{"id":401458,"date":"2026-01-09T07:06:11","date_gmt":"2026-01-09T07:06:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/401458\/"},"modified":"2026-01-09T07:06:11","modified_gmt":"2026-01-09T07:06:11","slug":"zone-rv-director-accused-of-insolvent-trading-as-early-as-2023","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/401458\/","title":{"rendered":"Zone RV director accused of insolvent trading as early as 2023"},"content":{"rendered":"

Administrators for collapsed luxury caravan manufacturer Zone RV are threatening litigation against the company’s director, accusing him of running the business while it was insolvent.<\/p>\n

The Sunshine Coast-based company plunged into administration<\/a> on December 1 owing $42 million to hundreds of creditors, including nearly 200 customers<\/a>.<\/p>\n

A report to creditors released on Thursday night has revealed Zone RV was in financial trouble long before it entered administration.<\/p>\n

Zone RV was “likely” trading insolvent since September 2024, but “may have been insolvent” as early as August 2023, according to administrators Cor Cordis.<\/p>\n

Cor Cordis is planning to lodge a report with ASIC alleging Zone RV’s sole director David Biggar breached the Corporations Act.<\/p>\n

“It is likely the director also has failed to exercise reasonable care and due diligence and failed to act in good faith by continuing to trade whilst insolvent,” the report said.<\/p>\n

ASIC has been criticised by angry customers after revelations the watchdog refused to investigate a whistleblower complaint<\/a> against Zone RV.<\/p>\n

\"David<\/p>\n

David Biggar co-founded Zone RV and is a director of about 10 other companies. (Supplied: Youtube)<\/p>\n

Cor Cordis partner Kate Conneely said current and former officers of Zone RV “need to explain several transactions”.<\/p>\n

She said the next steps “may include public examinations or proceeding with litigation seeking compensation on behalf of the creditors”.<\/p>\n

If you know more about this story, contact Josh Dye at dye.josh@abc.net.au<\/a><\/p>\n

The report said the collapse was due to “poor financial management”, “risky expansion”, constant changes to management and periods without leadership in finance and operations, and depending on customer instalment payments to fund Zone RV’s operations.<\/p>\n

Cor Cordis recommends winding up and liquidating the company, estimating up to $21 million could be claimed against the director for insolvent trading.<\/p>\n

Genesis of a collapse<\/p>\n

Zone RV experienced “rapid growth” after the pandemic, growing its annual revenue to $90 million and employing 281 people who produced 12 caravans a week before the company collapsed.<\/p>\n

Zone RV customers will not receive caravans<\/a><\/p>\n

About 140 customers of Zone RV have been told they will not be receiving their caravans after the company collapsed.<\/p>\n

However, workforce attrition was high and rising inflation meant cost increases outstripped the price customers were paying, the report said.<\/p>\n

Zone RV failed to turn a profit since at least 2021, racking up $19.6 million in total losses until its collapse.<\/p>\n

Cor Cordis blamed the bulk of the losses on One Composites, a division of Zone RV which manufactured the caravan panels.<\/p>\n

The company relied heavily on new customer deposits to fund its ongoing operations, the report said.<\/p>\n

When administrators were appointed there were 186 future customer orders with $20.3 million paid in advance.<\/p>\n

Zone RV’s contracts stipulated a 5 per cent initial deposit followed by two progress payments and a final 20 per cent due on completion.<\/p>\n

\"upset<\/p>\n

Ray and Barb Davidson were among the customers affected, making their final payment hours before Zone RV collapsed. (ABC Sunshine Coast: Dylan Morris)<\/p>\n

While dozens of caravans have been delivered during the administration period, 148 customers who paid about $15 million stand to lose everything.<\/p>\n

Loan agreement probed<\/p>\n

The report said Mr Biggar unsuccessfully approached existing lenders and other investors to secure extra funding before Zone RV collapsed.<\/p>\n

Cor Cordis noted Mr Biggar signed a loan agreement in December 2024 to provide Zone RV up to $10 million.<\/p>\n

Despite the company’s struggles, only $2 million was advanced in mid-June 2025, and Zone RV repaid about half of that to Mr Biggar several weeks before the company collapsed.<\/p>\n

Furious caravan customers slam ASIC<\/a><\/p>\n

Anger is growing after the corporate watchdog failed to investigate allegations against Zone RV.<\/p>\n

“This brings into question whether the director could provide up to $10 million in funding,” the report said.<\/p>\n

Cor Cordis is investigating whether Mr Biggar “may have acted dishonestly with respect to representations made to external auditors” in relation to the loan.<\/p>\n

Zone RV’s relationship with several major suppliers deteriorated from 2024 after some stopped supplying parts due to unpaid invoices.<\/p>\n

In response the company resorted to engaging new suppliers.<\/p>\n

Zone RV owed about $1 million to the ATO and was “effectively using unpaid tax obligations as another source of funding its working capital requirements”.<\/p>\n

Mr Biggar remained employed through the administration process but was let go on Thursday.<\/p>\n

He did not respond to the ABC’s requests for comment.<\/p>\n

Allegations not criminal: expert<\/p>\n

Insolvency expert Michael Sloan said the report raised “serious allegations” but the alleged misconduct was not criminal in nature.<\/p>\n

“The liquidator has a muscular armoury of powers to pursue the directors and provided that there are potential funds to recover \u2014 which may well not be the case \u2014 then the liquidators should pursue those claims for the unpaid customers and other creditors,” he said.<\/p>\n

“This is a job for the liquidators, not ASIC.”<\/p>\n

Multiple parties have made offers to buy parts of Zone RV, but it is unclear whether customers would get anything from a potential sale.<\/p>\n

A meeting will be held next week where Zone RV creditors will decide on the company’s future.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Administrators for collapsed luxury caravan manufacturer Zone RV are threatening litigation against the company’s director, accusing him of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":322434,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[213449,64,63,213447,99,181484,182027,213448,181487,181482,180508,213450,213446],"class_list":{"0":"post-401458","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-business","8":"tag-asic-inaction","9":"tag-au","10":"tag-australia","11":"tag-australia-off-road-caravans","12":"tag-business","13":"tag-caravan-industry","14":"tag-cor-cordis","15":"tag-dave-biggar-zone-rv","16":"tag-david-biggar","17":"tag-zone-rv","18":"tag-zone-rv-administration","19":"tag-zone-rv-asic","20":"tag-zone-rv-liquidation"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/401458","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=401458"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/401458\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/322434"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=401458"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=401458"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=401458"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}