jobs to Galway.

http://www.rte.ie/news/2009/0624/bostonscientific.html

galwaybob

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!

xtradel

Very sorry for all the people who are losing their jobs but...............

Around 2 years ago i walked into Tom Hogans with the intention to buy a brand new Toyota Corolla. Asked at reception to speak to someone about buying a new corolla & was asked to take a seat, which was directly in front of reception & right beside the display Corolla, and was told someone would be with me shortly. 50 minutes later after nobody coming near me i upped & left. 2 hours later i paid a deposit on a brand new car in motorpark.

Not saying my €23k would have saved the company today but i know of more people who have had the same level of service in the showrooms.

big b

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!

maybe their recent expansion stretched them too much, that was a LOT of stock tied up.

maybe looking down their noses at owners of 6 year old Toyotas & telling them to get their cars serviced elsewhere has come home to roost

I'm genuinely sorry for the decent people who've just lost their jobs, but I don't think the company's attitude to some potential customers helped their cause when times got tough.

( I don't, and never did, own a 6 year old toyota myself! but I do believe my sources)

diverdriver

I was of the understanding that they ceased their manufacturing operations in Donedal but relocated the jobs to Galway.

Last time I drove from Galway to Donegal. It took me quite a few hours. Don't fancy that commute. How many people do you imagine relocated to Galway from Donegal? They might just as well have relocated to the moon. It's window dressing, corporate BS.

dilallio

xtradel wrote: »

Very sorry for all the people who are losing their jobs but...............

Around 2 years ago i walked into Tom Hogans with the intention to buy a brand new Toyota Corolla. Asked at reception to speak to someone about buying a new corolla & was asked to take a seat, which was directly in front of reception & right beside the display Corolla, and was told someone would be with me shortly. 50 minutes later after nobody coming near me i upped & left. 2 hours later i paid a deposit on a brand new car in motorpark.

Not saying my €23k would have saved the company today but i know of more people who have had the same level of service in the showrooms.

Also extremely sorry also to hear about the folks losing their jobs. I had the same experience - I went in 3 seperate times to purchase a used car (about 5 yrs ago). Similar to xtradel, I was told each time that someone would be out to me in a few mins, but nobody bothered. Eventually I took my business elsewhere.

ohnoigotsick

lads is the petrol station shut as well ?

diverdriver

I doubt it but I'll go and look shortly. Watch this space!

cheekay

we bought a few cars from tom hogan motors over the years. I always fond the service excellent. Very helpful and friendly. Two friends of mine lost their jobs there this morning. Its a huge loss for the city

galwaybob

Mary Coughlan has some ****in neck showing up at that boston scientific announcement. When that same company were axing 150 jobs in her own home county of Donegal where the **** was she.

Robbo

The company was placed into voluntary liquidation, not administration per thread title.

mchammer

diverdriver wrote: »

I doubt it but I'll go and look shortly. Watch this space!

Petrol station gone!!:o

http://www.rte.ie/news/2009/0624/tomhoganmotors.html

leninbenjamin

mchammer wrote: »

Petrol station gone!!:o

http://www.rte.ie/news/2009/0624/tomhoganmotors.html

Weird. I thought he leased out the petrol station and shop. Must have had it wrong I guess.

diverdriver

Petrol station gone!!

Not true. I was there barely ten minutes ago. It's very much open for business, busy even. Remember the original piece was written by someone in Donnybrook, D4. What would he or she know. There was a film crew outside Hogan's though. They didn's seem to be having much luck. It's pretty quiet there.

Before you ask, no I didn't go specially to check just for you boards readers. I had to pass by the place anyway.

ohnoigotsick

it didn't state in the rte piece where the petrol station was , could have been the one in ennis shannon or clonmel (i'm not sure of the lay out of those garages)

ukgalwaymcguire

Wompa1 wrote: »

Will the bank have to auction off whatever second hands they have!? Anyone know about that?

i worked in the motor industry in the uk, and my brother worked for BMW for 12+ plus years

in situations like this, cars will be sold to other dealers in market to market sales, some cars may go back to factory, (possibly bmw), but unlikely as will have to be exported. even demonstrator cars will go to other dealers.

this is a big hit to the country and i agree who the hell has been holding the purse strings before the recession, they also got a bit above themselves when they got the BMW dealership last year,
they got the deal with BMW, but were operating out of portakabins
when BMW took dealership status from a set up showroom

mmm that alone says like they had a lot of talk in management,
but couldnt walk the walk.

