Australian 4wd Hire liquidation

Submitted: Sunday, Feb 09, 2020 at 10:19
ThreadID: 139659 Views:11796 Replies:8 FollowUps:18
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This shonky company, mentioned on here before, has now gone into liquidation leaving customers with no way to get their bond money back.

https://mobile.abc.net.au/news/2020-02-09/australian-4wd-hire-company-liquidation-customers-owed-thousands/11934270


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Reply By: Member - Boobook - Sunday, Feb 09, 2020 at 10:54

Sunday, Feb 09, 2020 at 10:54
Never ending story.

Lucky the ACCC is on the ball---not!
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Reply By: Ron N - Sunday, Feb 09, 2020 at 12:07

Sunday, Feb 09, 2020 at 12:07
Just watch out - this pair are quite likely to surface again, with some other dodgy business operation.

Leopards never change their spots. The best thing to stop these people in their tracks, is constantly revealing what they're up to, on social media and forums.

Cheers, Ron.
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Follow Up By: Member - Outback Gazz - Sunday, Feb 09, 2020 at 12:14

Sunday, Feb 09, 2020 at 12:14
There are numerous possibilities for them in politics lol
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Follow Up By: Member - McLaren3030 - Monday, Feb 10, 2020 at 08:18

Monday, Feb 10, 2020 at 08:18
Just as long as what you post is factual & and first hand knowledge, otherwise you could find yourself in court like someone else from a citrus page. LOL.

Macca,
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Follow Up By: Member - rocco2010 - Monday, Feb 10, 2020 at 11:48

Monday, Feb 10, 2020 at 11:48
Yes Macca. If I recall correctly the previous owner’s first response to any criticism of his company was a legal threat.

Saw a few of these vehicles when travelling in the Kimberley last year and knowing some of the background always thought “good luck” when they passed.

Cheers.
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Follow Up By: mountainman - Monday, Feb 10, 2020 at 20:58

Monday, Feb 10, 2020 at 20:58
Nothing like something "brudder " ing
In the background
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Reply By: Michael ( Moss Vale NSW) - Sunday, Feb 09, 2020 at 12:40

Sunday, Feb 09, 2020 at 12:40
It looks like the previous owner will be pursued by the ACCC through the courts which is good news but the new owner would be crazy to keep the business name with all the bad press over the years and most of it is probably available online with a few clicks. Michael
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Follow Up By: Candace S. - Saturday, Feb 15, 2020 at 12:21

Saturday, Feb 15, 2020 at 12:21
Looks like the new owners are quite "shady" themselves! They didn't even provide a valid address for their "business."
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Reply By: swampy - Sunday, Feb 09, 2020 at 18:33

Sunday, Feb 09, 2020 at 18:33
Hi
ACCC = useless
So PC these days just imagine what would of happened in the 60`s =solved .
Just another immigrant success !!! Back ground checks are f...n useless .
A few less than desirable elements in society hire a vehicle =problem solved and vanishes at the same time LOL
Gold Coast based Hmmmmmmm, makes u wonder .. Not far to go for a remedy.
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Follow Up By: Michael ( Moss Vale NSW) - Sunday, Feb 09, 2020 at 19:18

Sunday, Feb 09, 2020 at 19:18
To be fair, the ACCC is more to do with regulation nationally.
Fair trading in the various states and territories should have pounced long ago.
Michael
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Reply By: noggins - Sunday, Feb 09, 2020 at 22:07

Sunday, Feb 09, 2020 at 22:07
If you still had one of their units move it from a known address and they don't get it back till you get your bond back
Money first then the address where to get their 4WD
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Follow Up By: Member - McLaren3030 - Monday, Feb 10, 2020 at 08:21

Monday, Feb 10, 2020 at 08:21
If you did that, you might find yourself on a charge of stealing the motor vehicle. You would be just as guilty as they are. Two wrongs do not make a right.

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Follow Up By: Member - Bigfish - Monday, Feb 10, 2020 at 20:57

Monday, Feb 10, 2020 at 20:57
Two wrongs dont make it right....yet many wrongs make you a lot of money. I,d take a punt and tell them that when I bring the vehicle in I want the bond money on the spot before I hand the keys back.. A visit with a baseball bat can be effective as well. Hope the bastards catch the pox and suffer. They owe hun dreds of thousands and are as dodgy as a three dollar note..
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Follow Up By: OzzieCruiser - Tuesday, Feb 11, 2020 at 19:12

Tuesday, Feb 11, 2020 at 19:12
Not at all - no different to towing companies locking up your vehicle for parking in certain parking zones - it is a corporate issue so police do not get involved.
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Follow Up By: Candace S. - Saturday, Feb 15, 2020 at 12:07

Saturday, Feb 15, 2020 at 12:07
I'd wager the company has GPS trackers on the vehicles.
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Follow Up By: Michael H9 - Saturday, Feb 15, 2020 at 20:25

Saturday, Feb 15, 2020 at 20:25
They do, that's how they were charging customers extra money because the gps reported them driving too fast on dirt roads. The limit they were allowed was 60kph from memory. It was a rort of the highest order. That Israeli tourist who posted about it on here ended up with something like a $7k penalty deducted straight from his/her credit card.
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Reply By: Peter_n_Margaret - Monday, Feb 10, 2020 at 10:52

