The plight of small town Chevrolet dealers.

[Ridge K.]

I have included a short video clip, produced by NBC news, concerning the aftershocks of losing small town dealerships.
It covers Wolf Chevrolet, including an intereview with it's third generation owner. An interesting early C1 Corvette in view behind the current owner, while being interviewed in the showroom.
These are the Chevy dealerships that I remember well, growing up in the 1950s, and early 1960s.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/27811269#27811269

[Lyndon S.]

Re: The plight of small town Chevrolet dealers.

[Jim T.]

Re: The plight of small town Chevrolet dealers.

Our local Chevy dealership has oil changes/lubrication for $12.95, and has for months to get business to the dealership. Even has a large roadside billboard sign about a mile down the road advertising the oil change and also advertises some on the local radio.

[Mike M.]

Re: The plight of small town Chevrolet dealers.

one of our local chevy dealerships, owned by a pompous jerk, also has the toyota dealership on the same lot as the chevy. a customer shopping for a new car or truck is always directed to the rice burners by the sales force. a customer who persists on the GM brand is given a hard time. been this way for 10 years or more. i go out of town for my new chevy pickups.mike

[Stuart F.]

Re: The plight of small town Chevrolet dealers.

Way to go Mike. Make sure you get a nice big dealer sticker from the out-of-town dealer to put on your tailgate, and drive in there frequently to rub it in.

Stu Fox

[Dick W.]

Re: The plight of small town Chevrolet dealers.

Reducing the number of dealerships has been a priority for GM, Ford, and Chrysler for quite a few years now. It never made sense to me to have 3-4 dealers in a 20 mile radius. I read the other day that Ford had paid $700,000 and up to dealers that were willing to surrender their franchise.

I see both sides of the story, the small family dealer that has been there since Noah bought parts to build the ark, and the manufacturer who spends the same amount of money to service a 100 pp dealer and one that has 2,000 +pp. Unfortunately it is a sign of the times. The overhead to run a dealership is mind boggling. The town I live in has the big 3, Toyota and Nissan. Smart money here is betting that the F**d delaership is the only one that will survive. They have been in business since 1914, have a fairly modern facility, and have $ 0 debt. They do not floor plan anything, cash in the bank to pay for inventory and have been that way for over 50 years according to the owners.