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Gmund Cars Ltd & Andrew Mearns FRAUD £1Million stolen

Its absolutely disgusting that there are individuals like this around and continuing to do business when it is actually fraud/theft.

I feel for you but please do not let him get away with it. I too have had experiences with similar crooks and they just do not behave like the rest of us, nor do they seem to mind about it.

HSC mentioned those thieves at Kool Kanvas. Same type and will not be upset by a few warning letters. Those will be chucked straight into the bin and they will continue trying to steal money from the next customer.

We are just too mild mannered in this country. Most other parts of the world, this would have been dealt with by now and Mearns would be walking with a limp for many years to come.

He definitely needs a visit (as does Kool Kanvas) and you need to not leave until you have assets to the value of your car - as long as it is done above board (I said we are mild mannered).

Good luck and keep at him. :evil:
 
Turn up to his open day with plenty of copies of your post & hand them to everyone who attends. Let him know what you are doing. It may give him a push.
I cannot believe how many people wait for ages for their money. I would be expecting it within a day of the car being sold or would be showing up in person, not faffing about with emails
 
Yet the magazines like 911&PW fall over themselves to give traders like this glowing reviews because of the money they spend on full page ads and letting the journos troll around in the cars that are for sale. They ought to be acquainted with the facts as well!
 
Ghost said:
Yet the magazines like 911&PW fall over themselves to give traders like this glowing reviews because of the money they spend on full page ads and letting the journos troll around in the cars that are for sale. They ought to be acquainted with the facts as well!
Journalism and fact are like ships passing in the night. You only need to look at the Tabloid news in this country. The reason why they can't cough up "The source" when asked for, is because the Source doesn't exist. Just made up dribble.
On face value, I agree they appear to be trading insolvent. I wish there was a way to contact each person who has their car with them currently and to advise to pull their car immediately.
 
Looking at his page he's currently holding £1,846,000 of stock not including the 959 comfort that is POA.
When I was last at his premises there was a lot of the current stock there on display and I think that was 2 years ago.
To listen to him talk you'd never think he was up to his neck in debt and basically pocketing peoples money from them but then all the best 'rogues' have got more front than Tesco's.
 
I have a keen interest in this, being both a business owner like Mr Mearns but also a solicitor (my business being the law). Samantha Mearns nee Crow resigned from the board of Gmund Cars Limited a decade ago, she remained secretary until last year. She was a major shareholder, until last year. Mr Mearns appears now to be sole shareholder. There was an interesting secured loan made to Gmund in 2014 by a family trust. Although the related charge is still "live" I suspect the 3 cars the subject of the security are now sold and the registered charge is a red herring. The accounts to the end 2017 make for fascinating reading, a negative net asset position of £200k and that was then.

There is a lot more I would like to say, but unfortunately it is not best practice to dispense legal advice on a forum of any kind. Good luck to all who are owed money....

As a final point, part of my business model is to hire consultants who work under my umbrella. My firm invoices clients and gets paid - the consultants then invoice me for 75% of what I received. Kind of like SOR for solicitors I guess. I usually pay a consultant's invoice within 30 minutes of receipt.
 
Doing a bit of digging (it's raining so I'm bored!).
The companies house shows up what we know, that his wife Samantha Mearns nee Crow has now resigned from the company.
Her house address in Scotton appears to be the village where all the cars are photographed, so you have to assume that's where he lives as well.
Looking up her details she is, ironically, a member of the Conservative Party and is a non practising solicitor, as per her declaration of interests.
Maybe an email to her at [email protected]
her mobile number is up there as well so in the public domain.
Also looking at his accounts up to the end of 2017 he is showing just over a £1,000,000 of stock but £1,278,415 of creditors.
He's also showing cash in hand of £23,000, again is this his money or customers.
The bottom line is he's £200,000 in debt. Hardly a glowing set of accounts!
 
Thanks for your suggestions & words of support folks.

I can't go into detail but suffice to say that I have a number of irons in the fire on this matter.

To add insult to injury, he continues to advertise my car on his website.

Will update this thread as the matter develops and may see a few of you at the Gmund Open Day on 18th May.
 
Somebody might want to contact AutoCar magazine.

