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Dude, where did all the dealerships go?

654 messages,  Last post on Nov 23, 2009 at 7:56 PM

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#9 of 654
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 654
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 654
. 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 654
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 654
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 654
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 654
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 654
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.
#17 of 654
Re: Just for kicks... [andre1969] by fezo
Nov 21, 2008 (9:20 am)
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Replying to: andre1969 (Nov 21, 2008 9:16 am)

Wow. I live in a county of half a million people and I'll bet we don't have anywhere near that number. Now I'll have to check...
#18 of 654
Re: In Portland [fezo] by nippononly
Nov 21, 2008 (9:42 am)
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Replying to: fezo (Nov 21, 2008 8:36 am)

I'm intrigued that you have a Honda dealer (and most other brands) but no Toyota dealer? That's surprising.
 
andre: you sure about those numbers? That sounds awfully high. A 25-mile radius is an area of 1962 square miles, or roughly 40x50. And as a for instance, I would be VERY surprised if Toyota allowed an area that size to have more than 10-12 dealers, even if it were very densely populated.
 
There is only one Cadillac dealership in my county, which also sells about five other brands including Hummer and Hyundai. They WERE making big plans last year for a major expansion of teh Hyundai portion, but those seem to have fizzled out. They are still selling the Hyundais out of a shack on wheels out past the end of the lot for the other brands. it's no wonder they don't sell very many - Hyundai is obviously the redheaded stepchild over there!
 
In the next county over, all of the Buick and GMC dealers have gone in the last 2 years, although one of those dealers continues to sell Cadillac and Mazda and appears to have very recently picked up Pontiac. How about THAT for a mix? Pontiac-Mazda-Cadillac.
 
I think I would rather see bailout money for these dealerships than for the automakers: half of these dealerships are small family businesses and all of them provide other services that they could continue in order to be viable (especially service and repair including manufacturer warranty work). These are local businesses that impact my friends and neighbors and are being strained through no fault of their own.

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