Chrysler Dealer Closing List Released

[Napoleon]

Amazingly in my area (Cleveland) a bunch of what I thought of as bigger dealerships are getting whacked and this fairly tiny one that is 4 doors down from my house, so close that if I am sitting in the back yard I can hear them announce over their PA system "tony, your wife is on line 4" is not closing.

http://media2.foxtoledo.com/files/OhioChryslerDocket.pdf

[JLMannin]

Roger Penske has one in Bloomfield Hills that is closing. For those in the Indy/Chicago area, Bob Rohrman is losing a couple of his.

[Napoleon]

Base on what my quick review of what it looks like Chrysler did in the Cleveland area, maybe their strategy is to wack those dealers with big multi non-Chrysler dealerships and stick with little guys who are just Chrysler dealers. I can't believe that if they were determining closures based on the size of the dealerships and locations, some of the ones on the closure list would not be spared while my little neighborhood dealer would be closed.

Now of course there will be nothing stopping that little dealership from picking up the superior newer dealership that is closing 2 miles from me and moving there (assuming Chrysler would approve), or that larger dealership buying out the little guys franchise.

[oddlycalm]

In the West the strategy is clear; kill a handful of rural small town dealers with limited volume. IMO the only surprise was that they had dealers in these towns in the first place. How many units can you move in a town of 1,718 people surrounded by tall mountains and 50+ miles from the next town of any size....? :confused: A nice convenience for the residents certainly but...

Just two dealers dropped from the Portland region, one across the river in Vancouver and East of here in the town of Sandy.

oc

[Don Quixote]

Amazingly in my area (Cleveland) a bunch of what I thought of as bigger dealerships are getting whacked and this fairly tiny one that is 4 doors down from my house, so close that if I am sitting in the back yard I can hear them announce over their PA system "tony, your wife is on line 4" is not closing.

http://media2.foxtoledo.com/files/OhioChryslerDocket.pdf

Is this a list of dealers that will stay, or those that will go?

[extramundane]

Is this a list of dealers that will stay, or those that will go?

That's the "close" list. NYT has an online version (http://documents.nytimes.com/chrysler-bankruptcy-filing#p=1), so no pdf download necessary.

We're losing a Dodge dealer and a Chrysler/Jeep dealer, both of which are independently owned. Unless I missed one, all of the C/D/J lots remaining will be owned by one company.

[Napoleon]

Is this a list of dealers that will stay, or those that will go?

Go

[Don Quixote]

The dealer where I bought my 2005 ram is on the list. They had one of the worst and worst-rated service departments in the solar system.

[Napoleon]

The dealer where I bought my 2005 ram is on the list. They had one of the worst and worst-rated service departments in the solar system.


I heard a portion of what apparently was apparently a conference calls with some Chrysler executives on NPR and they said that this is a once in a lifetime chance to 1) get rid of dealers that have poor sales and 2) get rid of dealers they have had quality service issues with. So that may be why they got it.

[Sean Malone]

The dealer where I bought my 2005 ram is on the list. They had one of the worst and worst-rated service departments in the solar system.

The Chrysler dealer from Fredericksburg VA is on the list. They were a Chrysler/Jeep only dealer, state of the art facility, huge selection, top notch appearance. I took my van in there and had a horrible experience.

the Dodge dealer down the street was fantastic and one of the reasons I kept buying Mopars.

[Napoleon]

Although this is about GM dealerships (their own thread will come tomorrow if a list of their terminations can be found on line) the math is interesting.

http://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/gm-vs-toyota-dealer-costs/

[Gnam]

DBA PENINSULA DODGE
640 VETERANS BOULEVARD
REDWOOD CITY, CA 94063

This one's been closed and empty since the first of the year.

[Napoleon]

DBA PENINSULA DODGE
640 VETERANS BOULEVARD
REDWOOD CITY, CA 94063

This one's been closed and empty since the first of the year.

Yeah, so.

