Chrysler Dealers: Closing Day Arrives

It's a sad week for hundreds of Chrysler dealers across the country. As the Detroit automaker's bankruptcy process unfolds, dealerships will be either closing shop in the next few days or awaiting the results of a bankruptcy hearing which may give them a chance at survival.

Still, Chrysler has already withdrawn its support for the dealers, which has meant no new inventory, no warranty protection, and no corporate sales offers for buyers. As USA Today reports, hundreds of dealerships are winding down their operations this week. The Detroit automaker has already announced that it is closing 789 dealerships, reducing its network to 2,400.

(Read our full list of the Chrysler dealerships that are closing.)

Chrysler's cuts have meant the loss of thousands of jobs and, for some, the end of a long-standing community presence. USA Today talked to one particularly prominent dealer in California:

"'I have a Chrysler-Dodge-Jeep dealership with no cars. I can't go forward with this business plan,' says Howard Sellz, who has been in the car business 44 years and runs Big Valley Dodge -- now just three acres of empty lots in the Los Angeles suburb of Van Nuys. His office is filled with decades of photos showing him with famous customers and friends such as Jay Leno, Chuck Connors, Sandy Koufax and Frank Sinatra."

Yesterday, the Supreme Court put Chrysler's pending sale to Fiat on hold temporarily, in response to a lawsuit from a group of Indiana pension funds and consumer advocacy groups. Fiat has said that it will not walk away from a deal with Chrysler.

Read USA Today's full story and check out their video.

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Comments

[geithnertookmymoney]

Having said that, unless we rethink the way we use our wealth, this world is doomed. al-Waleed bin Talal, however he came by his wealth is in a position to make a difference. Instead he chooses conspicuous self-consumption.
next shoe to drop real soon...hyp­erinflatio­n..market tanking..s­ell now

good articles for a slow news day: http://www.iamned.comned.com">Econ & Finance Articles Updated Daily

[tippydog11]

They have built good cars, but not new ideas on how to save on "gas" and poor leadership CEOs hmmmm? working together with oil executives you think? wealthy hang around with the wealthy you think?

[tippydog11]

And please give this Pres time it has only been 5 months ...this took over 8 years ....to create..an­d all departments in government were a mess also...sta­rting from scratch on all fronts...p­lus putting a whole new team in....work with this Pres..work­ing hard on every massive front...no­t just one crises more like 12 crises and the world...

[tippydog11]

sad but I think we will all see now, why saving American auto business was so important.­.... how one job lost effects 7 more jobs lost....re­tail, product production in other business..­travel, homes, babysitters, hair cuts etc etc...righ­t down the line....au­to also we need their lines for if God forbid another major war....to build military weapons, machinery in last great war...buy American..­and do not listen to conservati­ves...tell­ing us other wise...we lent them the money we want it back with interest..­like Banks just paid back $1 Billlion ++ which is not mentioned on the news or by republicans.

[Deaninphilly]

What I would like to know is how much does it really cost for a vehicle. Chrysler dealerships down here in Florida are selling $30K vehicles for more than 50% off. Are they selling at a loss? I don't believe they are. So the question or questions are, how much money are they fleecing from us? If they had priced cars at reasonable prices would they be in the position they are in now as they let greed overcome themselves.

[sarabono]

They are selling at a loss. Chrysler, itself, is offering only 50% of MSRP for vehicles they take back from closed dealers. If the dealer can sell the car for more than 50% off, that is a better deal.

[Deaninphilly]

No here in Florida dealerships that are closing are selling for 50% off the car. They are not coming from other dealerships.

[watchTVgetSTUPID]

Is this part of Obama's plan to create jobs? Instead of protecting American manufacturing jobs by requiring balanced trade enforced with tariffs, Obama's Wall Street team has chosen to sacrifice them. In April Geithner said China is not manipulating their currency. This just proves they are deliberately sacrificing American industry. Not only will Obama eliminate millions of jobs, he will hollow out the strength of the economy. Stay tuned for hyperinflation and liquidtion of the empire

Meanwhile the republican radio commentators are drumming up resentment for any attempt to save GM and Chrysler from liquidation. This is what happens when Wall Street buys both parties with $6.1 billion dollars to compliment their overwhelming control of the media.

[SaveYourDealer]

What about closing dealerships. The Bankruptcy Judge said the Debtor (Chrysler) has a right in bankruptcy to cancel any contracts it sees fit. Unfortunately, all the evidence shows that at least in the short run these dealers are a big revenue source and not an expense. The Auto task force now denies pushing them to cut so many dealers so quickly. They want GM & Chrysler to be like Toyota.
They think 1200 dealers selling 1200+ vehicles a year is why Toyota is successful. BS, Toyota is successful because it builds and services good vehicles. Toyota improved its standing in recent years by recognizing the weakness of dealers too far apart. The added dealers in small and rural markets who sell only 100 to 200 vehicles a year. They see the value in more & smaller dealers.
CALL your CONGRESSMAN to re-instate your dealer. Let the market place decide the number of dealers. Consumers know best. H.R. 2743 Dealers cost nothing and are big employers.

