Steyr dealers continue compensation battle
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• The row between Steyr and some of its former UK dealers over compensation for loss of business shows little sign of ending.
Most distributors have agreed compensation payments with Steyr, but others have been angered by offers which, they say, amount to only 25% of what they spent setting up their franchises. Few of the dealers will disclose figures, but
dealer association chairman Mike Hanson says Steyr is ignoring his advice that it should be "seen to be generous" in negotiations with distributors.
"We hoped Steyr would meet us somewhere in the middle. They have not done that," says Hanson, boss of Blackburn-based Hanson Trucks. He says that those dealers which have accepted payments have done so grudgingly because they just want to put the Steyr situation behind them and concentrate on new activities.
Former Steyr dealer Magna Trucks of Bury St Edmunds claimed 289,000 but settled for 240,000. "It was impossible to put a figure on it we could have asked for 2189,000," says director Tony Ruffles.
Other distributors which have agreed terms with Steyr include Cohn Hutton of Glasgow and Alba Trucks of Dundee. Steyr's 17 dealers lost their franchises when the UK operation closed late last year.
Steyr's UK managing director Cliff Groves, who is winding up the business, will only say: "This is a matter between ourselves and our dealers."