Advertisement
If you have a new account but are having problems posting or verifying your account, please email us on hello@boards.ie for help. Thanks :)
Hello all! Please ensure that you are posting a new thread or question in the appropriate forum. The Feedback forum is overwhelmed with questions that are having to be moved elsewhere. If you need help to verify your account contact hello@boards.ie

Cunningham Higgins in trouble

  • 16-08-2011 12:07pm
    #1
    Registered Users Posts: 332 ✭✭emptybladder




    Fears for future of Galway dealership as doors closed for review

    August 16, 2011 - 7:30am
    High-end car sales outlet says it will make announcement on Wednesday


    BY ENDA CUNNINGHAM
    There are fears for the future of one of the country’s biggest high-end car dealerships – Cunningham Higgins in Ballybrit – where doors are closed while a review of the business is carried out.
    In a statement to the Connacht Sentinel yesterday, the owners said the business in the Briarhill Business Park has closed for two days to make a decision on its future.
    “We, the directors and owners of Cunningham Higgins, decided to close the business for two days to allow an in-depth strategic look at the business and make a decision on its future thereafter.
    “The retail industry including motor is in serious decline in Ireland and we, the directors of our business, need to decide if we commit more resources to the business to keep it trading through this recession or not.
    “Right now the directors are in full control of the business, its assets including stocks and also the premises, which are owned outside of the company.
    “Any decision on the future of the Cunningham Higgins Ltd will be taken by the directors and the directors only. We will make an official statement on Wednesday of this week in relation to the future of the business,” Niall Cunningham and Joe Higgins said in the statement.
    A fortnight ago, their related business on the Tuam Road, a Mercedes Benz van centre, closed its doors. It’s understood most of the staff were transferred to Briarhill.
    The businessmen are authorised dealers for Mercedes, and also specialise in prestige marques such as Ferrari, Bentley, Porsche, Rolls Royce, Maserati and Aston Martin.
    Read more in today's Connacht Sentinel

    http://www.galwaynews.ie/21010-fears-future-galway-dealership-doors-closed-review

    Can't say I'm surprised ... I doubt there's much demand for Bugattis in Galway at the moment. People are tightening their belts and sticking with Ferraris.


«1

Comments

  • Registered Users Posts: 2,892 ✭✭✭Head The Wall


    I don't understand why they need to close for two days to discuss this. Surely if the business is on a knife edge they should be aware of it and already have all the brainstorming etc done.

    Sounds like Cordils announcement a while back where they tried to blame the govt in advance of them going bust


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 5,729 ✭✭✭Acoshla


    That business park is a curse anyway, dead as a dodo most of the time, can't be easy to sell cars like that in a godforsaken place like that.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 15,238 ✭✭✭✭Diabhal Beag


    Acoshla wrote: »
    That business park is a curse anyway, dead as a dodo most of the time, can't be easy to sell cars like that in a godforsaken place like that.
    And there is always traffic out that side so the location in general doesn't help.


  • Registered Users Posts: 152 ✭✭macl


    Briarhill can be a busy spot - some of the cafes that are there do well with trade from the surrounding areas. Aside from that, a garage of its kind (high end stuff) could in theory be out in the middle of the bog and people would still go there. Its not a passing trade type of thing (do you see western motors closing their (next) doors?)

    Opening the Van center was always a weird one which I could never understand. Surely people with a delivery type of business wouldnt be opting for sprinters these days but rather going down the route of cheaper Renaults and so forth.