I assume the list is to an attachment to a motion to reject certain contracts. The fact the dealership you mention closed does not mean they were not hanging on to their franchise contract.

[Andrew Longman]

Although this is about GM dealerships (their own thread will come tomorrow if a list of their terminations can be found on line) the math is interesting.

http://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/gm-vs-toyota-dealer-costs/

That's the kind calculation they make you do in a McKinsey Consulting interview, things like, "Quick, in 15 minutes estimate how many gallons of white paint is sold in a year in the US"

But it's not far off. This has been talked about for years in GM and Chrysler. They knew it was a problem for many of the reasons listed and more but did nothing. In Chrysler's case, they were in part seduced by the fact their NASCAR presence was funded by Dodge dealers, not them.

In GMs case, they have many more dealers because they have too many nameplates. Toyota has Toyota and Lexus dealers and pretty much advertise the nameplate not the car. Same with most other imports. Not so much GM. That adds massive cost as well.

Add to this that they are paying a roughly $1200/car premium for health and pension benefit on a car they can't get full price on because it is crap (or their crap dealers don't have the talent to sell) and you will quickly get where they are.

[Napoleon]

So I go to Google to see if I could find a GM Dealer Closing List already and as I type in my request the self fill feature kicks in along with a display of how many request have been made and at this point in the day that list is to be released nearly 2,000,000 search request have been made on a variation of "GM Dealer Closing List".

[extramundane]

So I go to Google to see if I could find a GM Dealer Closing List already and as I type in my request the self fill feature kicks in along with a display of how many request have been made and at this point in the day that list is to be released nearly 2,000,000 search request have been made on a variation of "GM Dealer Closing List".

I noticed variations of that were #2 and #10 on Google Trends this morning.

[Sean Malone]

Toyota is rumored to be offering franchise's to some of the closed Chrysler dealerships and will do the same for the some of the affected GM dealers.

I read that Toyota has 'far less' dealerships than even Chrysler had.

[extramundane]

Google Map (http://www.nytimes.com/packages/html/nytint/maps/chrysler-dealerships-slated-for-closing.html) of closing Chrysler dealerships.

[Sean Malone]

Steve Landry, Executive Vice President, North American Marketing and Mopar Parts and Service, provided the criteria used for selecting dealers
which would continue to have a Chrysler, Dodge, or Jeep franchise:

“The process to evaluate dealers was a thorough, rigorous process that used a data-driven metric that included the following factors:

- Minimum Sales Responsibility
- A scorecard that measured sales, share, shipments, customer satisfaction index, service satisfaction index and warranty repair
- Facility (capacity, Millennium II standards)
- Location (optimum retail area)
- Dual (Dealer is dualed with a competing manufacturer)
- The market’s total sales potential”

Landry pointed out that 44% of the dealers losing their franchise have another company’s franchise already and can continue selling that brand. Likewise, 83% of the dealers losing their franchise sell more used vehicles than new ones. He also pointed out that the plan to consolidate dealerships and have every one sell all three brands was critical to the decision not to make overlapping products.

[Brickman]

"O'Bryhim points to a new Nitro he has discounted 40% off the sticker: $17,510 instead of the MSRP of $29,170. Soon, he says, he may mark it down even further." (http://www.cnn.com/2009/US/06/02/dealership.closing/index.html?iref=mpstoryview)

[opinionated ow]

So are the dealerships actually owned by the car companies in the USA? :confused:

[nrc]

So are the dealerships actually owned by the car companies in the USA? :confused:

No. They're separate businesses that hold a franchise that gives them the right to sell the brand. Chrysler has asked for the bankruptcy court to allow them terminate about a quarter dealer franchises. The dealers are still fighting it.

http://www.freep.com/article/20090603/BUSINESS01/90603021/Ruling+due+on+Chrysler+franchise+cull

[dando]

So are the dealerships actually owned by the car companies in the USA? :confused:

There was a move by Ford to own the dealerships a few years ago, but the plan failed before it could be implemented.

-Kevin