I worked for Pendragon when the Ford Dealer I was working for was taken over. They came in and changed everything, I said I would give it 6 months before making a decision about staying or leaving, I left @ 7 months.

Within a month of me leaving, people from all departments started leaving in droves. Within 2 years, the place was shut down. The remaining staff were called to a meeting one morning and were told that the place would be closing shortly and to get their stuff together.

Other dealerships I know of in Pendragon had staff who had no payrises for years, 13 years in the case of one person, other than a couple of basic "cost of living" ones. The wages and staff situation in Pendragon is based on a matrix system, set by the head office in Birmingham. If more staff are needed or a payrise required, yet the matrix says no, then it doesn't happen. Period. I left my Pendragon premises for another dealership and within a year, had 2 payrises. I have been with my current place for 6 years and am now on 16k more per year than I was there, 8k of it was doing the same basic job, the last payrise being due to a promotion to a Workshop controller when I started in the Parts Dept.

Everywhere within the premises will be camera'd up. I went to the Director Principal's office once to have a personal chat (I knew him from prior) and I was watching the cameras. I could read the headlines of the newpaper a technician in the workshop was reading over his shoulder from a video camera in the other end of the dealership.

In the workshop, every second has to be accounted for on their Pinnacle system. If you go to the loo, you need to log onto the correct section on the computer in the Foremans office. It is all for efficiency.

Also, Pendragon plc, mainly trading in the UK as Parkside, Evans Halshaw (what they rename dealers to when they start to get a reputation), to name 2 identities, are run for the shareholders. Every 4-6 weeks, we would get a cassette (or CD) come through with an update from America from one of the directors, telling us how the shareholders were doing, what needed to be done as a company. Basically, criticising everyone if the shareholders did not get their bonuses.

Short of it is, go there if you need to, but don't stop looking for a replacement job.