CARS America, Hailsham

[phild]

Yes it is the L71 and he's had it for over four years but that's another story.
I didn't get a phone call just an e mail, I guess he didn't want to speak to me in person. Now there's radio silence again so I think I was correct in thinking it was a delaying tactic. Luckily the Police are still involved and I'll register a claim with Axa next week if nothing transpires. I would rather have the car back as its was shaping up to be a beauty and I very much doubt the insurers will pay out what it actually owes me..

 

[Nassau65]

Hopefully you have some sort of agreed value policy which you have kept updated with your expenditure on the vehicle. All your receipts will help prove same. Salvage rights will be helpful as well if in the future it does surface. Hope all goes well.

 

[phild]

Hopefully you have some sort of agreed value policy which you have kept updated with your expenditure on the vehicle. All your receipts will help prove same. Salvage rights will be helpful as well if in the future it does surface. Hope all goes well.

Yes, got the full documented history with my original receipt of purchase and all the work, including stage payments, with Simmons. There's a few pictures also but of the work being completed and not a whole car so no agreed value possible sadly. There's no others around, that I know of, for bench marking so I'll be in uncharted territory.

Still no response from Simmons to my request for car location.

 

[Mad4slalom]

Well if your missing Corvette is the L71 in your sig I can fully understand you wanting it back pronto. Best of luck

You say no point going after him if he is potless, but there is surely a difference beetween a struggling business in genuine difficulty going bankrupt and a criminal act of removing customers cars and possibly breaking or selling them , ? That should be persued and followed up by the police as a criminal , not civil act! That is not a minor offence and should surely warrant a custodial sentence. .
fingers crossed for you

 

[Mr. Cricket]

Yes, got the full documented history with my original receipt of purchase and all the work, including stage payments, with Simmons. There's a few pictures also but of the work being completed and not a whole car so no agreed value possible sadly. There's no others around, that I know of, for bench marking so I'll be in uncharted territory.

Still no response from Simmons to my request for car location.

427/400 tri power sold two years ago for £58k I recall so similar to give an idea

 

[adam hill]

Does anyone know how to contact John Simmons, owner of CARS America of Hailsham, East Sussex?

Business premises now closed and empty, no response to e mails, no telephone and website taken down.

John has my Corvette and, most likely, several others vehicles and I would like it back.

Phil - I have a mobile number for him. And it seems that he is having a rough time but not dealing with it well. He has our thunderbird too and I was also concerned. I have checked with the local network and the snap-on tools man has told us that he is a good man, but his landlord doubled rent and he had to move and now has our cars scattered around in storage which is costing him a fortune while he tries to find new premises. So it seems genuine, let me know if you want to speak or if you would like his mobile number.

 

[Mad4slalom]

Phil - I have a mobile number for him. And it seems that he is having a rough time but not dealing with it well. He has our thunderbird too and I was also concerned. I have checked with the local network and the snap-on tools man has told us that he is a good man, but his landlord doubled rent and he had to move and now has our cars scattered around in storage which is costing him a fortune while he tries to find new premises. So it seems genuine, let me know if you want to speak or if you would like his mobile number.

Sorry but no excuse for not keeping owners in the loop re where their cars are or were being moved. A simple solution would have been to ask owners to collect their vehicles until a new premises was organised. Imagine the shock and horror of finding a premises closed up, your car gone and the guy incomunicado. He will now have lost the trust of everyone.

 

[Nassau65]

Very well said. It’s only the cost? Of a telephone call or nothing for a mail to keep owners informed. It’s all very well having the cars scattered about, but are they still covered by his insurance if not on his premises? Let’s be fair, insurance companies always look for ways to not settle a claim.
me, I would want MY car back asap.

 

[James Vette]

Doesn't make any sense. Not like you owe him money, especially now.

 

[Nassau65]

Doesn't make any sense. Not like you owe him money, especially now.

Well, depending on his invoicing system he may “claim” that money is owed for work done since his last invoice. Keeping the cars may be a way of securing some additional money for “work done” or supposedly done. Either way, the man sounds like a shyster.

 

[Chuffer]

We did establish his residential address using a detective agency. A neighbourhood search verified occupancy but he's continued to be unresponsive to e mails, phone calls and letters from lawyers. He will not answer the door to civilian agents even though they had established he was present indoors.

That is now why it is in the hands of the Police and insurers.

If/when I recover the car then I'll see if I can take it further by establishing Simmons financial status, apparently that's quite easy, but no point going for him if he's potless.

It be worth while looking his business up on Companies House web site . There is lots of free info available if you navigate through the website . It may show up details of failed business , outstanding statements for annual returns etc and if he has been involved with other failed businesses . If he is truly having a bad time with landlords etc , common courtesy costs nothing to inform all his customers whoes property he is responsible for . Good luck and hope it all comes good in the end . Problem is you cannot put a price on all the stress and hassle .

 

[Stingray]

Phil - I have a mobile number for him. And it seems that he is having a rough time but not dealing with it well. He has our thunderbird too and I was also concerned. I have checked with the local network and the snap-on tools man has told us that he is a good man, but his landlord doubled rent and he had to move and now has our cars scattered around in storage which is costing him a fortune while he tries to find new premises. So it seems genuine, let me know if you want to speak or if you would like his mobile number.

There's often a difficult story behind these sorts of business wobbles. Hopefully a sensible outcome will emerge.

