More Car Dealers Shut Down
Auto Sellers Turn Off Lights as Sales Slump, Credit Tightens
By KATE LINEBAUGH


With credit drying up and new-vehicle sales slumping to a 25-year low,
car dealerships from New Jersey to California are going out of business
at an accelerating pace, threatening greater economic pain for
communities around the country.

The National Automobile Dealers Association estimates 700 new-car
dealerships will close this year, up from 430 last year, and taking with
them an estimated 37,100 jobs. That is a heavy blow to a key piece of
the U.S. economy. The country's 20,700 dealerships accounted for $693
billion in sales last year, or 18% of all retail sales, according to
NADA. Dealership wages and salaries make up 13% of the nation's retail
payroll.

The rapid disappearance of dealers could also complicate the challenges
facing General Motors Corp., Chrysler LLC and Ford Motor Co. After years
of market-share losses, each has been left with more dealers than they
need, and have been pushing dealers to consolidate. But a sudden loss of
some of the bigger players could make it harder for the Big Three to
maintain sales. GM, for example, suffered a setback recently when Bill
Heard Enterprises Inc., one of the largest sellers of Chevrolet-brand
vehicles in the country, filed for bankruptcy-court protection and
closed its chain of 14 stores.
[Car dealers]

"The most serious concern for dealerships at the moment is liquidity,"
said Paul Melville, a partner at consulting firm Grant Thornton LLP.
"That's worse for the Detroit Three because of the high amount of lease
sales." Auto dealers tied to Detroit have struggled amid falling sales
and leases of Big Three vehicles. Tightened credit in the past few
months has made it difficult for many to stay in business.

Joseph Pfeffer, owner of Bigelow Motors, a Chrysler and Jeep dealer in
Belleville, N.J., closed shop Oct. 4 after his bank decided to exit
automotive financing and cut him off from $5 million in inventory
financing. He had been in business since 1942, getting his start selling
DeSotos and Plymouths. "I always survived," said Mr. Pfeffer, 92 years
old, "but nobody ever cut off my line of credit before."

Like many dealers selling Detroit's brands, Mr. Pfeffer found no buyers
for his franchise. "Why would somebody want to get into this now?" he asked.

Mr. Pfeffer said he approached three banks about providing financing but
none was interested. In September, he sold only seven vehicles, compared
with 40 the previous month. When he closed, all 26 employees were
terminated.

Similar scenes have been playing out around the country. According to
NADA, 590 new-car dealerships this year closed through September.

The markets most vulnerable to dealer closings are California, which has
the most dealers of any state, followed by Texas, Pennsylvania and New
York, according to NADA. In Michigan and Texas, dealer sales accounted
for 20% of total retail sales in the states last year, the highest
percentage of any states.

GMAC LLC, which provides financing for most of the nation's General
Motors dealers, recently notified dealers that it was revising terms of
inventory credit and interest rates on revolving credit lines. Chrysler
Financial took similar steps. Both raised dealership costs.

Write to Kate Linebaugh at

Copyright 2008 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved

This copy is for your personal, non-commercial use only. Distribution
and use of this material are governed by our Subscriber Agreement and by
copyright law. For non-personal use or to order multiple copies, please
contact Dow Jones Reprints at 1-800-843-0008 or visit

w

DON'T YOU HAVE SOMETHING BETTER TO DO?.........................DIDN'T
THINK SO.

On Mon, 17 Nov 2008 17:49:42 -0500, Boater wrote:
More political ****.
--
A Harry Krause truism:

"It's not a *baby* kicking, beautiful bride, it's just a fetus!"

"Boater" wrote in message
...
More Car Dealers Shut Down
Auto Sellers Turn Off Lights as Sales Slump, Credit Tightens
By KATE LINEBAUGH


With credit drying up and new-vehicle sales slumping to a 25-year low, car
dealerships from New Jersey to California are going out of business at an
accelerating pace, threatening greater economic pain for communities
around the country.

