Vehicle Marketing Company Meets its Match

London, 25 March/GNN/ -- INSOLVENCY SERVICE News Release (Ins/Coms 72) issued by The Government News Network on 25 March 2008 A Barnet based "vehicle matching" company has been wound up in the High Co

Motor Help UK Limited claimed to operate a "vehicle matching" business,
involving the matching of sellers of motor vehicles to prospective buyers
of those vehicles.

The company targeted sellers of vehicles who had advertised their vehicles
for sale in UK newspapers, magazines and websites. Persons who had placed
such advertisements were cold-called by the company and sold the vehicle
matching service for =A379 or =A399.

The company obtained buyers principally by asking sellers if they were
looking to purchase another vehicle once they had sold and by researching
"car wanted" advertisements in newspapers, car magazines and websites. It was
also possible for buyers to search the Company's website and register online.

Potential sellers and buyers of vehicles on the company's database were
"matched" using a computerised vehicle matching system. Computerised matching
took place once a week. Sellers of vehicles were matched to buyers by
reference to the make and model of vehicle sought by buyers.

At the winding up hearing the Court heard that the company misrepresented its
service. It claimed that it already had a number of enquiries from buyers
looking for the type of vehicle the seller was selling; that it would only
make sellers' details available to buyers who could afford the seller's
asking price and who were in the seller's region; that the company was able
to arrange finance for buyers resulting in a refund of the seller's fee and
that it "guaranteed" to market the vehicle until it was sold.

The reality was that the company did not check its database to find out whether
or not there were any matching buyers for the seller's type of vehicle with
the result that less than 50% of sellers were matched with buyers; that no
check was carried out as to the amount of money a buyer was prepared to pay
for a vehicle or whether a buyer could afford to purchase a vehicle; that the
locations of buyers and sellers did not form part of the matching criteria;
that the company did not arrange finance and therefore no-one got a refund
and sellers' vehicles were not marketed until sold because the company had
no record of any vehicles being sold as a result of its "matching" process.

NOTES TO EDITORS

1. Motor Help UK Limited was incorporated in December 2003. Its registered
office is at 7 Granard Business Centre, Bunns Lane, Mill Hill, London NW7
2DQ. The company carried on business from premises at Suite 4, Galley House,
Moon Street, Barnet, Hertfordshire EN5 5YL.

2. The petition to wind up the company in the public interest was presented on
28 February 2008 under Section 124A of the Insolvency Act 1986. The company
was compulsorily wound up by the Court on 19 March 2008.

3. Companies Investigation Branch is part of the Insolvency Service and
carries out confidential enquiries on behalf of the Secretary of State for
Business, Enterprise & Regulatory Reform.

4. The Insolvency Service administers the insolvency regime investigating
all compulsory liquidations and individual insolvencies (bankruptcies)
through the Official Receiver to establish why they became insolvent. The
Service also authorises and regulates the insolvency profession, deals
with disqualification of directors in corporate failures, assesses and pays
statutory entitlement to redundancy payments when an employer cannot or will
not pay employees, provides banking and investment services for bankruptcy
and liquidation estate funds and advises ministers and other government
departments on insolvency law and practice.

5. All public enquiries concerning the affairs of the company should be made
to the Official Receiver at Public Interest Unit, The Insolvency Service,
21 Bloomsbury Street, London WC1B 3SS. Public Enquiries 0207 637 1110.

6. Further information about the work of The Insolvency Service is available
from http://www.insolvency.gov.uk

7. Media Enquiries should be directed to: Lorna Dennis, Communications
Manager, Insolvency Service, 21 Bloomsbury Street, London, WC1B 3QW.
Telephone: 020 7637 6279.

Source: Insolvency Service

2008-03-25 09:37:39 0319590 PRNEWSWIRE