    I bought a car from them years ago but when I wanted to buy again recently I found one of the directors to be most condescending and unhelpful. I am the kind of guy who if he's treated right will remain loyal to 1 garage. I ended up spending 30k elsewhere as a result...I can only wonder if I was the only one to suffer that... All that said I wish the business well for the sake of the staff and Galway having a official Merc dealer of the standard of C&H


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 5,729 ✭✭✭Acoshla


    Yeah people would go to it wherever it was, but it's not an impressive place to be or anything, shoved behind Western Motors, and not like Monaghan's either who have their own kind of area to themselves. I worked in that business park for a long time and some of the shops might see 5 customers from one end of the day to the next, particularly the more high end/expensive shops, soul destroying stuff. I used to easily go hours without seeing one customer in there, which I'd imagine Cunningham Higgins would often do too. I'm surprised they lasted this long, I did notice last year they replaced the really high end cars (Ferraris etc) upstairs with more normal Mercs and BMW's, obviously were trying to appeal to a broadder customer base.

    And the cafés do a good trade from yummy mummies bringing their little dears to ballet and the staff of the business park, neither group are likely to be popping in to check out a supercar.


  • Advertisement
  • Closed Accounts Posts: 902 ✭✭✭scholar007


    I don't think the banks are too keen to shell out moulah to a lad looking to finance a maserati at the moment.

    Will the Mercedes franchise go back to Western Motors or are there other players waiting in the wings?


  • Registered Users Posts: 5,153 ✭✭✭jimbobaloobob


    Jeez the cynics are alive and well in here.

    I get the feeling people gloat at seeing a high end business fail.

    Its unfortunate that the demand for such high spec cars isnt there anymore.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 902 ✭✭✭scholar007


    Jeez the cynics are alive and well in here.

    I get the feeling people gloat at seeing a high end business fail.

    Its unfortunate that the demand for such high spec cars isnt there anymore.

    Who's gloating?


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 5,729 ✭✭✭Acoshla


    Jeez the cynics are alive and well in here.

    I get the feeling people gloat at seeing a high end business fail.

    Its unfortunate that the demand for such high spec cars isnt there anymore.

    If you mean I actually love the type of cars they sold back in the Celtic Tiger days, I knew many who bought fab flash cars in there, and would love to see them continue to do well through the recession, but unfortunately it is the type of luxury item that has been hit hard.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 10 feefs


    Sad to see, but was always likely to happen. there is still a good market for mercs though you would imagine. Is there many people working in C&H?


  • Advertisement
  • Registered Users Posts: 8,155 ✭✭✭Wompa1


    Now the rest of the dealers can be even less competetive.


  • Registered Users Posts: 492 ✭✭Hennybug


    I bought a car from them years ago but when I wanted to buy again recently I found one of the directors to be most condescending and unhelpful. I am the kind of guy who if he's treated right will remain loyal to 1 garage. I ended up spending 30k elsewhere as a result...I can only wonder if I was the only one to suffer that... All that said I wish the business well for the sake of the staff and Galway having a official Merc dealer of the standard of C&H[/QUOTE]

    I must have met the same guy! Always got my car serviced there and wanted to buy a car they had in stock, I asked him to look at mine with a view to trading in, he looked, said he'd call and i never heard another word. Like you i buggered off to Dublin and bought my car there and found somewhere else to do the servicing as well :rolleyes:

    That aside, i'd hate to see more jobs being lost int own so hopefully something can be pulled out of the bag.


  • Registered Users Posts: 15,795 ✭✭✭✭Discodog


    Hennybug wrote: »
    I bought a car from them years ago but when I wanted to buy again recently I found one of the directors to be most condescending and unhelpful. I am the kind of guy who if he's treated right will remain loyal to 1 garage. I ended up spending 30k elsewhere as a result...I can only wonder if I was the only one to suffer that... All that said I wish the business well for the sake of the staff and Galway having a official Merc dealer of the standard of C&H

    I have exchanged some correspondence with a director & I was not impressed. Incredibly arrogant.

    Sales of Ferraris have grown in the UK recently & supercar sales are doing well. The new McLaren will command a 50K premium over list price.


  • Registered Users Posts: 152 ✭✭macl


    Well...if there are 3 of us who've had that problem on one thread on boards.ie then I wouldn't be surprised if it was an ongoing thing. Generally I vote with my feet...I presume the other 2 posters did aswell.

