O\u2019Reilly had always kept up with the interest on the loan, Dunajtschik told RNZ, however, he\u2019d subsequently taken what steps he could to protect himself financially.<\/p>\n
RNZ \/ Baz Macdonald<\/p>\n
\u201cI trusted him all those years like he was my son and I haven\u2019t given up faith in him,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Dunajtschik said he last heard from O\u2019Reilly about six months ago and believed he was now in Greece, but he wasn\u2019t going to chase him.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt doesn\u2019t make a difference to me, whether he is on the moon or in Greece … why should I spend my time trying to fathom out where he is? He\u2019s not here.\u201d<\/p>\n
Photo \/ RNZ<\/p>\n
O\u2019Reilly has not responded to RNZ\u2019s phone calls and messages, and a former employee at the car dealership declined to comment.<\/p>\n
No one answered the gate buzzer when RNZ visited O\u2019Reilly\u2019s Khandallah property on Thursday, but a neighbour said they\u2019d seen two moving trucks outside the home a week ago. Another neighbour said there had been packing up activity at night.<\/p>\n
The street\u2019s residents hadn\u2019t seen the family for a couple of weeks, but mentioned they had some \u201cnice\u201d looking cars.<\/p>\n
The dealership on Hutt Rd is currently up for lease and promoted by listing agent Bayleys as an \u201coutstanding opportunity to secure a high-profile showroom\u201d. When RNZ visited this week, the doors were closed and the car lot was empty.<\/p>\n
O\u2019Reilly\u2019s Garage \u2013 renowned for its high-end luxury cars \u2013 also bought and sold vehicles on consignment for Wellington\u2019s supercar-loving community.<\/p>\n
While the business\u2019s website remained live, zero cars were listed for sale. Its previously sold section boasted a range of vehicles, including a 1997 Aston Martin AMV8, 2022 Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 RS, and a 2010 Ferrari California.<\/p>\n
O\u2019Reilly\u2019s Garage also became a dealer for Foton \u2013 spruiking the Chinese-made ute on its Facebook page \u2013 but Foton NZ confirmed the dealership ended the arrangement recently.<\/p>\n
This week, the O\u2019Reilly\u2019s Garage Facebook page appeared to have been taken down.<\/p>\n
Well-known property investor and supercar enthusiast Steve Goodey, who said he\u2019d had dealings with O\u2019Reilly in the past, was less sanguine about the developments and the position in which Dunajtschik found himself.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn Wellington, he\u2019s the closest thing we\u2019ve got to a saint, right?\u201d<\/p>\n
Goodey has complained to the Registrar of Motor Vehicle Traders at the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) over the sale of his Ferrari Portofino.<\/p>\n
In recent correspondence seen by RNZ, Goodey told the MBIE Registrar he wasn\u2019t chasing his money.<\/p>\n
RNZ \/ Baz Macdonald<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s gone. I\u2019m writing so it\u2019s on record that your office had this man in front of it two years ago and let him walk.\u201d<\/p>\n
When RNZ asked MBIE about criticism that it did not do enough to investigate O\u2019Reilly, registrar Duncan Connor said it had received two complaints.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe first, received in 2024, was investigated and closed after no breach of the [Motor Vehicle Sales Act] was identified.\u201d<\/p>\n
He said a second complaint had only just been received this month and was \u201ccurrently under assessment\u201d.<\/p>\n
Goodey said while the abrupt end to O\u2019Reilly\u2019s Garage wasn\u2019t a surprise to him, it had shocked others.<\/p>\n
\u201cOther people had very different relationships with Simon O\u2019Reilly. You know, a lot of people just didn\u2019t see it coming. He\u2019s a real smooth guy.\u201d<\/p>\n
Financiers scramble<\/p>\n
According to the NZ Companies Register, the last annual return for O\u2019Reilly\u2019s Garage was filed in May this year.<\/p>\n
The Personal Property Securities Register records 36 financing statements registered against O\u2019Reilly\u2019s Garage, with Avanti Finance a secured party on 29 of them. \u201cMotor Vehicles\u201d are included in the assets held as security.<\/p>\n
Director of MTF Finance at the Lower Hutt Franchise, Geoff Kenny, said he had two secured loans with O\u2019Reilly.<\/p>\n
He said while a boat \u2013 a Halmatic 22m \u2013 had been found through a \u201clittle bit of detective work\u201d, the motorhome was a different story.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have walked away from the security because the customer bought that motorhome off O\u2019Reilly\u2019s Garage in good faith, and paid for it in good faith.\u201d<\/p>\n
Kenny said any claim on the loan would have to be with O\u2019Reilly directly.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe should never have sold the vehicle while he had money owing on it to us.\u201d<\/p>\n
He said until last week, when he learned the business and O\u2019Reilly had apparently gone, there\u2019d never been any issues.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s just a sad situation. And I\u2019d say just about everybody was blindsided because this was a guy who most people thought was a great guy, a good car dealer, and financially strong.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis one has come as a big surprise, I think, to a lot of people.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"O\u2019Reilly had always kept up with the interest on the loan, Dunajtschik told RNZ, however, he\u2019d subsequently taken…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":640028,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[148228,5263,534,38534,138,3944,17163,3371,208485,16718,95458,206,7052,111,139,69,7563,85539,1530],"class_list":["post-640027","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-abrupt","tag-all","tag-amid","tag-argue","tag-business","tag-car","tag-closure","tag-dealer","tag-disappears","tag-him","tag-i","tag-luxury","tag-mary","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-those","tag-trusted","tag-years"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/640027","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=640027"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/640027\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/640028"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=640027"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=640027"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=640027"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}