Tuesday 27th October 2009

P1 Supercar Club Relaunches

Company founder buys the business back from administrators

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As British bank bonuses bounce back into the headlines, it's perhaps not a surprise to hear the P1 supercar club is planning a come-back as well.

The supercar 'time-share' club ran into difficulties earlier this year, but according to a report by Car, its founder Michael Breen is planning to relaunch P1 before the end of the year.

Apparently, in spite of falling into administration when the banks called in loans on its fancy fleet, P1 managed to retain 50 or so of the 240 members it had in the boom years throughout this difficult period. According to the report, Breen has bought P1 back from the administrators and is hoping to claw some of its former business back with plans to bring in the latest supercars including the Ferrari 458 Italia, Merc SLS and the McLaren 12C if they can.

There are three levels of annual membership available, ranging from £9,250 to £14,250 - each attracting different levels of 'tier points' that can be exchanged for time in the supercar of your choice. Former members who lost money earlier in the year will have all their tier points reinstated if they rejoin, we're told.

 

[Belfast Boy]

Interesting! The price of a Family car per year for membership, sorry out classed on this one!

[mustard tab]

or from another point of view, 6 months depreciation on some of the vehicles, still puts it out of reach me though

[SLacKer]

It's pretty easy to buy cars and setup the company again (given you have a few bob).

The trick will be to regain the confidence of people in the P1 brand so they join back up.

[where's my cash!]

If at first you don't succeed,
P1 tried recruiting former members just after the collapse.
I think all the decent staff have gone over to P1's competitors now.
May be P1 should try looking for members in the dishwasher....along with all the other mugs.

[Two Stallions]

What happened to all the old members membership fees, and annual subscriptions?



If you have an hour or so to spare: http://snipurl.com/stnxf

Edited by Two Stallions on Tuesday 27th October 13:54

[whythem]

I think these clubs are a cracking idea for those that can afford the yearly subs from thier toy fund. It looks that with the Merc, he is going for the supercar/Hypercar market, which is where Rio Prestige operate with the Veyron etc. I think this is where the profit is. Because the biggeest cost these companys will face is insurance. If all the cars are groupe 20+ then the insurance difference between a car costing 500k and one costing a million will be much closer than one would think. Therefore making the hypercars the much more profitable bet.

My idea would be to buy a 10 cr transporter, put 10 different LHD supercars on it, and then offer weekly tours starting and ending in different european countries throughout the season. Since the cars would not be in one EU countrie longer than any 6 mnth period, I bet theres all sorts of games to be played on the taxation front.

[ScoobieWRX]

I was going to ask the same question. Are any of the members that lost money with P1 first time around going to get their money back, or perhaps even 1 year free membership as compensation??

Nope...I thought not!! I don't think even fools easily parted from their money will be joining the queue a second time around.

What a truly dire economic time it is to restart something like this that's already failed miserably in better times, and taken peoples hard earned and P1 SSED it up the wall.

I hope people aren't stupid enough to give them another bite of the cherry.

TO55ER5!!

[The Wookie]

Don't get me wong, but the people running P1 aren't thieves, they're quite possibly decent people who failed to keep a company afloat during a difficult time.

It's by nature a business that relies on both solid residual values of their fleet and finance to fund purchasing. Both of those virtually disappeared overnight with the recession, along with their client base. Yes people lost money, but it's no different to any other business that has hit the rocks and it doesn't make them evil or dishonest. I certainly don't think they deserve some of the vitriolic comments they're receiving.

I'm not a legal or financial expert, but if they're looking to restore points to returning members, then it sounds like they're doing more than they're legally obliged?

[Two Stallions]

I wouldn't give any of the car clubs my membership or annual subs. My cars are mine, and can be used when I want to, and I don't have to travel 100 miles to pick them up. Yes, they need to be serviced and insured, but they are in my control.

Will the new all singing and dancing P1 go the same way P1/Seagrave/Group 20/Amante9 went?

[Horse_Apple]

My understanding is that these businesses ran on finance.

Secondly, many of them concentrated solely on the City market. People with disposable income, living in the heart of the City and occasionally needing a fun car for a run out of London midweek or over a weekend.