    It's a pity - outside of Dublin there's not much going for the higher end of cars...we'll find out tomorrow anyhow but for the sake of people loosing jobs - I hope the doors remain open and perhaps Joe or Niall takes time to review this thread and take on board some feedback.


  • Registered Users Posts: 1,077 ✭✭✭cfeeneyinterior


    Discodog wrote: »
    I have exchanged some correspondence with a director & I was not impressed. Incredibly arrogant.
    I've heard one of the directors is spot on, the other ...... is not to put it mildly.


  • Registered Users Posts: 15,795 ✭✭✭✭Discodog


    macl wrote: »
    Well...if there are 3 of us who've had that problem on one thread on boards.ie then I wouldn't be surprised if it was an ongoing thing. Generally I vote with my feet...I presume the other 2 posters did aswell.

    It's a pity - outside of Dublin there's not much going for the higher end of cars...we'll find out tomorrow anyhow but for the sake of people loosing jobs - I hope the doors remain open and perhaps Joe or Niall takes time to review this thread and take on board some feedback.

    A friend of mine who is ex motor trade wrote to them regarding a press article a year ago. The reply commented on his punctuation mistakes :D
    My friend said that "with that attitude they are doomed" - gosh I must ask him for the lotto numbers.


  • Registered Users Posts: 444 ✭✭StonedRaider


    macl wrote: »

    I bought a car from them years ago but when I wanted to buy again recently I found one of the directors to be most condescending and unhelpful. I am the kind of guy who if he's treated right will remain loyal to 1 garage. I ended up spending 30k elsewhere as a result...I can only wonder if I was the only one to suffer that... All that said I wish the business well for the sake of the staff and Galway having a official Merc dealer of the standard of C&H

    I bought 2 vehicles off a garage in Galway about 7odd yrs ago..and I like to stay loyal to 1 garage as well. Whenever I went back for parts or spares..he never had them and always said he'd ring me back..never did. I had a small problem which was supposed to be covered by warranty..after 5months,nothing was done. I got the part online from the UK and sorted it myself. Since then..I have almost always bought motor parts and accesories online/uk and have never set a foot back in to that place. This garage is now gone bust.

    Since the recession..I've tried more and more to support local businesses. I'm currently looking to change my car. In the last 4weeks, I've been to 2 main dealers in Galway. Both of them have my details and have promised to get back to me. Haven't heard from them. Is it because I have a limited budget of €7-8k? They don't entertain unless buying new? TBH I've almost given up with the motor trade in Galway. I'd rather buy from NI or the UK actually.


  • Registered Users Posts: 152 ✭✭macl


    teepee wrote: »
    Ya hes the 7 foot 2 tall long string of misery

    LOL - On the money!


  • Registered Users Posts: 15,795 ✭✭✭✭Discodog


    From their website:

    "At Cunningham Higgins Specialist Cars, everything we do is driven by the statement "If we don't look after the Customer, somebody else will."

    Looks like somebody else has !


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 902 ✭✭✭scholar007


    I bought 2 vehicles off a garage in Galway about 7odd yrs ago..and I like to stay loyal to 1 garage as well. Whenever I went back for parts or spares..he never had them and always said he'd ring me back..never did. I had a small problem which was supposed to be covered by warranty..after 5months,nothing was done. I got the part online from the UK and sorted it myself. Since then..I have almost always bought motor parts and accesories online/uk and have never set a foot back in to that place. This garage is now gone bust.

    Since the recession..I've tried more and more to support local businesses. I'm currently looking to change my car. In the last 4weeks, I've been to 2 main dealers in Galway. Both of them have my details and have promised to get back to me. Haven't heard from them. Is it because I have a limited budget of €7-8k? They don't entertain unless buying new? TBH I've almost given up with the motor trade in Galway. I'd rather buy from NI or the UK actually.


    I know I'm probably straying off topic a bit. In the last twenty years I've had many cars and I'm sorry to say that my experience with all aspects of the motor trade in Galway is not good. From sales to service it is pretty bad.