[obamabiden2011]

Total credit market debt as a percentage of GDP has risen from 130% of GDP in 1952 to 350% of GDP today. The various bailout and stimulus schemes enacted in the last year will drive this percentage above 400% in the near future. When a country allows this much debt to accumulate versus its GDP, they have done something seriously wrong. The country’s politicians, business leaders, and citizens have all contributed to this disaster.

good articles..­. http://kl.am/tsc recommended reading

[vagabondvet]

Interesting article:

http://directorblue.blogspot.com/2009/05/closing-chryslers-dealerships-readers.html

[themodernleader]

The whole rotten economy is shutting down with massive layoffs, just as we have finished giving our last dime of credit to a bunch of common crooks in our dishonest financial system. There is terrible suffering ahead for the ordinary people. Our Republic is in peril. Our leaders are fools for trying to cover up economic crimes against humanity---- against Americans most of all.
Even a respected Chinese intellectual spoke of our leaders as being incompetent and deranged for allowing out manufacturing to be taken from our country and people. Now we have no more work. We have no future. Such a condition is the seed bed for revolution and ruin.

[watchTVgetSTUPID]

Get ready fo hyperinflation due to crashing dollar value. The dollar is not backed by gold nor the good faith of the American government. It is backed by America's ability to create tangable wealth. With manufacturing gone, the dollar will go also. Soon we will witness the dismantling of an empire. All because of greedy Wall Street who controls both parties and most of the media.

[Mildmannered]

I feel very sorry for the owners and employees of the dealerships which are to be closed.

But then many tens of millions of people have been damaged economically from the Bush recession.

[POLINUT]

LOL! Cya!

Shoulda given us what we needed rather than what we wanted.

[KillTheMessenger]

Jimmy Carter tried to... so you voted for Ronald Reagan.

:-)

[Deaninphilly]

That has to be the du mbe st statement. If they only sold what you needed you wouldn't have bought it has it wasn't what you wanted. They gave you exactly what you wanted to buy. It is up to you to buy what you need not the company.

[realtorgal]

Obama is the world’s worst investor. It was he who first urged President George W. Bush to begin the auto bailout in November 2008 as a means for General Motors and Chrysler to avoid bankruptcy. Every other sound financial thinker already knew that bankruptcy was inevitable.

Taxpayers are already on the hook for $110 billion in auto bailout funds, and both General Motors and Chrysler are in Chapter 11 anyway. President Obama plans to shovel additional billions into Chrysler. The man now running Chrylers- Barry "the auto magnate" Obama,has no plan and cannot guarantee anything but more burden on taxayers. Look at the burden we have by "owning" a postal servie, a vet hospital and a ramshackle train "servie' which is quite a burden! I don't want to own any more bankrupt companies---HELP us Dr. Ron Paul!

Had they simply been allowed to go bankrupt, they might have been liquidated. They certainly would have been liquidated sooner, and with less debt. And the companies that emerged with Chrysler’s assets from liquidation would likely have had lower overhead and a better chance of survival and creating jobs.

But Barack Obama followed the Soviet example and decided that “government knows best” when it comes to industry. The result is not just bankruptcy but $110 billion bled from the U.S. Treasury in bailout funds. The Chrysler jobs that have been “saved,” if they are eventually saved, won’t support the tax rolls; the tax rolls already support the “jobs.”

[SangZe]

Yes, we can . . .

[Mildmannered]

no companies would have emerged from the liquidation

[Enid]

Californians tax payers payed or if you wish charged for Iraq, Afghanistan war. Spending from 2001 to present 117.4 BILLON dollars. Still counting more dollars yet for BUSH's WAR.

[KaLaPa111]

Blah, blah, blah, Barack did it, blah, blah, blah. When are you guys going to get a new chorus?

[SaveYourDealer]

No new chorus as long as Obamas Task force and Treasury insisted on pushing profitable dealers out. Yes, Busch should have forced them into Bankruptcy in December.
The dealers would have faired better because the task force and treasury and GM & Chrysler would'nt have had time to shoot themselves in the foot with massive dealer reductions.
Iacocca never cut dealers because he new it was'nt a fix to the problem. Dealers went away as a result of the market . The remaining (large) dealer body helped pay off the loans early as the bigger dealer network was an advantage when new products arrived and the economy improved. Tell your congressman to re-instate the dealers. It was a mistake to cut so many so quickly. Re-instate, let the poor economy knock out the weak dealers not the courts. Prices are starting to rise and consumers will have fewer choices.

[SangZe]

Change you can count on.

[DrJimmy]

Yes it is all Obama's fault.....­.
When did this start.....­Try the "K" car .... give me a break

[MsIrisMG]

I'd go back to when they bought and destroyed American Motors. Then there was the Gremlin, the Pacer...

[eagledavey]

With one blow, the Obama Administration fired 200,000 people, according to one study. And the press yawned. Good job.

[luckybear]

Good they deserved to be fired.

[eagledavey]

I bet you work for the government­...local, state or fed?