Avanti held 29 registered securities while the dealer’s mentor held only faith

The collapse of O’Reilly’s Garage is being told as a story about supercars, a beloved philanthropist and a founder who vanished. The business lesson is less glamorous. Formal, registered security protected the professionals. Personal trust protected nobody.

On 21 October, secured lender Avanti Finance appointed BDO as receivers to the Hutt Road dealership, which marketed itself as “Wellington’s most interesting independent dealership”. Founder Simon O’Reilly has not responded to media and, according to his own major financier, is believed to be in Greece. Neighbours at his Khandallah home reported moving trucks and packing at night. The showroom is already listed for lease.

The register told the real story first

A Personal Property Securities Register search shows 36 financing statements against O’Reilly’s Garage Limited. Avanti is the secured party on 29 of them: three general securities over all company property dating from 2022, plus 26 individual vehicle securities. Kiwibank registered a general security in September 2025, LC Business Loans one in September 2024, and Motor Trade Finance two more.

The timing is the tell. Avanti registered four new vehicle securities on 7 October. Autorama registered over a 2022 Porsche 911 GT3 on 12 October. A private individual registered an interest over a 1968 Ford Mustang. Sophisticated parties saw trouble coming and locked down specific cars before the doors closed.

By 16 October, Avanti general manager auto Lee Robson was saying the lender was “disappointed by what has occurred” and conducting its own investigation. That was five days before receivership. Whatever Avanti ultimately loses, it had visibility, priority and a legal claim on named assets. That is what the register is for.

A handshake ranks behind a filing

Sir Mark Dunajtschik, the philanthropist who funded Wellington’s children’s hospital, personally lent O’Reilly the capital to start the business in 2018. He is owed a “substantial amount” and says O’Reilly always kept up with the interest. His verdict is generous to the point of heartbreaking: “I trusted him all those years like he was my son and I haven’t given up faith in him.”

He told RNZ he has since taken what steps he could to protect himself. But steps taken late, after institutional lenders have spent years registering general and asset-specific security, generally sit behind those lenders. Faith does not appear on the PPSR.

Property investor Steve Goodey was in a worse spot. His Ferrari Portofino went through O’Reilly on consignment, meaning he handed a high-value asset to a dealer for sale with no security interest of his own. His take on the continuing goodwill toward O’Reilly was pointed: “In Wellington, he’s the closest thing we’ve got to a saint, right?“

A clean bill of health that wasn’t

Goodey has complained to the MBIE Registrar of Motor Vehicle Traders, writing: “I’m writing so it’s on record that your office had this man in front of it two years ago and let him walk.” Registrar Duncan Connor confirmed a 2024 complaint was investigated and closed with no breach found, and that a second complaint lodged this month is under assessment.

This is the limit of complaint-driven oversight. A closed file is not an endorsement, yet clients and lenders kept dealing with the business afterward. Nor is this the first time O’Reilly’s name has surfaced in disputes, with Stuff previously reporting on a court case tied to the receivership.

Formal redress is also slow. In 2022-23 the Motor Vehicle Disputes Tribunal handled 588 matters, with 68% of determined applications resolved within three months. Three months is a long time when the counterparty is on another continent. The Tribunal’s report that year also recommended requiring traders to show awareness of their Consumer Guarantees Act and Fair Trading Act obligations. Back in 2021 the Commerce Commission noted a vehicle is typically a household’s second-biggest purchase after a house. At the luxury end, it is often far bigger than that.

What business owners should take from Petone

This is not an argument for more regulation. MBIE could not have prevented a founder deciding to leave, and no registrar can underwrite every relationship. It is an argument for doing what Avanti did.

Anyone lending to, consigning with or prepaying a dealer in illiquid assets, whether classic cars, boats, art, bloodstock or machinery, should treat reputation as information, not protection. Register a security interest over the specific asset. Insist on written consignment terms that keep title clear. Search the PPSR before you hand anything over, and again while the arrangement runs. Thirty-six statements against one small dealership is a signal worth reading.

BDO will now work through who gets what, and the order will be set by filings, not friendships. Dunajtschik may yet be repaid in part. Goodey may get answers from MBIE. But the queue is already formed, and the people at the front are the ones who did the paperwork.

Sources

• RNZ: ‘I trusted him all those years’: Luxury car dealer disappears amid abrupt business closure (2026-10-23)
• NZ Herald: ‘I trusted him all those years’: Luxury car dealer disappears amid abrupt business closure (2026-10-22)
• Autotalk: Avanti investigating after Petone luxury dealer closes (2026-10-16)
• Stuff: Once prestigious car dealer in receivership after ‘hopeless’ court case
• Consumer Protection: Motor Vehicle Disputes Tribunal annual report 2022-2023 (2023-09-29)
• Commerce Commission: Motor vehicle financing and add-ons review (2021-11-10)