my pure heartfelt sympathy goes out to anyone who looses there
living through this:(

leninbenjamin

ukgalwaymcguire wrote: »

this is a big hit to the country and i agree who the hell has been holding the purse strings before the recession, they also got a bit above themselves when they got the BMW dealership last year,
they got the deal with BMW, but were operating out of portakabins
when BMW took dealership status from a set up showroom

I don't know can you really blame them, I mean operating your business on credit was the done thing in Ireland for the past 5 or so years, encouraged at every level from the government to the banks to Mr. and Mrs. Doe.

By the sounds of it they were given the BMW dealership as the existing dealership was losing customers by the boatload due to bad customer service. From what i understand it was more an opportunist thing than any long term plan on behalf of Hogan or BMW. Then of course the credit crunch happened and there would have been no way to finance another showroom.

Sympathies to all those who lost their jobs. They were one of the better garages around town it seemed.

Dirk Gently

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!

There is a lot of baggage that comes with being a dealership. Manufacturers demand certain standards, such as always having a minimum x amount of stock, certain size show rooms (usually requiring new buildings) and buying the companies in house diagnostic software. It's not as difficult as you might think to hit the wall if you based your cost of acquiring a brand dealership based on projected car sales over a number of years. If sales take a hit a year or 2 into your projection you're still left with massive costs associated with maintaining the brand. I don't know the in's and outs of this dealer but if he had several brands to look after then the costs could very well get on top of him in a very short time if he's not selling cars.

ukgalwaymcguire

leninbenjamin wrote: »

By the sounds of it they were given the BMW dealership as the existing dealership was losing customers by the boatload due to bad customer service. From what i understand it was more an opportunist thing than any long term plan on behalf of Hogan or BMW. Then of course the credit crunch happened and there would have been no way to finance another showroom.


Barry Motors didnt hit sales and after sales targets, Tom Hogan went in
and presented a package to BMW for dealership.
being in trade for a while and having my brother work for BMW, i can tell you BMW would not have been happy they have been operating out of portakabins for over a year, and the deal they struck with BMW,
they would have had to show facts and figures on there finances to gain
Dealship status, which they couldnt in reality backup, or why the portakabins.
just seems like they have been talking big, without any backup in the kitty

i so so so feel for the staff loosing there living, and selfish as this sounds
im so so glad they didnt have any sales executive, or sales manager vacancies in the last year both myself and my brother have been looking.
i hope it hits the fat cat managers hard, but thats not usually the way:(

leninbenjamin

ukgalwaymcguire wrote: »

Barry Motors didnt hit sales and after sales targets, Tom Hogan went in
and presented a package to BMW for dealership.
being in trade for a while and having my brother work for BMW, i can tell you BMW would not have been happy they have been operating out of portakabins for over a year, and the deal they struck with BMW,
they would have had to show facts and figures on there finances to gain
Dealship status, which they couldnt in reality backup, or why the portakabins.
just seems like they have been talking big, without any backup in the kitty

Are you suggesting Hogan wouldn't have shown facts and figures before getting the dealership?

earth to ukgalwaymcguire... there is a credit crunch! They got the dealership just prior to the credit crunch hitting home. All of their figures would have been next to useless like everyone elses. Their previous business plan would have been in ruins in the space of about 3 months.

lets all blame the fat cats. that'll make things better...

ukgalwaymcguire

ermm yes lets blame them
cos where the fook is the money they have gained in previous years
this is not going too effect them, this will effect the people on average
salarys trying too earn a living
yes blame the fat cats , they will still be sitting in there big houses
driving there big cars, and if they do have to change there lifestyle
that will only be in line with the average person anyway.
so earth too leninbenjamin that is reality

Interceptor

Meh. You reap what you sow - I could never deal with them.

'cptr

mr_disc

So did they have the BMW dealership ?, I think it was taken away from MotorPark .

jigsaw07

dec25532 wrote: »

Think all 150 jobs gone including 40 in Galway. Announcement this morning to staff.

i heard on the wireless it was 70 jobs gone in galway alone

CrowdedHouse

I only visited once in '07 I was looking at a new Lexus IS220D,I found them friendly and professional.