Monday, Feb 10, 2020 at 10:52
Steady on folks. There has been no conviction YET.
Cheers,
Peter
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Follow Up By: Member - 2208mate - Monday, Feb 10, 2020 at 10:59

Monday, Feb 10, 2020 at 10:59
Haha, that sounds like something an ex barrister would say... quite a long way removed from a mauled consumer..
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Follow Up By: Member - shane r1 - Monday, Feb 10, 2020 at 12:52

Monday, Feb 10, 2020 at 12:52
Peter,
You’re right, too much trial by social media, and the media for that matter. These days.
Cheers
Shane

Ps: there was a lot of that companies vehicles out there.
I’m not doubting they are probably shonky, but must have been a lot of customers that got on ok too!
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Follow Up By: Ron N - Tuesday, Feb 11, 2020 at 00:23

Tuesday, Feb 11, 2020 at 00:23
Shane, it's a little more than "trial by social media". This couples behaviour towards their clients has been nothing short of outrageous, unethical, and in contravention of many business trading laws and regulations.

As soon as ACCC took them to court, they claimed they had destroyed documents the court was requesting under subpoena.
They then sold the business to two other people, then put the original parent company into liquidation.

There's a lot of explaining to be done by Roesch and Kosukhina as to where the monies from the sale and the hirers bonds have gone.

7 News - 4WD Hire company in court over documents

Comcourts records

Roesch was also handed a six-figure tax bill in 2014, despite claiming he only earnt $7382 for the year.
He has been linked to Russian Mafia and a credit-card skimming scheme.
He deserves to be deported, IMO - we can do without immigrants like him, in Australia.

Roesch handed 6-figure tax bill (2014)

He has also been in court, charged with wife-bashing. He was convicted, but managed to escape any jail penalty for that, because the sentence was suspended.

Russian businessman escapes jail time for assaulting wife

Tim Nicholls MP - Parliamentary speech regarding Roesch and Australian 4WD Hire

Cheers, Ron.
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Follow Up By: Bushranger1 - Tuesday, Feb 11, 2020 at 05:59

Tuesday, Feb 11, 2020 at 05:59
G'day Ron,
I can't understand how people were still using this company until so recently.
Reference to the companies unethical behaviour has been out there for quite a while now & a simple internet search should have rung alarm bells. I certainly warned some overseas visitors to be careful with who they rented from.

Cheers
Stu
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Follow Up By: nzjourneyman - Sunday, Mar 08, 2020 at 01:55

Sunday, Mar 08, 2020 at 01:55
It's quite simple, if you're from outta town you have no idea what is going on locally. This is especially true if you want to go on the more "exotic" tracks due to less choice. Last year I hired a vehicle to drive across the Simpson (thanks Britz, you did us proud! Who would have thought?) and initially we started down the road of hiring with Oz 4WD. It was only sometime after I started asking questions on this forum that I realised what we were about to let ourselves in for and looked for other companies.
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Reply By: HKB Electronics - Tuesday, Feb 11, 2020 at 11:57

Tuesday, Feb 11, 2020 at 11:57
Reality will be they will walk away relatively unscaved.

The law is there to protect the wealthy from the mobs, time and time again companies fold and it is the average joe that gets let holding the bag.

Companies continue to take money knowing they are insolvent, they don't supply the goods or a refund. When they go belly up and the business gets wound up who gets first bite of any cherry left, other businesses, the taxman, the lawyers and administrators. If there's anything left it then goes mum and dad who have been effectively robbed.

ASIC was mentioned on the ABC last night, a US business man has been convicted of insider trading by the US courts with regards to an Australian company. ASIC was warned of breeches of Australian law and did nothing. What do they intend to do now, nothing again, stating there isn't enough evidence. US authorities thought there was more than enough.

Bottom line is the legal system and regulatory authorities protects the rich from the masses.

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Reply By: Ozi M - Friday, Mar 06, 2020 at 20:36

Friday, Mar 06, 2020 at 20:36
Posted without comment but this is a piece copied from Birgit Bradtke's latest newsletter

>Everybody else, please know that while the Australian 4WD Hire website is gone, the business still exists and is currently rebranding under the name Explore 4WD Hire.
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Follow Up By: Ron N - Sunday, Mar 08, 2020 at 11:19

Sunday, Mar 08, 2020 at 11:19
The ASIC website is down this weekend, for maintenance, so we can't look up the fine details as to the ownership of Explore 4WD Hire.

But what we do know, is that the new company was only registered on 20th Jan 2020, and it operates out of Melbourne.

The purchasers of Australian 4WD Hire may be innocent parties who have no relationship to the original owners of Australian 4WD Hire, and may have just purchased all the assets of Australian 4WD Hire from the liquidators.

But knowing how so many shonks operate, there's always a big potential for the new business owners or operators to have some relationship link to the former owners, which would make one very wary of dealing with the new company.

ABN lookup

Cheers, Ron.
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Follow Up By: Candace S. - Friday, Mar 13, 2020 at 14:04

Friday, Mar 13, 2020 at 14:04
Re Explore 4wd Hire, perhaps "a tiger cannot change its stripes."Check out the reviews on this page:

Explore 4wd Hire on Google

You might have to scroll down a little bit to see the Google reviews, depending upon how that page comes up for you.

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