Page 61 in the May 1st issue regarding buying a used supercar says:

Andrew Mearns, owner of Gmund Cars, a specialist Porsche and VW dealership in Knaresborough, Yorkshire, has his own solution to supercar and hypercar warranties. He funds his standard 12-month warranty entirely from the business.

"I believe warranty companies' instinct is not to pay claims," he says, "so I've cut them out and fund my own warranty from every car I sell, putting £400 from every deal into my warranty fund. It forces me to buy the best cars and prepare them properly before they leave here. As a result I've usually got around £20,000 unclaimed in the pot. I've just sold a Porsche 959 with 3000 miles for £1.3 million. It's got the same warranty as all my cars. If it develops a fault in the next 12 months, the customer can take it to his local Porsche centre and I'll pick up the bill."
 
Jeez he's got some nerve!

If he has sold a 959 for £1.3 million then he can clear his debts ASAP.

I've met him and his wife and you've got to admire his 'front'. I suppose with the cost of bank overdrafts and being £200,000 in the red he's found the perfect way to fund his operations, no interviews with the bank for an overdraft, no providing accounts just sell some poor guys car and keep the money.
I wonder if the guy who owned the 959 was paid for his car?
 
Apparently word of his 'issues' is also circulating in the trade. Not just unhappy customers who are aware (beware?) of Gmund
 
Very sorry to here of your problems with Gmund OP.

I've had dealings with Andrew Mearns in the past. Albeit my experiences have been somewhat different to yours.
Andrew purchased a 964 C2 off me back in 2004-5. Clearly he made a trade bid on what was a lovely car. I said I thought his bid was a smidge too low, to which he replied that if I felt that way, he would pay me another £1000 if he sold the car for his advertised price.
The car subsequently sold. I rang Andrew and told him I'd like my cheque for £1000. the cheque arrived within a week ....

Some years later I placed my 996 GT2 on SOR with him. He had the car at least 8 months, but regrettably it didn't sell. I collected it back off him without incident.

Back in 2008-9 I purchased a stunning Meteor grey 997 GT3. With the release of the Gen 2 car imminent, I decided Gen 1 prices might take a hit, so I decided to sell the car.

Even ten years ago, shifting a near £90K car privately was a tall order, so I rang Andrew and asked if he'd be willing to sell it on SOR. He said he'd be more than happy to do so.

I had finance on the car, so was unwilling to release it and I told Andrew I'd be keeping the car in the garage whilst he advertised it on my behalf. It took some months to sell, and in the end an energy trader purchased it out of his annual bonus ... His bonus wasn't due to another 6-8 weeks, so Andrew took a deposit off the purchaser and sent it to me.

A couple of months later the car sold and the purchaser paid Andrew.
I received the cheque for the car less the finance settlement and Andrew's commission.
Andrew's commission was a paltry £1000...
As an aside, I bought the car for £86K, I did a couple of thousand miles in it, put a pair of new MPS Cups on the rear of it, and even with Andrew's commission, I pocketed £84K....

I spoke to Andrew some years later and it transpired he'd lost his (wealthy) financial backer (as I understood it he'd passed away) as with quite a few of these independents, there's often a mysterious wealthy financier behind them. One VERY well known and regarded Porsche indy has the backing of just such an individual as I understand it.
 
baldguy said:
This guy so needs a visit from Trading Standards...

:grin: 'Speak softly but carry a big stick'
 
Slippydiff said:
Very sorry to here of your problems with Gmund OP.

I've had dealings with Andrew Mearns in the past. Albeit my experiences have been somewhat different to yours.
Andrew purchased a 964 C2 off me back in 2004-5. Clearly he made a trade bid on what was a lovely car. I said I thought his bid was a smidge too low, to which he replied that if I felt that way, he would pay me another £1000 if he sold the car for his advertised price.
The car subsequently sold. I rang Andrew and told him I'd like my cheque for £1000. the cheque arrived within a week ....

Some years later I placed my 996 GT2 on SOR with him. He had the car at least 8 months, but regrettably it didn't sell. I collected it back off him without incident.