    - Sales people ignoring me when I walk into the showroom
    - Cant find the keys for a test drive
    - Being sold a car that had been written off (found out later)
    - Phone requests for car brochures not fulfilled
    - Take it or leave it attitude / not willing to negotiate
    - Sales people not available for agreed appointments
    - Phone calls not being returned
    - Tools (Screwdriver) left under the bonnet after servicing (Damaged
    wiper linkage) - Bit of an attitude when I brought it back
    - Overcharging for servicing
    - Servicing quotes way off
    - Bodywork of car damaged while being serviced
    - Work not completed - having to bring the car back two or three times
    - Not fulfilling agreed cosmetic work on (used) car before delivery
    - Car delivered not serviced and several bulbs blown
    - Doing the hard sell on dealer finance despite being told that I'm not
    interested (several times) - wonder why that was

    Overall, I dread having to go near the motor trade in Galway. From buying a brake light bulb to buying a car and everything in between, I would have to be in the full of my health, its that bad.


  • Advertisement
  • Closed Accounts Posts: 1 Muzzy67


    I had to post my agreement with some of the previous posters. I too experienced a high degree of arrogance (just plain bad manners) from one of the directors back in the boom days. OK I wasnt looking to trade against a very high end motor but I was still looking to spend considerable money. I was quickly offered only 10K on my car, made feel like a complete nobody and got the clear impression from him that he felt I was completely wasting his time. I went to another independent dealer in the Gort direction later in the week and got 19K on a very similar upgrade and I'm sure they still made their margin.
    Maybe Ferrari and Bentley (finance) buyers were treated with more courtesy but I certainly never darkened the door again.

    It doesnt sound good for the workers there and my sympathies would lie with them.

    But maybe if the directors treated (Non-Developer) "Joe Soaps" a little better they might still have a business......


  • Registered Users Posts: 15,795 ✭✭✭✭Discodog


    Galway advertiser 25/11/2010:



    Commenting on the appointment, Stephen Byrne, chief executive of Mercedes-Benz in Ireland. expressed delight that the expertise which Cunningham Higgins has in terms of sales, marketing and customer care – already evident in its Mercedes-Benz passenger car operations – would now become available to commercial vehicles customers in Galway.
    “Given its excellent credentials in all aspects of vehicle retailing, we expect the appointment to result in the growth and development of Mercedes-Benz in the region.”



    And now six months later .................


    I have worked for MB & it takes real skill to mess up an MB franchise. The parent company will not be happy bunnies.


  • Registered Users Posts: 28,789 ✭✭✭✭ScumLord


    scholar007 wrote: »
    In the last 4weeks, I've been to 2 main dealers in Galway. Both of them have my details and have promised to get back to me. Haven't heard from them.
    This problem is systemic in Ireland I really don't understand it there are business crying about having no customers but when you try to do business with them they give you the cold shoulder.

    We're dropping Irish suppliers at work simply because we can't get them on the phone.


  • Registered Users Posts: 3,180 ✭✭✭Interceptor


    I hope Cunningham Higgins can make some sort of recovery - otherwise theres nowhere to go and look at nice cars with a free cup of coffee in your fist. I've been dealing with them since they opened and experienced their full range of customer care - from none to just enough.

    Its a pity that they can't figure out how to sell a decent range of cars to customers prepared to buy locally - if we can't support local businesses it is too easy to go abroad.

    'cptr


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 199 ✭✭dell1211


    Discodog wrote: »
    I have worked for MB & it takes real skill to mess up an MB franchise

    Its called a recession. Its no coincidence that the country has seen a lot of the high end dealers(MB, BMW, Lexus, specialty dealers like maxwells, gilsen etc) shut up shop. You can have the nicest attitude, the nicest showroom, the best service but if the customer base that you rely on doesnt have the funds then there is little chance for you.

    Most of the garages that have survived have done so for reasons like they dont have the overheads; eg showroom was built/bought when prices wernt crazy, have a range of cars that are selling(diesel / cheap small cars being the most popular).


