The car dealer "Independence" actually died. In the fall, contracts with him were terminated by all automakers and brands, and at the end of November, the dealer closed all the showrooms, and one of its creditors - Gazprombank filed lawsuits for bankruptcy of six companies of the "Independence" group. There remains a ghostly chance of salvation, but everything has gone too far, says an employee of another bank, a creditor to Nezavisimosti. According to the agency Ruspres, its co-owners tried to save the company - Alfa Group Mikhail Fridman, Petr Aven and Herman Khan, but the $ 20 million allocated by them for the additional capitalization of the enterprise disappeared without a trace. The son-in-law of the foreign minister may be involved in the disappearance Sergey Lavrov .
No cars
“I blocked the main entrance with my car”, “I will never buy anything in this car dealership and recommend it to someone too”, “I made a big mistake that I paid for the car right away”, “wait for the car for one month or more is hell. " As it turned out, the company delayed delivery of the cars for months, without explaining anything to customers.
On September 12, BMW blocked Nezavisimost's access to the system for ordering new cars, and on October 1, it canceled the contract. The delay in issuing cars by "Independence" violated the terms of the agreement on the status of an official dealer with the importer, explained Bmw .
The termination of the contract with BMW was a severe blow for the group, a spokesman for Nezavisimosti admits. Following BMW, relations with other importers fell. Volvo and Jaguar terminated dealer contracts in October Land rover... The Volvo spokesman explained the gap with “reputational and other losses”, and Jaguar Land Rover explained that the “views on business development” of the importer and “Nezavisimost” ceased to coincide. Mazda, Ford, Audi, Mitsubishi, Peugeot and Volkswagen terminated the contracts in November.
Nezavisimost didn’t give out 47 fully paid cars to BMW buyers, says a spokesman for the automaker. BMW Group Russia had to issue them at its own expense. Another couple of dozen people made a symbolic advance payment for cars (from 10 thousand to 50 thousand rubles, less than 1% of the cost). Their cases are resolved individually, says a representative of BMW Group Russia.
"Independence" did not issue a little more than 30 fully paid Volvo cars, says a representative of the auto concern: the importer recommended that customers solve the problem with the car dealer themselves. Which does not characterize this automaker from the best side. A Volkswagen Group Rus spokesperson admits that the dealer did not issue fully paid cars and did not refund initial payments to customers. He refused to give statistics. But he said that the company donated cars to buyers at its own expense. A solution was also found for customers who made an advance payment for new cars in an amount less than their cost. The Volkswagen Group Rus representative did not disclose details.
Buyers of Jaguar Land Rover, Ford, Peugeot and Mitsubishi had no problem obtaining cars, said representatives of these companies. Their colleague from "Mazda motor rus" did not provide comments.
Independence's debt to banks, according to the company, exceeds 6 billion rubles. “The group's management, together with key creditors, worked together to find options for debt restructuring,” says a spokesman for Nezavisimosti. “Unfortunately, in the current conditions it is not possible to carry it out.” The company, he said, expects to initiate new bankruptcy processes for the group's companies.
« Gazprombank has repeatedly restructured the indebtedness of the Nezavisimost group, says a bank representative. But some creditors in October began to file the first claims to declare the dealer bankrupt. In this situation, the bank "considered that recovery is impossible and it is also advisable to go to court with a petition for bankruptcy," said a representative of Gazprombank. To recover the debt, creditors will consider the possibility of bringing the ultimate beneficiaries of the Independence group and its top managers to responsibility for bankruptcy, promises a person close to one of the dealer's creditors.
Hope for growth
"Independence" was founded in 1992 Roman Tchaikovsky, and in 2008 its shareholder was the investment division of Alfa Group of Mikhail Fridman and his partners A1 (49.95%). At that time, the group, according to Avtobiznesrevyu, was one of the ten largest dealer holdings in Russia. A1 is “not a strategic investor” and will leave the business when he can sell his stake in Nezavisimosti at fair value, the now former president of A1 said in an interview with Vedomosti. Mikhail Khabarov... Soon Khabarov was replaced by the son-in-law of the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation Sergey Lavrov Alexander Vinokurov but that moment never came.