Back in 2008-9 I purchased a stunning Meteor grey 997 GT3. With the release of the Gen 2 car imminent, I decided Gen 1 prices might take a hit, so I decided to sell the car.

Even ten years ago, shifting a near £90K car privately was a tall order, so I rang Andrew and asked if he'd be willing to sell it on SOR. He said he'd be more than happy to do so.

I had finance on the car, so was unwilling to release it and I told Andrew I'd be keeping the car in the garage whilst he advertised it on my behalf. It took some months to sell, and in the end an energy trader purchased it out of his annual bonus ... His bonus wasn't due to another 6-8 weeks, so Andrew took a deposit off the purchaser and sent it to me.

A couple of months later the car sold and the purchaser paid Andrew.
I received the cheque for the car less the finance settlement and Andrew's commission.
Andrew's commission was a paltry £1000...
As an aside, I bought the car for £86K, I did a couple of thousand miles in it, put a pair of new MPS Cups on the rear of it, and even with Andrew's commission, I pocketed £84K....

I spoke to Andrew some years later and it transpired he'd lost his (wealthy) financial backer (as I understood it he'd passed away) as with quite a few of these independents, there's often a mysterious wealthy financier behind them. One VERY well known and regarded Porsche indy has the backing of just such an individual as I understand it.

The trouble is, this was all 15 years ago. I hear that ***** was a fairly decent bloke when he was trying to get into art college.. Unfortunately people change, some for the better and some for the worse, but I certainly wouldn't base my decision of whether I was going to do a SOR deal with Gmund today on the fact that I bought a half decent car from them 20 years ago... which I did.. but that's not relevant here
 
mar1b0ro said:
Slippydiff said:
Very sorry to here of your problems with Gmund OP.

I've had dealings with Andrew Mearns in the past. Albeit my experiences have been somewhat different to yours.
Andrew purchased a 964 C2 off me back in 2004-5. Clearly he made a trade bid on what was a lovely car. I said I thought his bid was a smidge too low, to which he replied that if I felt that way, he would pay me another £1000 if he sold the car for his advertised price.
The car subsequently sold. I rang Andrew and told him I'd like my cheque for £1000. the cheque arrived within a week ....

Some years later I placed my 996 GT2 on SOR with him. He had the car at least 8 months, but regrettably it didn't sell. I collected it back off him without incident.

Back in 2008-9 I purchased a stunning Meteor grey 997 GT3. With the release of the Gen 2 car imminent, I decided Gen 1 prices might take a hit, so I decided to sell the car.

Even ten years ago, shifting a near £90K car privately was a tall order, so I rang Andrew and asked if he'd be willing to sell it on SOR. He said he'd be more than happy to do so.

I had finance on the car, so was unwilling to release it and I told Andrew I'd be keeping the car in the garage whilst he advertised it on my behalf. It took some months to sell, and in the end an energy trader purchased it out of his annual bonus ... His bonus wasn't due to another 6-8 weeks, so Andrew took a deposit off the purchaser and sent it to me.

A couple of months later the car sold and the purchaser paid Andrew.
I received the cheque for the car less the finance settlement and Andrew's commission.
Andrew's commission was a paltry £1000...
As an aside, I bought the car for £86K, I did a couple of thousand miles in it, put a pair of new MPS Cups on the rear of it, and even with Andrew's commission, I pocketed £84K....

I spoke to Andrew some years later and it transpired he'd lost his (wealthy) financial backer (as I understood it he'd passed away) as with quite a few of these independents, there's often a mysterious wealthy financier behind them. One VERY well known and regarded Porsche indy has the backing of just such an individual as I understand it.

The trouble is, this was all 15 years ago. I hear that ***** was a fairly decent bloke when he was trying to get into art college.. Unfortunately people change, some for the better and some for the worse, but I certainly wouldn't base my decision of whether I was going to do a SOR deal with Gmund today on the fact that I bought a half decent car from them 20 years ago... which I did.. but that's not relevant here

I wasn't suggesting for one minute my experiences were relevant now, I was merely highlighting that the issues the OP is experiencing now, haven't always been Andrew's MO.
But if we're talking relevance, I hardly think comparing a car dealer with questionable ethics with another individual is either relevant or particularly tactful in this instance ...
 

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