The National Automobile Dealers Association estimates 700 new-car
dealerships will close this year, up from 430 last year, and taking with
them an estimated 37,100 jobs. That is a heavy blow to a key piece of the
U.S. economy. The country's 20,700 dealerships accounted for $693 billion
in sales last year, or 18% of all retail sales, according to NADA.
Dealership wages and salaries make up 13% of the nation's retail payroll.

The rapid disappearance of dealers could also complicate the challenges
facing General Motors Corp., Chrysler LLC and Ford Motor Co. After years
of market-share losses, each has been left with more dealers than they
need, and have been pushing dealers to consolidate. But a sudden loss of
some of the bigger players could make it harder for the Big Three to
maintain sales. GM, for example, suffered a setback recently when Bill
Heard Enterprises Inc., one of the largest sellers of Chevrolet-brand
vehicles in the country, filed for bankruptcy-court protection and closed
its chain of 14 stores.
[Car dealers]

"The most serious concern for dealerships at the moment is liquidity,"
said Paul Melville, a partner at consulting firm Grant Thornton LLP.
"That's worse for the Detroit Three because of the high amount of lease
sales." Auto dealers tied to Detroit have struggled amid falling sales and
leases of Big Three vehicles. Tightened credit in the past few months has
made it difficult for many to stay in business.

Joseph Pfeffer, owner of Bigelow Motors, a Chrysler and Jeep dealer in
Belleville, N.J., closed shop Oct. 4 after his bank decided to exit
automotive financing and cut him off from $5 million in inventory
financing. He had been in business since 1942, getting his start selling
DeSotos and Plymouths. "I always survived," said Mr. Pfeffer, 92 years
old, "but nobody ever cut off my line of credit before."

Like many dealers selling Detroit's brands, Mr. Pfeffer found no buyers
for his franchise. "Why would somebody want to get into this now?" he
asked.

Mr. Pfeffer said he approached three banks about providing financing but
none was interested. In September, he sold only seven vehicles, compared
with 40 the previous month. When he closed, all 26 employees were
terminated.

Similar scenes have been playing out around the country. According to
NADA, 590 new-car dealerships this year closed through September.

The markets most vulnerable to dealer closings are California, which has
the most dealers of any state, followed by Texas, Pennsylvania and New
York, according to NADA. In Michigan and Texas, dealer sales accounted for
20% of total retail sales in the states last year, the highest percentage
of any states.

GMAC LLC, which provides financing for most of the nation's General Motors
dealers, recently notified dealers that it was revising terms of inventory
credit and interest rates on revolving credit lines. Chrysler Financial
took similar steps. Both raised dealership costs.

Write to Kate Linebaugh at

Copyright 2008 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved

This copy is for your personal, non-commercial use only. Distribution and
use of this material are governed by our Subscriber Agreement and by
copyright law. For non-personal use or to order multiple copies, please
contact Dow Jones Reprints at 1-800-843-0008 or visit

w

Seems as if this is copyright material, and not for you to disseminate. But
to reply, is good that a lot of dealers fold. A lot would have been closed
years ago, if was not for a lot of protective laws in the individual states.
Lots of dealers only sell a couple cars a month. Super dealerships will get
the benefit of better advertising dollar usage, and savings from quantity.
Lots of businesses fail each year. What's new?

Now GM can make cars for dealers that don't exist.

Say each employed say 40 people, 40 x 700 is 28,000 non-union workers. Not
only did they not get bailed out, now UAW/CAW/GM want a tax they likely
can't afford.

That is socialism greed for you, UAW rats are out in full force with the
fear and hands in our pockets rhetoric.


"Boater" wrote in message
...
More Car Dealers Shut Down
Auto Sellers Turn Off Lights as Sales Slump, Credit Tightens
By KATE LINEBAUGH


With credit drying up and new-vehicle sales slumping to a 25-year low, car
dealerships from New Jersey to California are going out of business at an
accelerating pace, threatening greater economic pain for communities
around the country.

