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Old 03-19-2018, 12:38 PM   #8
DealerEx
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Join Date: May 2009
Posts: 548
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Quote:
Originally Posted by possum View Post
jayhawk is exactly right, and I too have said for years that the "Factory" hates the Dealer Network, and will dump them all asap.
YEP !! If they could figure out a way to handle the trade-ins and service they'd close every dealer down in a heartbeat--been that way for years. Ford tried to do it with "The Ford Collection" in the 90's when they bought out the metro stores in Salt Lake City, Rochester NY, Tulsa and Oklahoma City. and got their asses handed to them by the dealers surrounding the metro areas they bought out. They pulled the plug on it after about 18 months. The practice of selling parts and vehicles outside the dealer network at lower prices has been going on since back in the 70's (maybe before, but that's when I first started in a franchised dealership). The manufacturer's fleet departments would sell to the rental car companies cheaper than the dealers could buy the cars for. It became a hot button issue at the annual meetings every year, but the factory execs would just nod their heads and keep right on doing it. I was in Detroit in 1983 going through GM's Dealer Candidate School, and was eating lunch at the same table as GM's Fleet Division National Manager after he had spoken to the class that morning.
We were discussing the issue, and presenting the Dealer's viewpoint that NO ONE should be able to buy the vehicles for less than the dealers because the dealers were the ones that had the investment in the facilities, the training, the equipment and special tools, and the FRANCHISE. He said that was just the way it had always been done and always would be done. I mentioned that TADA (Texas Auto Dealer's Association) was getting a bill pushed thru committee to make it illegal for them to do so. He laughed and said "You dealers can pass all the laws you want, but it won't change a thing--we'll just give'em the money under the table and they'll still be buying them cheaper than you and there's not damn thing you can do about it." Then he got up and tossed his napkin on the table and left. There were some muttered remarks about various parts of the anatomy, but we all realized that he was right. They didn't care what the dealers thought--they would do whatever they pleased.
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