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Dude, where did all the dealerships go?

653 messages,  Last post on Nov 14, 2009 at 6:23 PM

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What is this discussion about? Car Buying, Automotive News, Legislation


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#7 of 653
Re: Dude, where did all the dealerships go?? [nippononly] by bumpy
Nov 20, 2008 (7:53 am)
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Replying to: nippononly (Nov 20, 2008 6:41 am)

What can really be the future of these tiny-town dealers?
 
I think more of them will survive than you might expect. A car dealership can be run with no more than maybe half a dozen people on staff, and most of those small dealers don't have any debt to carry. The local Chevy dealer (where I bought the S2000) is more of a used-car dealership these days. They have a Prius on the main line in front of the building today.
#8 of 653
Re: Dude, where did all the dealerships go?? [bumpy] by fezo
Nov 20, 2008 (8:02 am)
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Replying to: bumpy (Nov 20, 2008 7:53 am)

I don't know if this gets filed under domestic vs. import or high end vs. low end.
 
Our local Caddy dealership has closed after maybe 30 years. They are still in business but only sell Chevrolets in their new car department. Meanwhile, down the road maybe a mile a new Hyundai dealership will be opening.
 
Up the road at the nearest big town the Chrysler dealership is gone. The Mitsubishi dealer has been gone for a while but that's been tried at least twice in the area and just never supported enough business even in the good times.
#9 of 653
Re: Dude, where did all the dealerships go?? [bumpy] by nippononly
Nov 20, 2008 (8:42 am)
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Replying to: bumpy (Nov 20, 2008 7:53 am)

Still I would think that if the tiny-town dealer was within a 50-mile radius of a larger town with one or more large dealerships, their future is dim....and that describes most small-town dealers in California. I realize it is different in other parts of the country.
 
Should those dealers that are struggling get a piece of the bailout pie?
#10 of 653
In Portland by euphonium
Nov 20, 2008 (9:16 am)
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Two Lincoln/Mercury dealers folded, but Landmark Ford picked up the two marques without skipping a beat. Consolidation of local dealers will happen where the surviving dealer has the financial reserves to take advantage of the economy.
 
When a business doesn't plan for a downturn, it deserves to be swallowed up.
#11 of 653
. by fintail
Nov 20, 2008 (9:29 am)
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In my area the Caddy dealer changed hands and moved from its location of some 35 years - I think it was leased land, now in demand for high density residential use (once the recession ends). Now they share a location with the Hummer dealer, which I think is under the same ownership. So, we have GM's best and GM's lamest in one spot.
 
The other local dealers seem to be surviving in their locations. There are small startup highline used car dealers that seem to appear and fail every year or two.
#12 of 653
Re: In Portland [euphonium] by nippononly
Nov 20, 2008 (1:27 pm)
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Replying to: euphonium (Nov 20, 2008 9:16 am)

Yes, I'm sure that consolidation of dealerships will continue for domestic brand dealers, and in fact my local Ford dealer picked up L/M this past year from a dealership that closed a few miles up the road.
 
But I think the big news is outright dealer atttrition, and certainly that is mostly what we have had in the Bay Area - dealers going away and NOT being picked up by a different dealer elsewhere.
 
In California Big 2 market share is only like 22% between the both of them, so it makes sense that there shouldn't be 3 Chevy and 3 Ford dealers for every Toyota dealer.
#13 of 653
Re: In Portland [nippononly] by joel0622
Nov 20, 2008 (5:19 pm)
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Replying to: nippononly (Nov 20, 2008 1:27 pm)

Keep in mind that at least in Fords case that the closing of Dealerships is part of the Way Forward plan. Reduce the number of Dealerships over the next 5 years so we have more profitable stores. Allot of these stores that you see "closing" have actually been bought out.
 
It has happened here, one Metro point closed in the spring. Ford and the surrounding Metro Points participated in the buy out. The closer your store was to the closing point the more you paid.
#14 of 653
Re: In Portland [joel0622] by nippononly
Nov 21, 2008 (8:17 am)
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Replying to: joel0622 (Nov 20, 2008 5:19 pm)

Well the two Ford dealers near me that went out of business in the last few months disappeared in the middle of the night and made quite a splash in the news, as their owners went bankrupt in spectacular fashion and were very vocal about it. Neither was bought out. And now there is an urban area of a quarter million people without a Ford dealer, as the two were in neighboring suburban cities. But the folks living there wouldn't have to drive more than about 20 miles today to reach a Ford dealer, so it may have been a case previously of too many dealers, too close together.
#15 of 653
Re: In Portland [nippononly] by fezo
Nov 21, 2008 (8:36 am)
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Replying to: nippononly (Nov 21, 2008 8:17 am)

I'm almost ready to get a pool going as to which is the next dealership in town to fold. So far we only had the one and it only closed the Cadillac franchise and is still selling Chevies but to me the writing is on the wall.
 
My money would be on the Chrysler dealership. He's got Chrysler and Dodge which leaves him with nothing new of interest to me. He does have a fair number of used cars but they are overwhelmingly Chrysler products as well.
 
The other dealers in town are a Pontiac-Buick-GMC and a big "family of dealerships" that sells Ford, Lincoln, Mercury, Jeep, Suzuki, Nissan and Honda. Maybe at one point he'll replace the Suzuki dealership with something else but he does seem to sell enough of the things.
#16 of 653
Just for kicks... by andre1969
Nov 21, 2008 (9:16 am)
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I searched for how many dealerships there are in my area. Within a 25 mile radius, there are 21 dealerships that sell Chevy. 19 that sell Ford, 18 that sell Toyota, and 16 that sell Dodge.
 
Oh, and 8 Saturn dealers. Well, 7, as the finder included the now-closed Saturn of Bowie.

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