I was offered a good deal but didn't buy cos I didn't really like the car.

Sorry for the folks who've lost their jobs.

PixelTrawler

I tried buying a car for cash 2 years ago, no trade in

Guy was only interested in selling me finance even though i had the cash. Was very insistent on finance. I said good luck.

No interest what so ever in selling me a car - thats my only experience of Tom Hogans.

Sad about people losing jobs though.

tonedef

ukgalwaymcguire wrote: »

i worked in the motor industry in the uk, and my brother worked for BMW for 12+ plus years

in situations like this, cars will be sold to other dealers in market to market sales, some cars may go back to factory, (possibly bmw), but unlikely as will have to be exported. even demonstrator cars will go to other dealers.

What other BMW dealer would want them in this economic climate??
I can see a big clear out auction myself, like the one they had at the end of last year. Some really good bargains at it from what I heard. My sisters bf was very happy with the car he bought at it anyway.

Shame to see Hogan's go though. I never heard anything but good things about them

Sponge Bob

leninbenjamin wrote: »

Are you suggesting Hogan wouldn't have shown facts and figures before getting the dealership?

There was about one year between Barry being told they lost it and Hogan opening the BMW dealership last July , perhaps even more .

I have seen one 09 Beemer in Galway , the place is flooded with near new UK 07 and 08 imports of course . I would think they might have sold 20 new beemers since they opened a year back .

From Google Cache of their website .

Press Release

David Hogan, Chairman Tom Hogan Motors, John Lawlor, BMW Network Strategy Manager and Paul Hogan B.Com FCA, Director Tom Hogan Motors
Tom Hogan: Newly Appointed BMW & MINI dealer for Galway.


22/07/2008

Tom Hogan Motors is delighted to announce that their new BMW and MINI showroom located in Ballybrit, Galway is now open for business.

Located next door to the existing Tom Hogan showroom, this new temporary BMW & MINI dealership is fully equipped to meet the high standards which BMW customers have come to expect.

Tom Hogan has more than thirty years experience in the car industry, having built their reputation on delivering exceptional levels of customer service across all their sales and aftersales departments and they intend to continue this ethos through to the new BMW & MINI business.

The new Tom Hogan BMW and MINI showroom facility will provide a full range of services from new and used car sales for both BMW and MINI, Corporate Sales, Finance as well as a fully equipped BMW & MINI authorised workshop for all aftersales requirements, including warranty.

From 1st October 2008 Tom Hogan Motors will be the only authorised BMW & MINI sales dealers in Galway City and County.

Tom Hogan Motors look forward to welcoming all customers to the new BMW & MINI dealership in Ballybrit, Galway where you can meet the team and experience for yourself the exceptional level of customer service you can always rely on Tom Hogan to deliver.

Discodog

I am ex motor trade & have worked with BMW for many years including setting up new dealerships. I have also been involved in mystery shopping programs & I can guarantee that Hogans will not be the last.

During the "tiger" years every dealer sat back & waited for you to beg them to sell you a car. One senior Galway motor executive told me recently that "We have rather ignored the little man".

I recently collected some accessories for a friend. No one asked for my name. No one checked if I was on their customer record system. If I am buying specific parts then it may be because I own that brand & I could be in the market for a replacement but they will never know as they could not be bothered to ask.

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.

During the 80's recession, in the UK, BMW increased it's sales. It is not a bad time to sell cars but one has to get off one's arse as no one is going to walk into your showroom.

The idea that any half competant business man could not see this recession coming is rediculous. Hogan's must of creamed off millions during the boom. The strange thing is that BMW seem not to of qualified Hogan's finances.

I would genuinely recommend any car salesperson to join a top sales oriented company, outside of the trade, & learn how to sell.

Now, if anyone reading this is planning on going for the BMW franchise in Galway, I might be prepared to be your Sales Director for no salary & just a straight percentage of GP !.

All businesses need to accept that they have neglected potential customers & it will not be so easy to win them back. If some of the techs want to get together & open a multifranchise service centre - you will make a fortune.

KerranJast

I don't want to sound like a heartless prick, it's really sad that people have lost their jobs, but there's a recession on and people are trying to save money. With that in mind what's going to happen to the stock? Will it just be auctioned off to other dealerships or will the public be able to get a look in?

They paid a lot of money for the right to sell expensive cars just as the recession was kicking in.