The Death of the Small Town Chrysler Dealer
#3174072
09/09/23 05:58 PM
09/09/23 05:58 PM
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Joined: Jan 2003
Posts: 1,814 NW
hergfest
OP
top fuel
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OP
top fuel
Joined: Jan 2003
Posts: 1,814
NW
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Re: The Death of the Small Town Chrysler Dealer
[Re: hergfest]
#3174075
09/09/23 06:20 PM
09/09/23 06:20 PM
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Joined: Aug 2019
Posts: 9,509 Super Spudsville
Mr PotatoHead
Half Baked
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Half Baked
Joined: Aug 2019
Posts: 9,509
Super Spudsville
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That situation could be one or all of the six small towns around me. Atwood being one of them, about 45 miles from me. In fact if they took US 36 going back west they would of passed both my farms. I should take pics of the one closed down service stations, like five sided with all glass tilting out. Big news in the local paper when someone stole the empty phone booth.
It is sad... many of us live well in very rural America but when the big city prices and expenditures come here it makes it really hard.
STOP POTATO HATE!
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Re: The Death of the Small Town Chrysler Dealer
[Re: 5thAve]
#3174119
09/09/23 10:51 PM
09/09/23 10:51 PM
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Joined: Jan 2003
Posts: 15,424 Omaha Ne
TJP
I Live Here
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I Live Here
Joined: Jan 2003
Posts: 15,424
Omaha Ne
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I've heard the same sort of issues are affecting larger city dealers too that are more family owned. Some are starting to close or being sold to franchises who can take on the risk better.
I'd love to see what all these older dealers have stashed away especially the old manuals and paper work. We have a huge conglomerate locally named Woodhouse that has been quietly buying up all the smaller privately owned dealerships they can. Can you say price fixing and monopoly?
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Re: The Death of the Small Town Chrysler Dealer
[Re: TJP]
#3174128
09/09/23 11:28 PM
09/09/23 11:28 PM
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Joined: Jan 2003
Posts: 10,735 North Dakota
6PakBee
I Live Here
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I Live Here
Joined: Jan 2003
Posts: 10,735
North Dakota
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Forty years ago my town of 3200 people had a Chevy dealership and a Ford dealership. Now it has neither.
"We live in a time when intelligent people are being silenced so that stupid people won't be offended".
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Re: The Death of the Small Town Chrysler Dealer
[Re: 6PakBee]
#3174130
09/09/23 11:44 PM
09/09/23 11:44 PM
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Joined: Aug 2019
Posts: 9,509 Super Spudsville
Mr PotatoHead
Half Baked
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Half Baked
Joined: Aug 2019
Posts: 9,509
Super Spudsville
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Still got a mopar and chevy dealer in a town of 2300 30 miles north of me.... and a good many other businesses.
STOP POTATO HATE!
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Re: The Death of the Small Town Chrysler Dealer
[Re: hergfest]
#3174132
09/10/23 12:42 AM
09/10/23 12:42 AM
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Joined: Jan 2003
Posts: 21,525 N.E. OHIO, USA
A12
Too Many Posts
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Too Many Posts
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Posts: 21,525
N.E. OHIO, USA
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They gave up their franchise earlier this year. I honestly don't know how they made it through the Bankruptcy, probably because they were the only dealer in the northwest corner of Kansas. They didn't even have a website, sold less than 10 new cars a year. Me too. Not trying to be mean and believe me I know about "mom and pop" shops versus sales and marketing plans of big corporations as they were the heart and soul of the manufacture I worked for, for over four decades but sometimes you have to step up a little or move on. "THEY" gave up their franchise from what hergfest posted NOT that Chrysler came in and took it away..........or is that not the case? Hamburger franchises expect more than what it appears here. "Less than 10 cars a year" I guess the Family and Friends discount was about it for sales.
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Re: The Death of the Small Town Chrysler Dealer
[Re: TJP]
#3174214
09/10/23 01:31 PM
09/10/23 01:31 PM
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Joined: Feb 2022
Posts: 1,225 Nor here, Nor there
Dart 500
pro stock
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pro stock
Joined: Feb 2022
Posts: 1,225
Nor here, Nor there
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I've heard the same sort of issues are affecting larger city dealers too that are more family owned. Some are starting to close or being sold to franchises who can take on the risk better.
