Between the manufacturer agreement, the finance house and the customer, I am not sure which contract governs a bad sale.
Automotive businesses sit between several counterparties with very different bargaining power: manufacturers, finance providers, fleet customers and consumers. We own the contract layer across all of them, and the disputes that arrive when a vehicle, a warranty or a payment goes wrong.
Dinmore Bell acts as the outsourced General Counsel for automotive businesses: dealer and franchise agreements, fleet and lease contracts, warranty and service terms, supplier arrangements and the disputes arising from them. It is a retained function on a fixed monthly fee.
How we own it
The manufacturer agreement, read properly
Dealer and franchise agreements are drafted for the manufacturer and rarely negotiated. They are still worth reading closely: the termination provisions, the standards regime and the post-termination obligations decide what your business is worth on the day it ends.
Fleet and lease terms that price the risk
Condition standards, excess mileage, maintenance obligations and end-of-contract charges are where fleet contracts are won and lost. We write them so the expected argument at return is one you have already answered.
Warranty, defect and the awkward vehicle
A clear position on rejection, repair and replacement, and a process for the small number of vehicles that generate most of the cost — so the decision is made on the facts rather than on how loud the customer is.
Where specialists come in
We do not conduct regulated consumer credit or insurance mediation activities, and we do not advise on FCA authorisation or permissions — those are matters for appropriately authorised advisers, whom we instruct and coordinate. Trading Standards enforcement, prosecutions and any matter before a court are conducted by regulated specialists. We hold the budget and remain accountable for the commercial outcome.
Services we run here
- Can you help with a manufacturer terminating our franchise?
- Yes, and early is materially better than late. The notice provisions, the standards correspondence and what has been said in review meetings all matter, and the file is usually built long before anybody calls it a dispute.
- Do you deal with finance and insurance products?
- We deal with the commercial contracts around them. Anything requiring FCA authorisation — arranging credit, insurance mediation, the permissions themselves — is handled by authorised advisers whom we instruct.