A1 was a financial investor in Nezavisimosti and was not involved in its operating activities, says its representative. At the end of last year, the dealer's management reported a difficult financial situation and requested support that was provided, he added. The shareholders took part in the capitalization of the Independence Group in the amount of 1 billion rubles. In addition, in the spring of 2017, a change of management was carried out in order to restructure the company's debt burden and optimize financial activities. “Unfortunately, as we can see, the situation has not normalized,” the A1 representative complains. Nezavisimost itself attributes the collapse to an incorrect business development strategy. The crisis of 2008, but it was successful, betting on premium segment, recalls a company representative: then the market quickly recovered. In 2014, Nezavisimost chose a similar strategy, hoping for a quick market recovery. But the crisis turned out to be completely different, he admits: both sales and profitability of new cars fell. On the other hand, the high debt burden, carried over from the previous periods of active growth and building up infrastructure, has not gone anywhere. This led to the accumulation of serious losses over several years, says an A1 spokesman. And the constant pressure from manufacturers to fulfill the sales target led to the fact that new cars were sold almost at cost. According to Avtobiznesrevyu data, since 2012, the company's revenue has fallen by 2 times, and car sales - by 4.6 times.
Even before the 2014 crisis, Nezavisimost was run ineffectively, argues a former employee of the company: the management was sitting on multimillion-dollar annual salaries, each had several deputies, many with personal drivers. There were a lot of unreasonable expenses in the company.
A large share of dealerships in the regions did not add stability either, a person close to the company believes. According to Avtobiznesrevyu, in 2015, out of 24 dealerships of Nezavisimosti, eight were located in the regions. And in 2017 - six of the remaining 13. In addition, many buildings for dealerships of "Nezavisimosti" were rented, and after the crisis the company was not engaged in revising rental rates and renegotiating contracts. For example, dealership at Belaya Dacha occupied about 7 thousand square meters. m. Such gigantic areas could only be afforded in a growing market, rent could cost $ 2 million a year, which is a lot of money. “Out of 10 dealerships, there were four in lease, the lease was carried out on commercial terms and was regularly reviewed,” objected the representative of “Nezavisimosti”.
Sales fell, but loans remained
The problem of dealers is that at first people stopped buying cars for their own, then they stopped buying them on credit, and then they stopped being repaired in official centers and went to garages, says an employee of the bank, a creditor to Nezavisimosti.
Over the past decade, dealers have experienced two crises. Sales first collapsed after 2008. But already three years later, the fall was won back, and in 2012 a record number of cars were sold in Russia.
And then for four years in a row, sales fell, and the market for new cars and light commercial vehicles fell by half - according to the Association of European Businesses, from almost 3 million units. in 2012 to 1.43 million in 2016. Dealer bankruptcies in such conditions are inevitable. But the rate of decline in dealer networks did not match the scale of the decline in sales. According to the analytical agency "Autostat", from 2012 to 2016 the number of dealerships decreased by 16% - from 4068 to 3413.
The car dealership business is traditionally a highly credited industry, two top managers of dealership companies explain: it is possible to successfully and quickly develop a business only with borrowed funds. Dealers attract loans for the development of a dealer network, the construction of centers to which manufacturers may have special requirements, says Vladimir Bespalov, an analyst at VTB Capital.
Traditionally, the profitability of the dealer business is already low, Bespalov points out: good years is approximately 3–6%. “Dealers earn practically nothing on new cars: the main income comes from service and the sale of spare parts,” notes Sergei Udalov, executive director of Avtostat. Attempts to diversify revenue have not led to much success. New car sales continue to generate the lion's share of dealer revenue. The hopes of getting comparable money from the service and trade in used cars did not materialize.
Kirill Yakovenko, an analyst at Alor Broker, believes that a complex of factors could have influenced the aggravation of the situation in Nezavisimost: as well as increased debt burden. “Six months ago, one of the dealer's shareholders, the A1 group, had already capitalized Nezavisimost by $ 20 million, but to continue the work of such a business, even then it was necessary to reduce the number of car dealerships and be the first to wind up contracts with ineffective brands,” he notes in an interview with RBC. Agency Ruspres already drew attention to the fact that after the disappearance of this money, Alexander Vinokurov had to leave the post of President of A1.
Two automakers - BMW and Volvo - have terminated their contracts with Nezavisimost. The company's customers claim that they can neither receive their cars nor get their money back. There are already 70 such people
Problematic "Independence": clients of one of the largest Russian car dealers claim that he does not give cars to customers. Dealer group "Independence" has been working on the market for more than twenty years, but in a week it lost contracts with two automakers at once - BMW and Volvo. What happens and will the buyers manage to get their cars for which they have already paid?
In mid-July, Gleb Pimenov and his family came to buy a car at the official BMW dealer, at the Nezavisimosti salon. There it was 50 thousand rubles cheaper than others. As a result, we bought two cars: one more - a mother-in-law, on credit. Moreover, she was able to pick up the car in five days, and they promised to give Pimenov his car in 15 days. But first, they were fed with promises that it would be literally "just about." Then the salon reported that the selling manager had quit and would have to wait a little longer. And so on until September. As a result, Pimenov took decisive action: he came to the salon and blocked the main entrance so that he could no longer be ignored.