When the banking crisis hit I suspect that renewals became a little lean and the banks rushed to pull funding while there was a chance of getting money back, hence leaving the business stranded.

It is entirely conceivable that nothing was their fault. Squeezed on the revenue side almost overnight and then funding pulled would implode nearly any business relying on leverage to operate. It also wouldn’t leave the operation with any funds to manage client expectations.

I don’t know what reputation this firm had but assuming it was fair then I don’t see any reason for negative comments on them trying to re-launch.

[Stratman1]

Lots to be said for these clubs: they will deliver to your door and pick up (so you don't need to travel anywhere); they store, maintain and look after the cars; and they can take the depreciation.

I can confirm the latter point because, having umm'd and ahhh'd about joining one for a year, I wound up buying what turned out to be one of the P1 fleet that they'd offloaded when in trouble. Was high mileage for only a year old, but put the car into my budget, saved me a fortune and, with two years' manuafacturer warranty left, I was prepared to risk it blowing up due to previous thrashing by P1 members.

So on the one hand there are advantages to these clubs per se; and on the other you can pick up a bargain if like me you prefer to own your own toy and they are hit by recession. (I was also swayed by the fact that i'd have needed a daily / shopping car if joining one of those clubs - you never get enough points to have one every weekend for the year so you need a runaround as well).

[Beefmeister]

Can't see many people joining up with them again, too many have been burnt.

And as for the 'ooh look, we've got 458 Italia, SLS and Macca on order' - yes you have them on order - so do ecurie25. But ecurie25 can afford to buy them.

I seem to remember 'new' P1 could ony buy new cars if they got enough members...

Cheers,

Beefmeister (ecurie25 member for 4yrs)

[escargot]

I'll be watching this one with interest. How's GP1 doing these days?

[where's my cash!]

escargot said:

I'll be watching this one with interest. How's GP1 doing these days?

Not too bad I suspect if they've taken on some original P1 staff.
These clubs are fun and give you a whole raft of driving pleasure.
Whilst many of you are saying P1 was a victim of circumstance,
P1 still took membership money right up until the court case,
knowing full well that it was gonna go wonky.

IMPORTANT ADVICE
Please. Please. Please, pay your membership to any club with a Mastercard.
2% on top of any level of membership is nothing if the club folds.
You will get renumerated, if you're a regular the club should waive a card fee.

Edited by where's my cash! on Tuesday 27th October 16:46

[J111]

breathe

Broken business model? Why not give it another go while all the conditions that broke the model still obtain?

Beefmeister said:

ecurie25 can afford to buy them.

You hope.

[waremark]

Another critical success factor is new cars coming on stream. I knew a couple of P1 members who had dropped out before the credit crunch hit, saying they would probably go back when there was a raft of new cars. I can see quite a few people rejoining for the 458, the Maclaren and the SLS.

If you don't want to put your money at risk, they will probably offer monthly memberships (Ecure 25 do).

Does anyone know why Ecurie 25 managed to survive the credit crunch? Is there a backer with deep pockets?

[spice]

ecurie 25 did they not get into trouble as well ? P1 went into admin as Damin hill's loans were defaulted, Looking at there accounts they never ever made a profit even during the so called good times. You would see a better return out of Madoff than these car clubs

[LukeBird]

Interesting, can't see many people running back to them...!

[where's my cash!]

waremark said:

Another critical success factor is new cars coming on stream. I knew a couple of P1 members who had dropped out before the credit crunch hit, saying they would probably go back when there was a raft of new cars. I can see quite a few people rejoining for the 458, the Maclaren and the SLS.
D

That's a lot of membership money for those 3 cars.
I suppose the 912 quid left from the old firm might buy some polish!

[oap750]

IMPORTANT ADVICE
Please. Please. Please, pay your membership to any club with a Mastercard.
2% on top of any level of membership is nothing if the club folds.
You will get renumerated, if you're a regular the club should waive a card fee.

I wish I had paid with my Mastercard when the Manchester/Birmingham Classic Car Club went bust!