Drive Assist enters voluntary liquidation

Failed credit hire company Drive Assist has entered creditors’ voluntary liquidation, a Companies House filing reveals.

The company entered voluntary liquidation on 14 October.

Corporate restructuring firm Zolfo Cooper partners Alastair Beveridge, Ryan Grant and Anne O’Keefe have been proposed as the company’s liquidators.

Beveridge, Grant and fellow Zolfo Cooper partner Simon Wilson were Drive Assist’s administrators.

Drive Assist, which was backed by private equity house Charterhouse, called in the administrators on 10 December 2012 after the loss of a major client left it in financial difficulty.

The company went under owing millions of pounds to various big-name insurers and brokers, including Aviva, Esure and Swinton.

Liquidation was a highly likely option for Drive Assist, as it would have proved difficult to revive or sell the company.

After it went into administration, Drive Assist was forced to strop trading and clients quickly went elsewhere.

Beveridge told Insurance Times in January: “Because that business has effectively been lost, it wouldn’t quite have to start from scratch but it wouldn’t be far off.”