Gleb Pimenov buyer “I parked my car in front of the entrance, turned on the alarm. Half an hour later, the head of the security service immediately arrived at the scene. I allegedly called to CEO"Independence", he was assured that they would give me the car. I said that the action would continue until you give me my car. We called the district police officer, investigative actions began. As a result, there is information that our car was paid for by "Independence". All signed. And they give us the keys, we are like: "Lord, well, thank God!" We sat down and left. The next day, the first thing I did was read all the documents, it turned out that we had changed the term there. Instead of 15 days, they entered 37, so that we would not have any grounds at all to present any penalties there. "
About 70 people never received a car from Nezavisimosti. Moreover, VIN numbers are not indicated in the contracts, it is only in one agreement, and this car was found at another dealer in Samara, says Dmitry Zolotov, coordinator of the public project "Movement":
Dmitry Zolotov coordinator of the public project "Movement"“When we started communicating with the senior manager, and, as we were told from his words, they will not make contact with us, because they do not negotiate with the terrorists. We were approached by people, just Nikolai - the victim, who said that he had not been able to pick up either the money or the car for more than six months. It turns out that since March 9, he has been in limbo. At first he waited for the car for three months, his patience ran out, he wrote a termination agreement. Now three months cannot receive money. We came with him, we wanted to talk with someone from the management, but things are still there: he was thrown 50 thousand - and that's all. "
Talked to Business FM on condition of anonymity one of the employees of "Independence"... According to him, delays in the delivery of cars began a year ago, and this summer the situation became critical:
- At the end of summer, cars were no longer issued at all for two, three months. In September, they offered not to sell cars, because it is not clear what will happen next. This was the initiative of our head directly, because he was also afraid of the sellers, some clients even managed to find the addresses where the employees were, for example, they rented an apartment, that is, it was terribly elementary. One day we were asked not to go to work. We described the situation, that everything, we are closing, so we suggest that you pay 20 thousand rubles for several months of your work, and we disagree.
- And how did the management explain to you why the cars are not handed out to customers on time?
- This was my first experience in selling a premium brand. I was told from the very beginning that it was normal that the cars were issued for so long, and I believed in it. The leaders didn't know much either. Everyone understood that some kind of toughness was happening, that we had some certain financial difficulties, and the whole team was trying to somehow steer it. "
The shareholders of one of the largest Russian car dealers are investment company A1, a member of Mikhail Fridman's Alfa Group, and founder Roman Tchaikovsky. It seems that "Independence" was knocked down by the crisis and a sharp decline in sales last year - by almost a third. There were problems with debts - Nezavisimosti has more than 6 billion rubles of them. Recently Gazprombank announced that it intends to go to court "in connection with the presence of signs of bankruptcy." But in Nezavisimosti itself, RBC was informed that this is a technical procedure and negotiations are underway with the bank. They also explained the loss of the contract with Volvo by the technical procedure, which, following BMW, announced the termination of the dealer agreement. But what about customers who have not received their cars? Business FM asked Anton Svekolnikov, PR Director of Volvo Car Russia:
- At the moment, Nezavisimosti does not have the opportunity to buy cars from the importer, so we recommend that customers take the money from Nezavisimosti and contact other Volvo dealers.
- That is, direct participation in the fate of these clients Volvo does not accept?
- We are negotiating with the company "Independence" for them to return the money to clients. But the law does not provide us with legal mechanisms to influence the Independence company regarding the return of these funds.
BMW has already given out cars at its own expense to 35 customers who made a full prepayment and are still deciding how to help the rest. Business FM failed to get a prompt comment from Nezavisimosti itself. Under the guise of a client wishing to purchase a car, the producers of Business FM called the office of the company, where they were assured that the salons were working:
- If I make a full prepayment, how long will I have to wait for the car?
- 14 working days are waiting for TCP.
- I saw the news from your company, not very encouraging. Tell me, how are you there?
- Yes, everything seems to be in order, but there is a restructuring of the company. We sell cars, but our discounts are not as big as they were before.
- No, I saw that you have problems, people cannot take the cars.
- No, everything is fine, everything is normal. If there is, then very small delays.
- Can't you worry about the company closing in the near future?
- Of course.
The company says that it is now "in the process of restructuring its loan portfolio." And the deceived clients, who did not wait for the cars, are ready to sue, but, however, they are afraid that there will be nothing to return the money from "Independence".
