Auckland car dealership in liquidation after creditor repossesses Jaguars, BMWs

Auckland car dealership Cars R Us is in liquidation after a secured creditor repossessed its inventory, which included some luxury vehicles. Photo / 123RF

An Auckland car dealership is in liquidation after a secured creditor repossessed its inventory, including more than a half dozen luxury vehicles.

Raynmac Limited, trading as Cars R Us, was put into liquidation on October 29.

Cars R Us traded from a Cunard Street site in New Lynn.

The company is now in the hands of liquidators Damien Grant and Adam Botterill of Waterstone Insolvency.

Companies Office records show Darren Beehre is the sole director and shareholder of Raynmac Limited.

The liquidators gave two reasons for the company’s failure in their first report.

The first was poor economic and trading conditions which led to reduced sales turnover.

The other was the repossession of the company’s inventory by a secured creditor.

According to a notice in the NZ Gazette, Simon Beirne Limited had a security agreement and took possession of collateral including a Jaguar F-Pace Prestige; a Jaguar F-type; a Mercedes Benz A45 4 Matic; a Mercedes-Benz C43 4 Matic; a Mercedes-Benz CLA180 Shooting Brake Sport; a BMW 320i M Sport; a BMW 530E M Sport iPerformance; an Audi A5 Sportback 2.0TFSI Sport; an Audi Q5 Black Edition; and a Tesla Model S 90D.

The liquidators said they hadn’t yet received any preferential, secured or unsecured creditor claims.

“The liquidators are aware that there may be other creditor claims against the company,” the liquidators said in their report.

“It is unknown whether there will be sufficient realisable assets to enable a distribution to any class of creditors.”

Four financing statements were registered against the company: Simon Beirne Limited, Sharp Corporation of NZ Limited, Monument Finance Limited, and Prospa PTY Limited.

Several other major car and boat dealerships have gone into liquidation this year.

In September, Auckland Vehicles Limited went into liquidation owing more than $1 million to over 120 creditors.

Auckland Vehicles Limited operated five brands, including Auckland Hyundai, Auckland Isuzu, West Auckland Hyundai, West Auckland Isuzu and Renault Auckland.

Last month receivers revealed heavy losses were expected for creditors of family-owned boat business Trev Terry Marine, which collapsed owing more than $16m.

And in August, two boating businesses in Mount Maunganui and Morrinsville – Sportcraft Marine Ltd and Sportcraft Boats Ltd – were placed into liquidation owing more than $1.5m in unpaid taxes and loans.

Long-standing Napier car and boat dealership Euro City Limited went into voluntary liquidation in April owing close to $1.2m to 148 creditors.

Figures from the Motor Industry Association show year-to-date sales in October are still down by 14.7% compared to 2023 and 22.5% lower than 2022, putting 2024 in line to be the worst year for new car sales in a decade.

Cameron Smith is an Auckland-based journalist with the Herald business team. He joined the Herald in 2015 and has covered business and sports. He reports on topics including retail, small business, the workplace and macroeconomics.