Dealers who have been following developments in the High Court case of Mackie Motors (Brechin) Ltd -v- Renault UK Ltd, Nissan Motor (GB) Ltd and RCI Financial Services Ltd will be interested to note that Kevin Mackie has won the latest round of his legal battle.
For those of you who are unfamiliar with the case, Mackie Motors (Brechin) Ltd. is a long-standing Scottish automotive dealership company, historically known for operating multi-brand car franchises in Brechin and Arbroath, including Renault (1976), Nissan (1998) and Dacia (2011) and RCI, who has been the financial services provider for Renault, Nissan and Dacia from around 2011.
In late 2021, RCI became concerned that Mackie Motors was engaged in money laundering and filed a suspicious activity report with the National Crime Agency (NCA) on 23 November 2021. It was not. The ultimate result of this was that Mackie Motors’ access to the Renault, Nissan and Dacia “Information Systems” was withdrawn resulting in a catastrophic failure of the business’ ability to trade.
As a result of the sudden withdrawal of all services, Mackie Motors was required to sell its sites in February 2022 at a significant undervalue. Mackie Motors’ therefore decided to pursue legal action for the losses sustained. The initial claims were handled by law firm Freeths LLP who, in response to the termination, issued proceedings against RCI in the Competition List of the Business & Property Courts in Leeds. Unfortunately for Mackie Motors, the arguments were struck out in their entirety without hearing by both the High Court and the Court of Appeal as having no prospect of success.
Mackie Motors subsequently instructed MILS where the MILS legal team, headed by Senior Counsel, Mr Christopher Baylis (Barrister), and Professor Henry Blair (Barrister) immediately re-pleaded the case in its entirety and raised a number of new legal and factual arguments that had not been previously addressed by Freeths.
As a result of MILS’ work on Monday 17th August 2026, the High Court of Justice Commercial Court Judge handed down a judgment allowing the new case to continue to trial.
In this new development, Renault UK, Nissan Motor (GB) and RCI Financial Services asked the Court for permission to appeal this decision but were unsuccessful.
In Conclusion,
Whilst Renault UK, Nissan Motor (GB) and RCI Financial Services still have options available to try and avoid a hearing in this case, these options are narrowing. It is looking increasingly likely that Mackie Motors get its day in Court and that Renault, Nissan and RCI will all have to explain their actions.
Motor Industry Legal Services
Motor Industry Legal Services provides fully comprehensive legal advice and representation to UK motor retailers for one annual fee. It is the only regulated law firm in the UK which specialises in motor law and motor trade law. MILS currently advises over 1,000 individual businesses within the sector as well as the Retail Motor Industry Federation (RMI) and its members.