A few days ago, a scandal suddenly broke out around one of the BMW dealers, the Independence company. Dozens of customers who paid for the cars could not get them, despite the fact that they were at the site from an authorized dealer. The noise began to grow, and representatives of the Russian office of BMW made an official statement, where they confirmed that the dealer had financial problems and assured that they were taking measures to solve the problem.
The scale of the problem became clear after the story of the Muscovite Gleb Pimenov was posted on Facebook, who for two months tried to take the paid crossover bmw... After unsuccessful negotiations with the dealer, Pimenov blocked the main entrance of the dealership with his car and, together with his friends, guarded his new car in the parking lot so that she is not taken out. This case was published in a number of media outlets, thanks to which the client was still given the car. But, as it turned out, the Muscovite was not alone in his problem. There was a case, one of the clients, who could not pick up his car from the dealer, even with the help of a lawyer, out of despair almost began to ruin his purchase right in the parking lot, but friends who were nearby held him back in time. He still got the car, but trouble almost happened.
The official representative of the Russian office of the BMW Group Vasily Melnikov said:
BMW Group Russia confirms that the Nezavisimost dealer center faced a number of complex problems that led to the dealer's failure to comply with the agreements and the subsequent shutdown of his work. Because of this, the deadlines for the transfer of the purchased cars to customers were violated. At the moment, negotiations are underway with the dealer to find a way out of this situation, envisaging various scenarios, up to the most cardinal ones.
In order to make a decision as soon as possible, taking into account the interests of customers as much as possible, BMW Group Russia asks everyone who is faced with a violation of the delivery time of the car to contact BMW customer support. In this case, you must have documents confirming the purchase and payment of the car.
Currently, simultaneously with the collection of information in order to ensure a sufficient level of security Vehicle cars owned by BMW Group Russia are being taken out of the Nezavisimost DC. At the importer's warehouse provided complete safety and the safety of cars: the cars assigned to the clients of the Independence Group will not be transferred to anyone until the moment of the final investigation in the current situation.
The essence of the situation is that, having received money for a car from a client, "Nezavisimost" did not transfer them to the BMW Group, as a result of which the cars were physically delivered to the dealer's site, and the importer did not give away the vehicle without payment. Apparently, the financial situation of the company (about which it is not yet known for certain) is not in the best way, as a result of which there are virtually no funds for the purchase of cars.
At the same time, other dealerships of the Independence Group - Land Rover, Ford, Audi and others, similar problems not observed, dealerships are operating normally, although the company itself is undergoing an optimization process, due to which several centers have closed over the past year different brands... However, they fulfilled their obligations to clients in full.
“We do not recommend buying cars and doing service work at Nezavisimosti and refer clients to other dealerships. We deal with the questions that customers have and try to minimize losses, ”said a BMW spokesman.
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“We do not recommend buying cars and doing service work at Nezavisimosti and refer clients to other dealerships. We deal with the questions that customers have and try to minimize losses, ”said a BMW spokesman.
Auto dealer "Independence" has stopped selling cars in its metropolitan showrooms. The group, against which the bankruptcy lawsuit was filed, has several centers in the regions.
The car dealer group "Independence" has closed the last points of car sales in Moscow. This was told to RBC by a source close to the group, and confirmed by a partner of the company. The representative of "Nezavisimosti" confirmed to RBC the closure of all Moscow salons of the group.
The car dealer's website and phone numbers of car dealerships are not working. According to the official websites of Audi and Volkswagen (the last two brands with which Nezavisimosti had dealer agreements), the company is no longer their official dealer. Volkswagen representative (unites Volkswagen brands, Audi, etc.) said that there were no “changes in the status” of Independence: the company remains a dealer of its brands.
Now the group continues to operate several auto centers in the regions - Ford in Yekaterinburg and Ufa, Peugeot in Yekaterinburg. A representative of Ford Sollers told RBC that the group's car dealerships in these cities continue to sell cars, but from December 1, the agreement with Nezavisimost will be terminated. A Peugeot spokesman said the dealer's contract is valid until the end of 2017.
Nezavisimosti's problems worsened in early 2017. The company changed its manager and began to optimize its business processes. The group's total debt is about RUB 6 billion. Its main creditors are Gazprombank and Sberbank. On November 24, Gazprombank filed bankruptcy lawsuits against a number of Nezavisimosti structures.
