Closing existing dealers does not preclude opening a new dealer in the area in the future.

As Forbes (or someone, forgot who) pointed out, Toyota does quite well with only 1200 dealers nationwide. Perhaps they are trying to imitate that model. Apparently, most states have franchising laws protecting the dealers from getting shut off by corporate, so this is a rare chance to get rid of the weaker links.

They’ll either drive (like many import owners), pick a closer domestic brand dealer, or buy a used Chrysler product from a local indie lot / internet seller.

The new auto market is best served by fewer, larger dealers. The corporate mother ship can better control the brand damage that crap dealers are capable of.

Although, in my urban neck of the woods, the domestics’ cannibalistic tendencies are reinforced by too many suburban stores.

Yeah, and I noticed that both Kirkland and Bellevue CDJ dealerships remain, even though they’re only about 6 miles apart!

I had the SAME experience at one of the Jeep dealerships I visited. The salesman said “We don’t negotiate on price.” Wouldn’t budge. This was on the Saturday after Chryco declared bankruptcy!! Unbelievable!

If Chrysler didn’t close dealerships, you’d (eventually) have all these empty lots with very few new vehicles on them to sell.

This is undoubtedly what GM is planning to do soon, as well.

I’ll believe it when I see it. On the last weekend in April, and then again on the first weekend in May, I visited Jeep dealerships and attempted to buy a Jeep Patriot. Let me tell you this: these dealers are living in Fantasyland! It is as though they are completely unaware that Chryco is in bankruptcy, or that the nation is mired in a recession! They wanted top dollar for the vehicle. It was absurd. Jeep Patriot sales for April 2009 are -69% from April 2008. I think part of the reason for the sharp drop is because the dealers are asking way too much. They’re clueless.

The deal I got on a 300C Heritage still favored the dealer heavily, and they wouldn’t budge. The dealer wouldn’t contribute ANYTHING to the deal (it was all Chrysler & Chrysler Financial money on the hood), and then wanted me to take it quite deep on the trade. The dealer itself would have made THOUSANDS on me. Wouldn’t budge one inch.

I took my business elsewhere, got the deal I wanted on a non-Chrysler product, and they are now out of business. Good riddance to every one of the turds on this list.

On the flip side, the local BMW dealer is expanding. Check out their new 40 bay service department. Now that’s what I call a garage.

http://www.parkavebmw.com/new-bmw-service-center.htm

The real bonus is that Chryco is NOT buying back the cars…they have to be sold to other dealers AT AUCTION. Do I recall correctly that up until recently Chryco was stuffing the dealers with cars ? Talk about a screwing. “Here, eat this…and this…and this…What, you ripped your pants ? It’s all your fault, you fat bastard !”

I hope the dealers all have homes in Florida. They will need somewhere to live after personal bankrupcy. (FL has an unlimited home exemption for bankruptcy).

So, the 40k sticker Hemi 300C, which would be sold to us for 37k and still make $ for the dealer, will be sold below real (whatever that actually is) dealer cost to another dealer.

ugly, very ugly. They could have at least taken the cars back. Some very expensive booze is being opened tonite……

I don’t think there are as many Chrysler dealerships per potential customer here in California as there are in the east and midwest. Hence Santa Clara County (aka Silicon Valley) didn’t loose a single one in this cull. But, there were only four to start with serving a population of of about 1.75 million people.

If they add the 1000+ GM closings (expected any day now) it could look very crowded, indeed.

Meanwhile Congress might give more of our money to the dealers to let them enjoy some Bailoutedness

Isn’t that supposed to be a good thing?

I wouldn’t mind getting my hands on a brand new dirt cheap 4WD Jeep Patriot Limited. I’ve always liked that car.

Because if Mopar is going to sell 20 cars in Pensacola, it shouldn’t really matter if it was from one dealership or two or five. They won’t necessarily sell MORE cars with fewer dealers.

I can see from a dealer perspective you may not want the competition.

How, exactly, does terminating dealer franchises help Chrysler? Does it cost them money to have a dealer in Podunk, Texas with a Chrysler sign out front?

That said, ever since I bought my Toyota the dealer has had nothing but excuses why this or that is not covered by the (expensive. extended) warranty.

I don’t think Ward Drennan is stupid or a liar. If he had any idea he was on the list I seriously doubt he would have been running commercials defending Chrysler.

honestly, they could just run that one dealership with all 3 of the Chrysler brands. There was never a need to have single-brand dealers when the company has multiple brands anyway.

One time I was waiting for my Mazda oil-change and test drove a Caliber to kill some time. what a piece of junk for more money (at similar equipment) than my Mazda 3 5-door. and the Dodge sales guy must have been new to the business (and to cars in general) because he knew absolutely nothing about cars.

Governor Rell went on TV to sign the bill at the East Hartford CJD(maybe T) dealer.

The legislation puts in place new protections for dealers so they will not be left in a financial bind for new car inventories, tools or parts when a manufacturer shuts down a product line. In addition, the bill clarifies details of franchise agreements and creates a new system for reimbursing warranty service and labor costs. It also requires payment of the fair market value of the goodwill of a franchise if a product line is shut down.

“We have already seen Pontiac fade away and lines like Saturn, Saab and Hummer are on the chopping block,” Governor Rell said. “All of these are important protections for Connecticut dealers and they come at a critical time. I thank the Legislature for passing this bill quickly and I am pleased to sign it.”

[emphasis mine]

Good luck with those parts in bold! On TV I saw the Governor say that she expected car companies to buy back tools, cars and inventory if they kill a brand.

The real question, to me, is why the pols in CT think that any of this will hold sway with a federal bankruptcy judge?

I note, in passing, that the dealer where the bill was signed is not on this closings list.