[Closed] How do I check a company out please?

Google companies house webcheck.

Thanks, I tried that already but no success, so I did'nt know if I was doing it right or there was no info and I should be wary.

What do you mean by "check a company's details". What do you want to know?

This is the official place

https://beta.companieshouse.gov.uk/

You can see details of the directors, registered address, previous accounts - its all free.

If its not there it's not an "real" company, but you must make sure you get the name exactly right, or use the company number instead.

Well, call me paranoid, but in this day and age I just wanted to check if all was above board and not some sort of fly by night, take my money and dissapear type thing.

 I just wanted to check if all was above board and not some sort of fly by night, take my money and dissapear type thing.

And what information would tell you that?

If it's a Limited Company it'll be on Companies House

https://beta.companieshouse.gov.uk/

If you can't find it then it's likely to be a sole trader or partnership.

companies house will tell you how long they've existed, who directors are, and also you can see if the directors seem legit or have set up and dissolved 5 companies with almost identical sounding names in the last 3 years......

Depending on size of company you can also see some financial info.

From Co-Hse

You can get some details about a company for free, including:

• company information, for example registered address and date of incorporation

• current and resigned officers

• document images

• mortgage charge data

• previous company names

• insolvency information

No idea, have'nt you ever done any homework before a potential big spend purchase?

I followed that link thanks, but still no joy.

I'm guessing it must be sole trader then or partnership, cos no info showing.

Should that be reason to scare me off a car dealer?

I had a bit of a dig for you, I used to do a bit of anti-fraud for RBS, but I only have public domain info now.

I've a few concerns, but they're only circumstantial.

They continually refer to themselves as a 'company' and 'registered in England and Wales' but there's no company number or owners names and whilst there's a few companies registered to the same post code they're not in the motor trade. But there's no requirement to do any of that, more than most companies registered address is their accountants, or even a post-box.

Contact details are limited to a yahoo e-mail address, a 'contact us' form that goes lord knows where and a couple of mobile numbers.

Viewings are by appointment only - okay, there's an excellent used Porsche dealer that works like that, but for the most part it's someone doing a bit of trading on the side of another job.

If I were still working in finance and I was asked to lend a lot of money for a vehicle supplied by them I'd have to say no subject to a few conditions, names some sort of background of the business, and more than likely I'd want someone to lay eyes on both the business and the car they're supplying, but again that wasn't unusual and I only financed really fancy cars for £50k+ not because I was some kid of car bore/snob, that's just what my job was.

I suspect that either, they don't want people coming back when it goes wrong, or it's a part-time gig for someone who may be in a partnership, which is very odd for the motor trade, given the sums involved, most traders want to separate themselves from their business.

If it's not showing up on that website, then "BMC specialist cars" is probably just an individual's trading name - and there's no way of finding out much background info, other than google searches (or a private investigator).

If it’s not showing up on that website, then “BMC specialist cars” is probably just an individual’s trading name – and there’s no way of finding out much background info, other than google searches (or a private investigator).

Or it could be "Bobs Bits Ltd t/a BMC Specialist Cars" registered at a registered office 20 miles away, or in the Caymans.

Oh BTW, it's usually easier to search for directors rather than companies.

Ok, that'll do for me thanks. I'll give it a miss and keep looking. P-Jay, many thanks for that, thats the kind of thing I was after.

Viewings are by appointment only – okay, there’s an excellent used Porsche dealer that works like that, but for the most part it’s someone doing a bit of trading on the side of another job.

He doesn't have proper premises so needs time to move his stock about for viewing.

it’s usually easier to search for directors rather than companies

and will give you a far better idea of the sort of people you'll be dealing with.

http://vat-search.co.uk/

and

http://ec.europa.eu/taxation_customs/vies/

might help double check, but I think you've answered your question already.

 there’s no way of finding out much background info, other than google searches (or a private investigator).

Yes. Those are definitely the only two options available. Absolutely.

😐

I knew I'd find something!

If you look on FB there's a slightly wingey post about people not turning up for appointments - original post is by BMC singed 'Tom' - someone replies and 'Tom Richardson' thanks them.

