1Car1 Goes into administration - Car Rental News

3/20/2009

A major car and van hire company is going into administration and hundreds of jobs are now at risk.
The Leeds based UK car hire company 1car1 is the latest firm to suffer from the global market meltdown.
So far 200 staff have been made redundant and there could be more job losses among the 800 people employed by 1car1 across Britain, Scotland and Wales at almost 90 different car hire locations.

1Car1 is a division of Contract Hire & Leasing Ltd and is now being administered by one of the world’s largest accountancy firms, PricewaterhouseCoopers

A PricewaterhouseCoopers spokesman said: “1car1 has sadly become reliant on levels of funding which are unsustainable in the current credit climate."
"1car1 has grown very rapidly over the last five years but since the onset of the downturn the company has experienced a tightening of its available credit.
"This has meant that the replenishment of the vehicle fleet has been difficult to fulfil.
"Clearly it is disappointing to have to make a big number of redundancies. My team and I will be doing all we can to help these employees at this difficult time."

A buyer is being sought for the company which has a 15,000 car fleet and will probably stop trading in a few weeks.
1car 1 worker Gary Shields said: "We were told we were going into administration and they might not be able to pay us."
"We are all just waiting to see what happens, but obviously it doesn't look good. Apparently two banks had a change in lending policy and that has affected the business.
"I'm in shock as are my colleagues. The company was a profitable business and doing well. It is a real shame.
"With two million unemployed and about 10 people going for every job it doesn't look good."