The former owner of Mackie Motors claims he was forced to sell the Angus business after being cut off from supply of new vehicles and financing.
Earlier this year Kevin Mackie sold the company which was started by his parents Ron and Janie in 1977.
Mackie Motors had 70 Angus staff and operated Renault and MG dealerships in Brechin and sold new Nissan vehicles in Arbroath.
At the time Mr Mackie described the sale to Park’s as “hugely difficult and emotional”.
Now the prominent businessman, who is chairman of Brechin City Football Club, has revealed the real reason he sold the business.
New car orders cancelled
In November, Mr Mackie was informed that finance company RCI was terminating a two-year contract with seven days’ notice.
RCI, Renault and Nissan are interlinked. Renault and Nissan own stakes in each others’ companies. RCI is owned by Groupe Renault and also trades as Nissan Finance.
Under the Renault and Nissan franchise agreements, it was a requirement Mackie Motors used RCI to offer PCP finance deals to customers.
The notice meant he could no longer offer finance to customers.
But, worse than that, Mackie Motors was also frozen out of integrated systems preventing it from being able to order new Renault and Nissan vehicles.
Mr Mackie claims hundreds of orders for new cars were cancelled which “cut off the oxygen” to his business.
He insists an official reason for the contract ending has never been provided.
“They didn’t just remove the finance offering, they stopped us trading,” Mr Mackie said.
“Normally you would be cut off if you were bouncing debits, but we didn’t do that in 45 years of trading.
“We never had one letter issued to us about performance, we only ever won accolade after accolade.
“They showed no interest in our loyal customers. We had more than 300 orders going into 2022 – they cancelled them all.
“We were paralysed.”
Meanwhile, Mackie Motors was also not being supplied new parts by the car firms, meaning repairs to keep customers’ vehicles safe could not be done.
High Court action by Mackie Motors
The prominent businessman has taken legal action against RCI at the High Court in London.
However, the claim has been thrown out, with the judge determining that he could have sourced a finance provider elsewhere.
Mr Mackie said: “This judge seems to think you could just go to another bank.
“The motor trade is complex. Everything is integrated.
“The judge for some bizarre reason compared motor trade finance offering to someone going to a high street bank.
“The big problem for us is that RCI said we could continue to operate if we didn’t have access to their systems.”
The Angus businessman is appealing the judgement.
“I look forward to my day in court,” he adds.
‘Devastating’ impact on Mackie family
Mr Mackie revealed the sale of the business to Park’s was necessary to protect more than 70 local jobs.
But he said it has been “devastating” for his family.
“Mackie Motors was in the community for 45 years and we had no reason not to continue.
“There’s no hope of grandchildren coming through to continue the business.
“That’s probably the most hurtful thing that has happened.”
RCI Financial Services respond to claims
A spokesperson for RCI Financial Services said: “While we are unable to comment on any ongoing legal proceedings, RCI Financial Services was very pleased with the decision of both courts to uphold that we acted lawfully regarding our contract with Mackie Motors.
“We value our partnerships with dealers in our network highly and are committed to building and protecting those.
“It is very rare for us to have recourse to change a contractual relationship, and we would only ever do so where absolutely necessary.”
A Nissan spokesman said: “We are not able to comment on this as Nissan was not party to those proceedings.”
Renault did not respond to a request for comment.
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