Local Jeep dealer feeling the pain.

I don't know how you can do it ,but try to keep this non political by telling of the crunches in your area.

http://www.wpxi.com/video/19464178/index.html
Untitled URL Link

Very sad to see the smaller dealerships closed. I bet they had great customer service.

If Chrysler wants the inventory sold to other dealerships, they should buy it back and then sell it to the other dealerships themselves.

About 40 in Michigan. More job losses, just what we need.

MANITOWOC, WI — Chrysler asked a bankruptcy judge this morning to reject agreements for 789 of its 3,200 dealers but First Chrysler-Jeep-Dodge, 4611 Expo Drive, is not one of them.


However, Chrysler is seeking approval to end its relationship with Schocker Chrysler & Dodge in St. Nazianz.

“We are relieved and pleased,” said Dick Kornely, owner of the dealership on the city’s west side, after receiving notification Thursday morning.

He said his dealership’s track record over the past 30 years in terms of its facility and the expertise of its employees has paid off by being chosen to be part of the new company combining Fiat and Chrysler.

Kornely said the bankruptcy proceedings void all current contracts between dealerships and Chrysler. “Those dealers that don’t get picked (to be part of the new company) will have an appeals process,” he said.

First Chrysler has 48 employees.

I don't have first hand information on this but the thinking is 6 to 10 dealers within 15 miles will close due to the proximity of Rochester. GM and Fiat/Chrysler will want to maintain their large high volume urban/suburban dealers and eliminate the ones sitting in towns of 3000 to 5000 people.
At the furthest, people would have to drive 40 miles to these dealers. I think people situated a similar distance from a major city are going to a similar pattern.

OK, I don't get it. Why in the world would Chrysler or any other manufacturer to not want dealers who already are selling their cars. What does it cost Chrysler to sell through 1 dealer that it wouldn't cost to sell through another? If you get rid of a dealer that has been selling cars for you you will lose business. Some of the folks that bought from a dealer did so because of location, or that dealers meaner, or his good deals, and would have bought any make car. So if that dealer had not been there, I will guarantee you a big % of those folks wouldn't have gone out of their way to find another Chrysler dealer.

3 dealers in rockford il area got cut
some of them had been business for several years

It is the goverment that is forcing that and it does not make any sence to me either. Just look at the brands of tractors and the amount of tractors sold where the dealers were.

It's just like when I was a McCulloch chain saw dealer, only on a larger scale.

All that mattered to McCulloch was the number of new saws sold. The fact that I could tune up someone's saw and sell him a new bar and chain, and make more money than if I'd sold him a new saw didn't even enter into it. McCulloch and I parted ways by mutual agreement.

That being said, a small town Chrysler dealer 6 miles from me got the axe. There are probably 8 people in the whole dealership, parts and service included. But, like someone else said, if he sells a new vehicle, it's still a new vehicle sale regardless of the size of his operation. And I think that's part of the problem with all three, Chrysler, GM, and Ford. They want to eliminate the small dealers and push for humongous operations. What they don't realize is, they're eliminating friendships and dealer loyalty from the equation.

My father was a Ford fan, so over the years whenever he needed a car or pickup he simply went back to the same Ford dealer and dealt with the same people he was used to dealing with. The manufacturers are eliminating that kind of loyalty. When I was in sales with GM, every day someone would come in looking to buy a new car and ask for a certain salesman. If that salesman wasn't available at the moment, the customer would wait until he was. And the rest of us salesmen never tried to butt in because the next day someone would come looking for us. At most, we'd keep the customer comfortable until the salesman he was looking for was available.

That kind of comraderie and cooperation doesn't exist at the huge dealerships, it's brutal competition among the sales staff. It's not as blatant as it was ten years or so ago, but most really large dealerships hire sales staff as an ongoing process. They know that between family and friends, each newly hired salesperson will bring about 5 sales with him/her. So they simply keep hiring sales staff and at the end of every month drop the lowest performers. And it's that way because the manufacturers demands have made it that way.

Maybe some day will come the dawn, but I doubt it.

Our local "small dealer" is overpriced and treats people like they're stupid.
To purchase our Chrysler product, we drove 3 hours to a "big city" dealership and saved ourselves between 5 and 10K.
I'm no fan of government takeovers, but lets not have our nostalgia get in the way of the truth in all situations.

(quoted from post at 20:24:52 05/14/09) OK, I don't get it. Why in the world would Chrysler or any other manufacturer to not want dealers who already are selling their cars. What does it cost Chrysler to sell through 1 dealer that it wouldn't cost to sell through another? If you get rid of a dealer that has been selling cars for you you will lose business. Some of the folks that bought from a dealer did so because of location, or that dealers meaner, or his good deals, and would have bought any make car. So if that dealer had not been there, I will guarantee you a big % of those folks wouldn't have gone out of their way to find another Chrysler dealer.

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I don't like it, but ...

It costs GM, Ford, Cat, Chrysler, Deere, etc... money to have dealerships out there. They all want big "mega stores". This means they need less corporate guys. There is a huge population of Field personnel, those that handle the $$$ issues, those that handle the Service issues, etc. By having the megastores, you can have less field people, because the megastore has it's own people that oversee the "family" of 10 stores. Now the Corporate (GM guy) can watch/help 10 stores by only dealing with one person.

