Superbike Factory’s network of used motorbike businesses around England went into administration on July 20, ending operations immediately and leaving employees and clients in the dark after days of rumours.
Hundreds of employees at Superbike’s six locations faced layoffs as a result of the abrupt news, and just a small number were kept on to support the asset sale.
Several riders who had paid for their motorcycles in full and were waiting for delivery while the firm closed have also been contacted by jobstodaylahore.
Chris Mudie, a Crowland rider, told jobstodaylahore, “We paid for the bike, and it was ready to be delivered.” “That was essentially our life savings, and I don’t make a lot of money.”
On July 9, the 47-year-old paid slightly more than £5000 for a Triumph Trophy 1200, which was scheduled to be delivered on July 22. Like many others, he learned that the company was going into administration through sources other than Superbike.
He went on, “We have another bike, which I’m going to have to sell now and have no bike at all because we need to get our savings money back.” “We paid for the bike, but we’re not sure if we’ll ever get it.”
Darren Booth, a 55-year-old rider from Baildon, near Bradford, was also affected. After waiting three years to get back on two wheels, Booth purchased a 2011 Harley-Davidson Dyna Wide Glide.
“It’s even more heartbreaking because I took out enough money from my pension for this motorbike, and now it’s gone,” he said. It truly is a case of poor timing.
“I thought I’d have a good chance of getting what I paid for, if not guaranteed, because it was within my price range and they are the biggest used motorbike company in Europe.”
Booth said that on July 9, he got in touch with Superbike’s Macclesfield branch and made an arrangement that included home delivery and a servicing for a total cost of £7900. On July 15, the remaining amount was transferred via bank transfer after a £500 deposit was made using a debit card.
He added, “I had no idea there was any trouble at that point. I thought the sooner they got the money, the sooner I get my bike.” On July 17, he was put on hold for almost 80 minutes in an attempt to get an update on the status of his bike.
He continued, “I’ve communicated with the administrators by phone and email.” “I’ve contacted Citizens Advice, Trading Standards, and my bank twice, so I’m doing everything I can, but it’s just a matter of waiting to see.”
“I just wanted a bike for August Bank Holiday weekend so I could participate in the Harley-Davidson rally and all the fun and festivities that have been going on in our village for about forty years.”
In addition to the affected clients, a significant number of employees have lost their jobs and are now need to contact the government’s Redundancy Payments Service in order to get a portion of the money they are due.
Among them is Jonathan Lodge, who had been employed by the company for almost three and a half years as an on-the-road technician for Superbike Factory’s webuyanybike.com, where he inspected bikes to be bought as stock.
He was instructed to attend a meeting at 2:00 PM that day, and like many others, he learned of his layoff the same day the official statement was made public online.
He remarked, “I think we all anticipated the worst.” However, it wasn’t until we noticed the bunch of administrators wearing suits that we realised something wasn’t right. It simply seems so sudden. Before it began to appear on people’s social media on Friday, nobody was aware of it.
On July 27, jobstodaylahore had a conversation with KR8 Advisory Ltd. “Approximately 273 employees have been impacted by the appointment, and our immediate priority is to support employees through the redundancy process, including helping them with claims to the Redundancy Payments Service, while securing and safeguarding the company’s assets for the benefit of creditors,” stated Joint Administrator Rob Halliday.
Over the following few days, we will be contacting sellers and customers with information regarding the next steps after analysing the financial position.
Despite drawing interest from a number of potential buyers, the administrators in charge of SuperBike Factory’s demise told Visordown that attempts to salvage one of the largest used motorbike stores in the UK finally failed.
After SuperBike Factory was unable to consummate a sale as a going concern, Robert Halliday, Michael Lennon, and James Saunders of KR8 Advisory Ltd. were appointed Joint Administrators of SuperBike Factory, immediately ending trading across its six UK showrooms and online operation.
A protracted decline in both new and used motorbike sales, tighter consumer finance markets, growing operating costs, and ongoing uncertainty surrounding the larger motor vehicle finance sector were all cited by KR8 in an official statement as the company’s “perfect storm” of difficulties over the past year.
The directors looked into a number of possibilities to save the company, including an expedited selling process, and sought professional assistance before going into administration. Administrators confirmed that no deal could be finalised despite multiple parties expressing interest in purchasing the company, leaving the resulting administration as the only viable option.
SuperBike Factory has therefore immediately stopped business. A small number of employees have been kept on to help the administrators secure the company and manage the sale of its remaining assets, while about 273 employees have been laid off.
Supporting those impacted by the layoffs while safeguarding the company’s assets for creditors was the first goal, according to Joint Administrator Rob Halliday.
Additionally, Halliday affirmed that KR8 is examining the business’s financial situation and will start reaching out to buyers and sellers in the upcoming days with advice on what to do next.
The official statement offers the most lucid explanation of SuperBike Factory’s demise to date. SuperBike Factory seemed to be in a better position than others to weather the storm, despite the fact that many motorcycle stores have struggled over the past 18 months due to declining consumer trust and rising operational costs.
The company functioned as a high-volume secondhand motorbike specialist, combining six retail locations with a countrywide internet sales platform, in contrast to standard franchised dealers. It was selling thousands of used motorcycles annually at its height, and because of its size, many people thought it was mostly immune to the challenges that smaller dealerships faced.