At the beginning of 2017, the group had eight dealerships owned and four leased in Moscow and the regions. In July, the car dealer closed a number of car dealerships in Moscow (Volvo, Land Rover / Jaguar and Volkswagen) and Yekaterinburg (Volvo, Mitsubishi and Kia). At the end of September, Nezavisimost lost its contract with BMW. Then the dealer's representative told RBC that the group was considering the possibility of terminating the agreement due to the unprofitable sales of this brand. According to him, in 2017, "Independence" lost about 300 million rubles on sales of cars of this brand. due to low marginality. Later, Kommersant, citing its sources, said that the Avilon car dealership group could occupy the Belaya Dacha dealership, which Nezavisimost rented for the sale of BMW cars. In October, Volvo, Jaguar / Land Rover, Mazda and Mitsubishi also canceled dealer contracts with Nezavisimost. As a result, only Audi, Ford, Volkswagen and Peugeot remained at the dealer.
The chairman of the board of Avilon AG, Andrey Pavlovich, told RBC that Avilon is now in the process of completing a deal to purchase a BMW auto center. According to him, dealers specializing in the sale of specific brands may show interest in other Nezavisimosti car dealerships. “Auto centers are very difficult to redesign for other activities, and the network in Moscow is very well-established in terms of location. If banks suddenly sell Land Rover centers, then dealers of this brand will be more likely to be interested. It will be possible to work there only with those brands with which Nezavisimost worked, - he concluded.
One of the largest Russian car dealers has stopped working. Showrooms in Moscow and regions are closed
Nezavisimosti's financial difficulties began several years ago due to the fall of the Russian car market. But the problems reached their climax this year: customers began to complain that the dealer did not give them their purchased cars. What happened to "Independence"?
The collapse of "Independence" did not come as a surprise. In the summer and fall, the car dealer's problems peaked. Dozens of people declared that they could not win back their already paid cars. Only tough actions helped. One of the buyers blocked the entrance to the car dealership, called the police and said that he would not leave until he was given the keys - and only in this way he was able to pick up his new car.
Amid massive customer complaints, Volvo and BMW broke dealerships. Nezavisimosti itself assured that problems with clients were being resolved, and the company was looking for options for restructuring debts - it had 6 billion rubles of them. But no way was found, and one of the main creditors, Gazprombank, filed lawsuits for bankruptcy of the group's companies. The salons had to be closed. And all this looks like a very sad consequence of the crisis on automotive market, which has been in a fever in recent years. But this is especially sad for clients who have not yet received their paid cars, says Dmitry Zolotov, coordinator of the Movement public organization.
Dmitry Zolotov coordinator of the Public Organization "Movement"“Nothing has changed at all. The machines received units. First they were promised until the end of October, then until the end of November, now until the end of December. For Volkswagen, about 40 people have not yet received cars, for Mazda, we have eight people, and for Volvo, we also have about 40 people in limbo. For BMW - two or three people who have not received anything so far. At first, the dealership said, "go to the dealer." Then when they were deprived of the dealership, and they physically closed the doors on technical reasons, there was no one to go to, the representative office said "we will solve the issue." But the issue is still not being resolved. "
Although the administrative director of the Nezavisimost group of companies, Sergei Chadin, assures that disputes are resolved with clients individually, despite the fact that Nezavisimost is shutting down:
Sergey Chadin director of the group of companies "Independence"“For a number of clients, it was decided to attract the resources of importers. For a number of importers, such work is still underway, for the rest, some separate decisions were made related to either the termination of contracts, the issuance of Money, or some substitutions. Management has taken and is taking all possible steps to close all contracts and all contractual obligations. "
One of the former employees of "Nezavisimosti" told Business FM that delays in the delivery of cars began a year ago, and this summer the situation became critical. Cars were not issued for two or three months. In September, executives even made the decision not to sell their cars, as employees received threats: angry customers found their home addresses. One day the employees were announced to be closed and offered to pay 20 thousand rubles for several months of work. At first, the dissenting employees wanted to sue, but then changed their minds, our interlocutor says:
“They wanted to file a class action lawsuit, but everyone got scared, thinking that, first of all, we would spend a lot of money on a lawyer. Nezavisimosti, most likely, has some sort of garters in the courts, so it is useless to sue them, because there is a very strong company in itself legally. At first, about 15 people gathered, they wanted to file a class action lawsuit, and then everyone quarreled and fled. I am the only one left. "
His claim was denied. Those clients who did not wait for the cars are only going to sue, the first sessions will be held soon. But now that the company is shutting down, their hopes of getting something are even diminishing. What happened to Nezavisimost against the backdrop of a fall in the car market can be understood: according to media reports, its revenue over the past four years has decreased by half, and car sales - by four times. But this is the first such large-scale case of collapse. And perhaps not the last one.
