Help a Chrysler dealer with your business
As you might have heard by now, several hundred Chrysler dealers are going out of business. This is a very unfortunate circumstance for the operators of the franchises that will be shut down.
However, if you’re in the market for a car, you could help out a Chrysler dealer and benefit from it at the same time.
Plight of the Chrysler dealer
The owner of Sunshine Dodge-Isuzu in Melbourne, Florida, wrote a letter to the editor about the situation he faces. He explained that Chrysler informed him the company is terminating its franchise agreement and turning the dealership over to another car dealer.
Basically, the owner of Sunshine Dodge, George Joseph was stuck with all the merchandise. Joseph wrote:
My new vehicle inventory consists of 125 vehicles with a financed balance of 3 million dollars. This inventory becomes impossible to sell with no factory incentives beyond June 9, 2009.
That’s where you come in. Joseph and other Chrysler dealers need money now.
In the market for a car?
If you are looking to buy a car, you could get a great deal at a Chrysler dealer going out of business sale. Better yet, you could get a really great deal on it.
Chrysler dealers are trying to get rid of as much inventory as they can — as quickly as they can. It’s a bad situation for them, but if you take advantage of it, you’ll actually be helping them out.
Background on Chrysler dealers going out of business
Just to catch you up, here are some details from previous reports on what has been going on with Chrysler:
United States automaker Chrysler says it will close 789 of its U.S. dealerships, which adds up to about a quarter of its total dealerships.
According to the Washington Post, Chrysler has 3,181 dealerships in the U.S.
Who will be hit hard
Toledo.com, a news outlet in Toledo, Ohio, says that 47 dealerships in Ohio, mostly in the northeastern part of the state, will close.
The Chrysler dealerships closing include Jeep and Dodge. Many Jeep, Dodge and Dodge Truck dealerships across the country will be shut down.
Does Chrysler need debt relief?
The dealership shutdowns are the result of Chrysler rushing to pare down business and cuts costs. Chrysler has already filed for bankruptcy protection and gotten $4 billion in federal loans.
Chrysler received bankruptcy protection April 30. Chrysler has been conducting a project called “Project Genesis” to determine which dealerships are the “most desirable,” according to The Washington Post. That helped the automaker determine which Chrysler dealerships are closing.
History of an American automaker
According to Wikipedia, Chrysler was:
first organized as Chrysler Corporation in 1925. From 1998 to 2007, Chrysler and its subsidiaries were part of the German based DaimlerChrysler AG (now Daimler AG). … Under DaimlerChrysler, the company was named “DaimlerChrysler Motors Company LLC”, with its U.S. operations generally referred to as the “Chrysler Group”. On May 14, 2007, DaimlerChrysler announced the sale of 80.1% of Chrysler Group to American private equity firm Cerberus Capital Management, L.P., although Daimler continued to hold a 19.9% stake. This was when the company took on its current name. The deal was finalized on August 3, 2007.
