Pat White is back

Stevie Dakota

I see Pat is back after White Bishop closed, in the old Citroen branch on the Nass rod, not sure if this is old news but was happy to see it. I bought a couple of Seats off him when he was a small dealer around 1990, he had a great little operation there.

smash

http://www.patwhitecars.ie/ - been going for a while now!

R.O.R

Passed there last week and had a bit of a chuckle that the Chess Piece is still part of the logo.

Thanks go to the first person to guess which chess piece I'm talking about.

Stevie Dakota

steve06 wrote: »

http://www.patwhitecars.ie/ - been going for a while now!

5th May is not that long! Or maybe it is by todays standards..:pac:

.Longshanks.

Stevie Dakota wrote: »

5th May is not that long! Or maybe it is by todays standards..:pac:

Two months on the internet is a feckin lifeeeeetime!

Darragh29

He's not the only lad to have gone under and then start up again with a new strategy. Another dealer who recently went bust up in Carrickmacross (Ciaran Mc Connon Motors) is pursuing the same strategy, which is basically ditching the big glass showroom and starting their business again by going back to basics from a small premises. Any dealers I'm talking to now, they can sell cars no problem but 5K is the transaction value now they are seeing. Anything over 5K and your wasting your time, that's what I'm hearing.

http://www.carrickgazette.ie/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=933%3Acieran-mcconnon-car-sales-re-opens-to-buck-recession&catid=20021%3Alead-story&Itemid=1

Kashkai

So White Bishop Motors is gone???? I bought a Kia Sportage off them in 2005 and they were sending me at least one letter a month (until recently - now I know why they stopped) asking me to come in to see what great offers they had on at the moment. I guess they just expanded too much as the brakes were coming on the car market and then they got caught out with too high overheads. They probably won't be the last. I'm betting that the Bill Cullen Group will go under soon as well judging by:
(a) the number of special promotions/VIP events they are having - Jeez I get a text once a month telling me to contact Bill Cullen's apprentice Brenda whatshername to find out about their new special deal for selected invitees only, and
(b) the sudden lack of cars evident on their premises - they used to be packed to the gills with cars and I could never find a space to park when I left my car in for a service but now there are tumbleweeds blowing round their car lots.

Darragh29

Prosperous Dave wrote: »

So White Bishop Motors is gone???? I bought a Kia Sportage off them in 2005 and they were sending me at least one letter a month (until recently - now I know why they stopped) asking me to come in to see what great offers they had on at the moment. I guess they just expanded too much as the brakes were coming on the car market and then they got caught out with too high overheads. They probably won't be the last. I'm betting that the Bill Cullen Group will go under soon as well judging by:
(a) the number of special promotions/VIP events they are having - Jeez I get a text once a month telling me to contact Bill Cullen's apprentice Brenda whatshername to find out about their new special deal for selected invitees only, and
(b) the sudden lack of cars evident on their premises - they used to be packed to the gills with cars and I could never find a space to park when I left my car in for a service but now there are tumbleweeds blowing round their car lots.

Which outlet is this dave? I know one Peugeot dealer that is going to go under soon, I don't think they know themselves how bad their situation is but they haven't sold a car in weeks, the aftersales end of the business is not doing anything either, there is no sense of urgency within the business that there is a serious problem, no leadership there to identify the problem let alone resolve it, I doubt it will be around for much longer.

crosstownk

Stevie Dakota wrote: »

I see Pat is back after White Bishop closed

Darragh29 wrote: »

Another dealer who recently went bust up in Carrickmacross (Ciaran Mc Connon Motors) is pursuing the same strategy

It looks like Pat may have managed to retain a couple of franchises. I'm not so sure about McConnon though. Neither of his previous franchises' websites make any reference to him.

Darragh29

crosstownk wrote: »

It looks like Pat may have managed to retain a couple of franchises. I'm not so sure about McConnon though. Neither of his previous franchises' websites make any reference to him.

Yeah whether they have retained relations with the distributors in each case is open to debate but there is no doubt that the strategy now is to pursue cheap car sales and cheap aftersales work from a cheap location, no more 25K cars being sold from glass showrooms. It's back to basics and no harm either. You can only admire someone who can get back up on the saddle like that and go back at it, unfortunately we are more likely to begrudge someone in Ireland rather than help or encourage them to get back into the saddle, and I personally think we are ultimately going to pay a very high price for that trait that we have of knocking people and kicking them when they are down... That's not to say that we shouldn't have a discussion regarding the cause of the original failure, but anyone creating a job in the current environment should be carried up on high shoulders I think...

crosstownk

Darragh29 wrote: »

You can only admire someone who can get back up on the saddle like that and go back at it..............anyone creating a job in the current environment should be carried up on high shoulders I think...

I'd have to agree with you. Anyone who has the balls to get straight back at it deserves a round of applause.

TomMc

Darragh29 wrote: »

That's not to say that we shouldn't have a discussion regarding the cause of the original failure, but anyone creating a job in the current environment should be carried up on high shoulders I think...

True enough, but I doubt any creditors would be that impressed. If a business goes belly-up through bad management and they leave some suppliers unpaid (usually the smaller family type business, say like a motor factors) and then start afresh, you couldn't blame some people for been cynical.

TomMc

crosstownk wrote: »

I'd have to agree with you. Anyone who has the balls to get straight back at it deserves a round of applause.

If you are self-employed (no social welfare option) and worked in the motor trade all your working life (so know very little else), there are very few alternatives. All you can do is turn your hand to what you know best and try and scrape out a living.

alias no.9

Best of luck to him. I had noticed him open again. The difference in prices (second hand) between franchised dealers with plate glass windows and other franchised dealers with older established premises but without the frills (or should I say without the follies and I know that distributors were forcing the hands of the dealers) was there even in the boom days if you bothered to look.

VolvoMan

crosstownk wrote: »

It looks like Pat may have managed to retain a couple of franchises.

Well both the Daihatsu and SEAT importers are under the OHM Group, so I'd imagine he himself built up a strong working relationship with them over the years.

bs2014

Darragh29 wrote: »

He's not the only lad to have gone under and then start up again with a new strategy. Another dealer who recently went bust up in Carrickmacross (Ciaran Mc Connon Motors) is pursuing the same strategy, which is basically ditching the big glass showroom and starting their business again by going back to basics from a small premises. Any dealers I'm talking to now, they can sell cars no problem but 5K is the transaction value now they are seeing. Anything over 5K and your wasting your time, that's what I'm hearing.

http://www.carrickgazette.ie/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=933%3Acieran-mcconnon-car-sales-re-opens-to-buck-recession&catid=20021%3Alead-story&Itemid=1

Digging up very old ground here but ironic that the old dealership lay idle for a number of years and now Cieran McConnon is back operating in the old premises, and from website and social media, operating very successfully with lots of nice yokes being turned over it seems

biko

Indeed, it is a very old thread.