  • Posts: 5,121 Sasha Kind Thunderstorm


    http://www.chmb.ie/page/news
    CUNNINGHAM HIGGINS PRESS RELEASE 17/08/2011
    Joe Higgins & Niall Cunningham regretfully announces that they have decided to close their business, Cunningham Higgins, with immediate effect.
    The reason for the closure is directly attributable to the prolonged recession that we find ourselves in and the affects that it is having on the retail environment.
    As a result of, and in addition to the economic downturn, the motor industry in Ireland is fraught with difficulties including lack of demand, severe downward pressure on prices, rapidly depreciating used stocks, un-saleability of both petrol and old road tax cars and a total lack of finance for buyers. Coupled with these factors are unsustainable costs of business including taxes, levies, insurances, fuel, rates and also lack of government support for sustaining employment. This time last year we had the employment subsidy scheme, which our company benefited from in a small way. This year, we have had absolutely no support for sustaining current employment, despite the promises made by the new government at election time.
    Since the downturn began in the motor business three years ago (July ’08) we have continually invested personally in the business to keep it afloat and to keep our great people employed. Based on the outlook for Ireland with the effects of the IMF bailout and the yet to come budgetary austerity measures we cannot continue to invest in a business that operates in an industry so volatile.
    Revenue in our company went from €22m in 2007 to what would have been circa €6m this year. It’s neither physically nor financially possible to employ the many resources needed to give level of service that people knew us for on a reduced turnover of this extent. The luxury car end of the market required even more resources to operate as both the sales and service process are more protracted and complicated.
    Despite rumours that are circulating, this closure is entirely voluntary on the part of ourselves as directors of the company and, separately, as owners of the building. Likewise the closure is not due to any loss of the Mercedes franchise from our business, we remained a Mercedes dealer up to this week and acknowledge the trust that Mercedes Ireland put in ourselves to represent their brand in Galway for the past two years. Unfortunately there has been a large reduction in demand for luxury items, such as Mercedes-Benz cars, in this recession and we do not foresee any change to this consumer reluctance in the near future.
    We would very much like at this time to acknowledge all of our customers, suppliers and lenders for their loyalty and support and we thank them most sincerely for supporting our business over the past twelve years.
    We also wish to humbly thank our dedicated and loyal staff and their families for their dedication to our company over the years and we sincerely wish them every success and good fortune for the future.
    We shall be placing contact information for vehicle assistance on our web site and on our answering machine for our customers should the need arise. Over the coming weeks we hope to put in place a more permanent service solution for our customers needs and we will communicate this directly to our customers in due course.
    This is a tough horrible decision to have to make on both our parts but the reality is that the financial mess that Ireland finds itself in has caused many causalities of which we are only one. New businesses open and existing businesses close every day of the week and life goes on. We think we can say that we served our customers well, paid our bills on time and looked after our staff as well as they looked after us. Again we wish our customers and staff the best of everything and thank them for making the last 12 years of our lives interesting and enjoyable.

    Niall Cunningham & Joe Higgins
    Wednesday 17th August 2011


  • Registered Users Posts: 71 ✭✭turbojunkie


    Any idea how their stock is being sold? Public auction?


  • Registered Users Posts: 7,386 ✭✭✭JoeA3


    Very sad really, it's a terrible shame.


  • Registered Users Posts: 445 ✭✭soundbyte


    Any idea how their stock is being sold? Public auction?

    MB will take their stock.

    I hear the finance company has already taken back their part of the stock ... I'd imagine they'll try to flog it at some stage through Wilson's.

    EDIT: Two sets of stock ... MB and finance company


  • Advertisement
  • Registered Users Posts: 64 ✭✭Miss_F


    Had the same issue as another poster, went in looking to trade my car , when they heard i only wanted to back my car 7 or 8 grand they said they had noting suitable and handed me my keys back. :confused:


This discussion has been closed.
Advertisement