The number of dealerships isn't really proportional to the number of vehicles sold. As stated earlier, people go where the prices are better, not somuch where the service is not as high of a priority.

I agree with your first two statements. We went to an automall to purchase from a wide selection of cars, 10k less than a dealership near us.

Seems like all the small dealerships contain dudes who wear too much cologne.

The real irony to all this is that by the time this is all over, the dealers that Chrysler cut will probably be selling Nissans, Kias, Toyotas, or some other car that is in direct competition with Chrysler. I mean, Fiat.
So.....I don"t watch the stuff, but when will we be seeing the new Fiats to compete with the Toyotas on the NASCAR circuit?
Those old moonshiners who started NASCAR are turning over in their graves about now.

Actually, it would not bother me if our local Dodge dealer got the axe.. I was shopping for a truck in 01, and they had nothing close to what I wanted, and made no effort to even try to accomodate me.. I went down to Ga, and got a heck of a deal on more truck than I thought I could afford..

I went to the local dealer to get a fuel filter.. They asked if I bought the truck there, I said no.. They tried to charge me 53 dollars for a filter that I could buy for 12 bucks elswhere.. I told the guy that I would never be back...

(quoted from post at 20:02:06 05/14/09) The real irony to all this is that by the time this is all over, the dealers that Chrysler cut will probably be selling Nissans, Kias, Toyotas, or some other car that is in direct competition with Chrysler. I mean, Fiat.
So.....I don"t watch the stuff, but when will we be seeing the new Fiats to compete with the Toyotas on the NASCAR circuit?
Those old moonshiners who started NASCAR are turning over in their graves about now.

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That is exactly what will happen.

I don't see how it costs the corpirate of GM and Chrysler any more or less money no matter how many dealers there are ? The dealers are independant and sink or swim on their own. Let the good ones keep going and the bad ones fail. Same with the companies. They should of been left to fail on their own.

Hit close to home here in Cedar Rapids too. Bob Micky Chrysler Dodge is getting axed. They are one of the bigger dealers in town. Gonna hurt me as I buy all my dealer specific parts from them .

i had a very different experience at a 'mega' car dealership. i wanted a new truck last year so i drove about 100 miles to columbus to rikart's. they are absolutely huge. they didn't have what i wanted in stock and couldn't understand why i would want anything that they didn't have. super high pressure was applied to my wife and myself, i think it will be easier to get into heaven than leave rikarts without buying. their price was also much higher than the two closest local small town dealers. i will never go back to a 'mega' dealer. they kept calling us for weeks afterward and i told them that they weren't low enough on their price. they thought they could take us for a couple of stupid country hicks.

Mercedes dumped Chrysler, at a huge loss, due to
so many recalls, and having to buy back thousands
of cars under the lemon laws. Now the chickens
are coming home to roost. Fiat does not have a
good reputation for quality eather, and will only
make the situation worse.
And...local dealers here in Westerm Wisconsin
just "won"t deal"..we saved thousands on our last
vehicle by driving 140 miles to StPaul. A six
mile streach of highway 61 has 10 large dealers
and over 5000 selection of new and used vehicles.

They can lose their dealership but make a fortune as a repair facility specializing in Chrysler/Fiat products. That combination will give job security to any mechanic that knows his way around transmissions and automotive electronics.

(quoted from post at 17:43:04 05/14/09) I don't know how you can do it ,but try to keep this non political by telling of the crunches in your area.

http://www.wpxi.com/video/19464178/index.html
Untitled URL Link

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Well, almost 800 nationwide, 40 in Michigan, 3 within a 15 minute drive from my house. They estimate an average of 50 employees per dealership. That means close to 40,000 NEW unemployed next month across the US. That doesn't include the unemployed that will come from the companies that do business with those dealers.

Now, GM is announcing 1100 dealers cut but over the next year or so. That will spread out the layoffs but that's still ANOTHER 5500 unemployed. Now, some of those dealers will sign on with other mfrs, but the point is still the same: LOTS OF UNEMPLOYMENT! Add in all the suppliers that are laying off now (my company included) and will be laying off more once the dust settles and that means LOTS OF UNEMPLOYMENT! I think the industry is going to figure on 10 million volume for a long time and is gearing up (actually down) for that. That means LOTS OF UNEMPLOYMENT! Do you see a theme here?

Yeah, Chrysler canned our local small town dealership too. Never saw it coming. Oldest Chrisler dealership in the state, maybe nation. Problem is that this was a reputable, decent fair dealer. Now if you're a Chrisler fan, you got a 60 mile trip to the big city where they'll cheat you at every opportunity. Small town dealers don't move as many cars, but have to rely on repeat customers. Have to treat their customers right. Big city guys have another dealer a couple blocks over - if you don't get treated right - just go down the street. Menawhile your dealer is waiting for other dealer's castoffs. Mad circle. Seen it happen. Way to go Chrysler, GM, Screw your best dealers into the ground, and wonder why customers are upset!
Bolingers in Lakeview