 

[phild]

I definitely don't owe any money and always paid promptly using his stage payment method, which is fully documented, and I think, according to his invoicing, that I am currently in credit.
I have repeatedly chased him by e mail, telephone and personal visits by the detective agency (we did trace his mobile number along with his home address) and he has ignored all attempts to contact him. My solicitor has sent him a letter demanding the return of my property which has also been ignored.

All I want is my property back as I have a very reputable Corvette specialist, club recommended, who will collect and complete any work required.

Simmons actions, or lack of, has forced me to go down the legal route to recover my property and so I have reported the theft to the Police and my insurers.

All I want is my car back after a ridiculous amount of time, having been sympathetic to his many hard luck stories, now I don't think that unreasonable. You'd think if he was having issues then he'd be glad to get one problem dealt with, but apparently not.

 

[Roscobbc]

The one thing that hasn't really been mentioned in all the 4 years the car has been away is that the owner, Phild has effectively been denied use of his vehicle.
Obviously one has to factor-in a reasonable amount of time for the garage to complete the restoration works, (say 9 month or a year -perhaps longer by mutual agreement), but bottom line is that the owner hasn't been able to use his car............OK, perhaps not so important if the owners personal finances are 'tight' and he is 'balancing' his 'pocket' over an extended period............but with many of us approaching our twilight years there could be a realistic chance of not being around or unable to enjoy use of the car when its finally finished and returned to the owner.

 

[Rich]

An email has been received as follows. I'd rather not publish contact details of the forum, so if anyone needs the details of the author, please email me..

Hello ,
I have been an instrument repairer for over 40 years and never needed to advertise my services .
One of my customers trading as CARS in Hailsham and formerly Uckfield appears to for whatever reason have for whatever reason gone off the radar leaving me with some Corvette instruments which I have repaired and were ready to dispatch back in April .
Despite extensive efforts I have been unable to contact John from cars and just thought you may have a member out there who might like to be reunited with their instruments.
Thanking you in anticipation .
Kind regards,

 

[Ben]

I've just caught up with this and realised who was the subject of the emails that Gary, the Sussex rep, has sent to local members.
I knew John many years ago when he was based at Pease Pottage, and used him for a couple of jobs. I considered him to be a decent person and he seemed honest. I suspect he's fallen on difficult times and although I fully understand your frustrations at how you've been treated, Phil (and I'm not condoning John's behaviour), on balance I'd be optimistic that everybody will get their cars back. Hope I'm right and it works out for you, Phil.

 

[phild]

I've just caught up with this and realised who was the subject of the emails that Gary, the Sussex rep, has sent to local members.
I knew John many years ago when he was based at Pease Pottage, and used him for a couple of jobs. I considered him to be a decent person and he seemed honest. I suspect he's fallen on difficult times and although I fully understand your frustrations at how you've been treated, Phil (and I'm not condoning John's behaviour), on balance I'd be optimistic that everybody will get their cars back. Hope I'm right and it works out for you, Phil.

Thanks Ben. As you say Simmons appeared to be a decent guy but after four and a half years of excuses and hard luck stories, to be fair Covid didn't help, I just wanted my car back. Had he allowed me to recover it then all would be well, too late now unfortunately.

 

[Roscobbc]

It's interesting how a number of people see traders and specialists in different ways and have totally differing experiences. I can mention it now as the business folded a few years ago. Dart Corvette (who had been praised by many) - a buddy and one of our local CCCUK members had his C3 in with Dart some 15, perhaps 20 years ago for some engine mod's ( aftermarket heads, cam and such).......the actual mechanical work was fine, (he still has the car now) but the job dragged-on (as can happen). The car had been with them for a significant number of months but unknown to the buddy (until he went to inspect the car and presumably make a stage payment) was that it had been kept in an open yard through the winter months. The buddy was horrified to find that his once immaculate car had the footwells filled with a couple of inches of water, seats and much of the interior covered with green moss/mould with all the underhood chrome dress-up bits having gone red rusty!..........obviously here in this situation he was able to 'act' - which he did with a trailor and a number of people, forceably took possession of his own property.

 

[Nassau65]

I used Dart a few times and found them fine. Never actually left a car there very long less than a week in fact. Reading your post Mr Roscobbc I now consider myself lucky.
Businesses do fold/go under for all different reasons, in this case the owner should have contacted the cars owners and asked them to collect their vehicles. After all, they do not belong to him. He chose not do do that, had the vehicles removed at his expense, and is hopefully storing them at a secure location but has not informed the owners where they are. Sounds a little underhanded to me.

 

[Roscobbc]

I used Dart a few times and found them fine. Never actually left a car there very long less than a week in fact. Reading your post Mr Roscobbc I now consider myself lucky.
Businesses do fold/go under for all different reasons, in this case the owner should have contacted the cars owners and asked them to collect their vehicles. After all, they do not belong to him. He chose not do do that, had the vehicles removed at his expense, and is hopefully storing them at a secure location but has not informed the owners where they are. Sounds a little underhanded to me.

I had a strange experience with them myself a good few years earlier.......went to look at a black '72 (I think) 454 auto. It was a little tatty but within my (then) limited budget. It had a later 75/76, whatever front end on it......a fairly common thing back then, either to make the car look newer or a less expensive way of repairing a frontal impact (probably both). Anyway the car had headers, perhaps other tuning stuff and with its auto box it drove well. I went home to consult my piggy bank and after a day or so decided to go for it. Upon phoning and offering to buy at their asking price (can't remember how much) I was told they had driven the car the following day and the crankshaft had fractured and have to be replaced, not giving me an option to repair or perhaps offer at a lower figure. I considered myself well out of it - they probably sold it for more money.......