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Automotive News & Views Dude, where did all the dealerships go?
650 messages, Last post on Nov 08, 2009 at 5:47 PM
You are in the Automotive News & Views Forum. Your Hosts are steve_ & claires
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the head of NADA said yesterday that just under 1000 dealerships went out of business in the U.S. in 2008, costing around 50,000 people their jobs, and they expect close to 1200 dealerships to close in 2009. 
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Replying to: nippononly (Jan 28, 2009 9:21 pm) |
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the final number is 936 dealers out of business in 2008. It's a hard business to be in these days: Hard times have dealers crying: Cut! As vehicle sales and dealership profitability remain depressed, dealers say they are trimming every expense that doesn't directly generate income. From employee health insurance to showroom thermostat settings to season tickets to the local NFL team's games, they insist, nothing is off limits. I am of two minds here - some of the things mentioned being cut (like season sports tickets and company boxes) are pure luxuries, others like employee health insurance are not: Belt-tightening 101 These are some of the ways dealers say they are cutting costs. • Reducing or eliminating their own salaries and those of other top managers • Deferring maintenance and capital improvements • Shortening operating hours • Requiring employees to pay a larger share of health insurance costs • Eliminating the company match for employee 401(k) retirement plans • Reducing spending on employee training, uniforms, company cars and travel • Assigning employees to do work formerly done by outside contractors, such as janitorial and lawn care services • Suspending charitable contributions • Combining central office functions of several dealerships http://www.autonews.com/article/20090126/ANA06/901260373/1114 (registration link) It also mentions some dealers buying only quick-turning new models for their lots, rather than ones that might take longer. Of course, the manufacturers are taking widely varying stances with response to that type of system right now. While Ford and Chrysler are taking the attitude that they can be patient until things turn around, GM is pushing dealers out of business at an increased rate. It will now begin penalizing them more (via GMAC) for older new cars that have been on their lot for a long period of time. If I were thinking of opening a business today, this wouldn't be the type.
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Replying to: nippononly (Jan 30, 2009 8:03 am) |
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Another dealer group went "boom" today, and it appears to be one of the largest dealers in rural Maryland: Bob Smith Chevrolet-Cadillac-Pontiac-GMC-Buick, a.k.a. "GM Giant." Wow. Apparently NONE of the marques could save the dealer. Local news reports says that the dealer owed $12 million in loans to GMAC. 200 jobs were lost. At least the GMC service department in Federalsburg will operate, for now. Ref: "http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/local/easternshore/bal-dealerships0213,0,56043- 16.story". 330 vehicles were confiscated. Who's going to buy them?
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Replying to: carthell (Feb 16, 2009 7:52 pm) They will become part of the liquidation when GM finally files for bankruptcy. Buying a GM car now is sooooo risky. Unless you pay next to nothing and hope to be able to find parts in 5 years. If GM folds the only parts will be aftermarket. And they will be scarce. We have lost many jobs here at local dealerships. Most are like ghost towns when you go in. |
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just told me the chevy dealer about a mile away just closed down. they just moved to a new location about 2 years ago. my mother just bought new tires for her car there last week! |
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... about 45 minutes to a town that had one dealer for each of the Indebted 3. The Chevy dealer had closed a few months ago, the Dodge dealer looked to be in good shape, and the Ford dealer looked like it was winding down: about a dozen new vehicles total, none of them trucks. 
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especially sad story, it was a family Lincoln-Mercury dealership for many years, with Audi as well, and one poor guy is stuck in his house because the market has tanked, even as the shop folds up and all the cars go back to the manufacturers. CONCORD — The day his employees were laid off, two days before New Year's Eve, Darrell Cooper went home and told his wife it was the worst day of his life. .....In all his 23 years working at Diablo, Cooper has had to fire only a couple people. As a group, the employees had a softball team, had barbecues and sometimes bowled together. He even thought about buying the dealership, keeping everyone together, but the bank wouldn't give him a loan in this tight credit environment. Some of the 40-plus people laid off Dec. 29 have found other jobs, but some of the service folks who worked with Cooper have said their new environments are a little cold. ......When the dealership closes for good Feb. 28, Cooper and Serrano — along with about eight others in the building — will be gone, too. Until then, they will sort equipment, deciding what will go back to Audi and what will be auctioned off. Diablo Lincoln-Mercury has operated in Concord for 30 years and has been at its current spot on Market Street's auto row since 1991. Before it was Diablo, it was called Jefferson Motors. Lexus, which operates a dealership on the 2-acre site next door, bought the Diablo Lincoln property and will expand its business into the Diablo building and lot. .....Schniegenberg (the general manager), 31, has a 14-month-old baby and his wife stays at home. He's been at the dealership since he was 22. "There's just nothing out there," he said. "There are some guys here who have been in the auto business for 35 years and it's all they know and looking for something else is so hard for them. "I'll try to stay in the field, but it'll probably have to be out of state," he said, with a tone of resignation. He and his wife own a house in Walnut Creek, but if they sell now, they'll have to take a loss — if they can even sell it, that is. "I'm getting to the point where I'm like, 'You know what? I don't care anymore.' We tried to refinance, but we were told we couldn't because we've made our payments on time so we can't modify it. We've done everything — we've written congressmen, everything. No one cares. "You go from being shocked to dismay, then anger," Schniegenberg added. "Then you get anxious and scared. For a lot of us, this was our whole life." http://www.contracostatimes.com/antioch/ci_11648435 Dealers should have had received some help from the bailout too - they were the only part of the automotive supply chain that got no help at all, and they are all small to medium size businesses, unlike many of the big suppliers claiming big trouble now, and VERY unlike the automakers themselves. And these manufacturers continue to have to absorb all these returned vehicles..... |
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Replying to: nippononly (Mar 02, 2009 9:32 pm) That is what I have tried to emphasize on the UAW thread. The UAW holding onto their fancy lifestyle has already caused 1000s of people in the dealerships to lose jobs. Most of those jobs do not pay as much as a UAW job pays. The reality when the smoke clears there could be 50% less dealerships in the USA. I guess that is what the D3 and especially GM was hoping for. If the dealership closes they do not have to buy them out.
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