The National Automobile Dealers Association estimates 700 new-car
dealerships will close this year, up from 430 last year, and taking with
them an estimated 37,100 jobs. That is a heavy blow to a key piece of the
U.S. economy. The country's 20,700 dealerships accounted for $693 billion
in sales last year, or 18% of all retail sales, according to NADA.
Dealership wages and salaries make up 13% of the nation's retail payroll.

The rapid disappearance of dealers could also complicate the challenges
facing General Motors Corp., Chrysler LLC and Ford Motor Co. After years
of market-share losses, each has been left with more dealers than they
need, and have been pushing dealers to consolidate. But a sudden loss of
some of the bigger players could make it harder for the Big Three to
maintain sales. GM, for example, suffered a setback recently when Bill
Heard Enterprises Inc., one of the largest sellers of Chevrolet-brand
vehicles in the country, filed for bankruptcy-court protection and closed
its chain of 14 stores.
[Car dealers]

"The most serious concern for dealerships at the moment is liquidity,"
said Paul Melville, a partner at consulting firm Grant Thornton LLP.
"That's worse for the Detroit Three because of the high amount of lease
sales." Auto dealers tied to Detroit have struggled amid falling sales and
leases of Big Three vehicles. Tightened credit in the past few months has
made it difficult for many to stay in business.

Joseph Pfeffer, owner of Bigelow Motors, a Chrysler and Jeep dealer in
Belleville, N.J., closed shop Oct. 4 after his bank decided to exit
automotive financing and cut him off from $5 million in inventory
financing. He had been in business since 1942, getting his start selling
DeSotos and Plymouths. "I always survived," said Mr. Pfeffer, 92 years
old, "but nobody ever cut off my line of credit before."

Like many dealers selling Detroit's brands, Mr. Pfeffer found no buyers
for his franchise. "Why would somebody want to get into this now?" he
asked.

Mr. Pfeffer said he approached three banks about providing financing but
none was interested. In September, he sold only seven vehicles, compared
with 40 the previous month. When he closed, all 26 employees were
terminated.

Similar scenes have been playing out around the country. According to
NADA, 590 new-car dealerships this year closed through September.

The markets most vulnerable to dealer closings are California, which has
the most dealers of any state, followed by Texas, Pennsylvania and New
York, according to NADA. In Michigan and Texas, dealer sales accounted for
20% of total retail sales in the states last year, the highest percentage
of any states.

GMAC LLC, which provides financing for most of the nation's General Motors
dealers, recently notified dealers that it was revising terms of inventory
credit and interest rates on revolving credit lines. Chrysler Financial
took similar steps. Both raised dealership costs.

Write to Kate Linebaugh at

Copyright 2008 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved

This copy is for your personal, non-commercial use only. Distribution and
use of this material are governed by our Subscriber Agreement and by
copyright law. For non-personal use or to order multiple copies, please
contact Dow Jones Reprints at 1-800-843-0008 or visit

w

"Calif Bill" wrote in message
...


Seems as if this is copyright material, and not for you to disseminate.
But to reply, is good that a lot of dealers fold. A lot would have been
closed years ago, if was not for a lot of protective laws in the
individual states. Lots of dealers only sell a couple cars a month. Super
dealerships will get the benefit of better advertising dollar usage, and
savings from quantity. Lots of businesses fail each year. What's new?


The largest local car dealership near us started out as a Lincoln/Mercury
dealership. It is a family owned business. Over the years they have
purchased additional adjacent lots and built two more facilities, one
selling Toyotas, the other selling Chrysler/Dodge.

They have further expanded. The individual dealerships now consist of:

Lincoln/Mercury/Nissan
Toyota
Chrysler/Dodge/KIA

There may be another line also, but I can't remember.

Anyway, we have purchased several vehicles from them over the years and I've
got to know one of the owners (he's also a classic car buff). He's not
concerned about going out of business.

Eisboch