I'd love to see what all these older dealers have stashed away especially the old manuals and paper work. We have a huge conglomerate locally named Woodhouse that has been quietly buying up all the smaller privately owned dealerships they can. Can you say price fixing and monopoly? Ive met Woodhouse himself and worked for a group that owned 60 stores, ours ran off volume, the profits were shown and they were minimal ( $300 per car ). They'd buy a new store and the profits would be WAY high ($1500) but they'd drop after the "culture" set in. Keep in mind, a store that flogs away X amount of cars gets bonus checks from the manufacture, in the 6 figure range - thats how they make money. If you want a deal - you go find the big corporate volume store, and you avoid the mom and pop shop. If I got into the game it wouldnt be cars/trucks, I'd open an RV dealership...40-50% profit on that stuff. Slower pace, rent storage, pick and choose what you carry as the market sloshes around, diesel pushers or tent trailers
Last edited by Dart 500; 09/10/23 01:41 PM.
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Re: The Death of the Small Town Chrysler Dealer
[Re: Dart 500]
#3174236
09/10/23 03:31 PM
09/10/23 03:31 PM
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Joined: Jan 2003
Posts: 20,816 A collage of whims
topside
Too Many Posts
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Too Many Posts
Joined: Jan 2003
Posts: 20,816
A collage of whims
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Dealerships make most of their money on the "back end": service, parts, and bodyshop depts. New Car depts aren't the actual profit center, though they do get mfr incentives, but volume is a big deal. Insurance cos have pretty much killed bodyshop profits, and the internet has educated (and/or misinformed) car buyers. Big chains, more beholden to insurance companies, have been buying private bodyshops for many years. So, one of the problems small and small-town dealerships have is service & parts money. Used cars might be more profitable than new ones nowadays, but that's also driven by volume. Think of it like a bank or other huge institution: 2-4% of a billion dollars can work, but on less than a million, not so much.
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Re: The Death of the Small Town Chrysler Dealer
[Re: hergfest]
#3174262
09/10/23 06:12 PM
09/10/23 06:12 PM
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Joined: Jan 2003
Posts: 3,318 Great White North
Wheeler
Master
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Master
Joined: Jan 2003
Posts: 3,318
Great White North
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Thanks for posting. Where I live - a lot of small town Chrysler dealerships have closed. These dealerships are in towns where the population is under 2000 people. I remember going to several of them. It was like walking back in time. One dealerership I went to had originally opened in the 1930s Southey, Saskatchewan (population approx. 800 people) still has a Chrysler dealership. They host a Mopar show every year. https://www.southeymainline.ca/Here's a link to the history of the dealership: https://southeymotors.shopsask.ca/history.htm
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Re: The Death of the Small Town Chrysler Dealer
[Re: TJP]
#3174393
09/11/23 12:34 PM
09/11/23 12:34 PM
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Joined: Jan 2003
Posts: 19,375 Las Vegas
Al_Alguire
I Live Here
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I Live Here
Joined: Jan 2003
Posts: 19,375
Las Vegas
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I've heard the same sort of issues are affecting larger city dealers too that are more family owned. Some are starting to close or being sold to franchises who can take on the risk better.
I'd love to see what all these older dealers have stashed away especially the old manuals and paper work. We have a huge conglomerate locally named Woodhouse that has been quietly buying up all the smaller privately owned dealerships they can. Can you say price fixing and monopoly? I have bought a few Super Dutys from Woodhouse over the years. Always had the best prices
"I am not ashamed to confess I am ignorant of what I do not know."
"It's never wrong to do the right thing"
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Re: The Death of the Small Town Chrysler Dealer
[Re: 5thAve]
#3174398
09/11/23 12:44 PM
09/11/23 12:44 PM
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Joined: Jan 2003
Posts: 10,735 North Dakota
6PakBee
I Live Here
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I Live Here
Joined: Jan 2003
Posts: 10,735
North Dakota
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I'd love to see what all these older dealers have stashed away especially the old manuals and paper work.
When the local Chrysler dealership went out of business in the mid '80's I inquired about the sales records for a car I own. On the advice of counsel, unless a record had to be kept for legal reasons, the advice given was to shred everything. And they did.
"We live in a time when intelligent people are being silenced so that stupid people won't be offended".
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