Tom Richardson is a Director of 'Bristol Motor Company Ltd' which is a different business, or at least on the face of it is, but is linked by owner / director and of course fits in with 'BMC specialist cars' name.

To me, BMC looks like somewhere they sell trade-ins, odd bods, fancy transporters and exotics. The sort of stuff a mainstream dealer won't touch.

Way they're gone to such lengths to hide the link between the two I don't know - nefarious or practical I don't know - I don't know much about Bristol Motor Company, they spend a bit on SEO I know that. Maybe it's just because we started from a view point of looking for problems, but I don't get a good vibe from them.

P-Jay, many thanks again. Back to searching for me.

for the most part it’s someone doing a bit of trading on the side of another job.
...
it’s a part-time gig for someone who may be in a partnership

I've looked at Google Maps, their website and their FB page, and it looks like you're on the money here.  The premises is down a little country road in the middle of nowhere (no street view) and isn't listed on Maps as a business.  The satellite view shows what looks to be a large private residence with a bit of land, and photos of cars on FB back this up.

The domain was registered 18 months ago, which potentially rules out a scammer but wouldn't instil confidence in me that this was a well-established business.

Way they’re gone to such lengths to hide the link between the two I don’t know – nefarious or practical I don’t know – I don’t know much about Bristol Motor Company

Well spotted.

I can't find much about this "BMC" other than on Companies House, though there are a few soundalikes (eg, "South Bristol Motor Company").  They are on Yelp though - Yelp lists them as closed.

If you look at BMC LTD’s filing history in companies house there’s a recent entry saying “ Compulsory strike-off action has been discontinued”

The website BristolMotorCompany.co.uk, which was registered around the same time as the LTD co was, doesn’t work.

South Bristol Motor Company (as mentioned above) operates at the same address that BMC LTD registered at until a couple of years ago.

I have no idea what any of this means, but it’s fun playing detective 🙂

Searching those mobile numbers there is one advert pointing towards a company called mcrspecialistcars instead.

Yeah, but there's a whole bunch of 5* reviews on their website, so they must be good! 😆

Just watched his video of the Aston DB9.

He doesn't even sound like he's from Brizzle 😜

If they're trading as a limited company they should have their company number on their website:

https://www.gov.uk/running-a-limited-company/signs-stationery-and-promotional-material

The fact that they claim to be "registered in England and Wales" but don't give their actual company name, let alone number, would make me pretty suspicious.

Even if registered, anyone can register a company with a few quid and virtually no effort and no checks.

  ‘registered in England and Wales’ but there’s no company number

That would be enough right there to have me looking elsewhere.

How about making an account on pistonheads.com and asking if anyone's used them? They're a friendly bunch over there and the kind of target audience BMC seems to be punting at. You might get feedback from a past customer.

Thanks to GDPR, you can't even find out who owns the domain name, but this isn't exactly a good sign:

Data validation:
Nominet was not able to match the registrant's name and/or address against a 3rd party source on 16-Nov-2016

Found what has been mentioned above and the below.

https://fishponds.cylex-uk.co.uk/company/bristol-motor-co-15746516.html

As it's 'only' a car, I'd move on and not give this any more time.

http://www.eclipsesouthwest.co.uk/

Also registered at the same address.

A bit odd although could be a holding address for small companies.

Either way, running shoes.

Just got in from work. Massive thanks to all who did a bit of detective work on my behalf, and just to let you know, I've knocked them on the head and am looking elsewhere now.

Cheers

Phil

Thanks to GDPR, you can’t even find out who owns the domain name

In fairness the only difference now is that honest people who dont want spamming dont have to pay to hide their details and dishonest people either dont have to pay or dont have to just make the details up.

In fairness the only difference now is that honest people who dont want spamming dont have to pay to hide their details and dishonest people either dont have to pay or dont have to just make the details up.

No.  For UK domains, businesses were not allowed to hide their details from whois, and Nominet took at least some steps to verify that they were accurate.  Individuals were always entitled to free whois opt-out on UK domains.

It's a roadside car trader, you are better off buying private, don't be fooled by the website, that is autotrader

Trustpilot is good too. More for customer reviews but all good info