January Auto Sales Predictions

[XDCX]

Originally Posted by CL Pgh

46% (115 stores) of MABC dealerships sold 10 units or less... and at that market meeting I mentioned from last Weds. ... not a single word was mentioned about increasing sales from the zone folks.

Very similar results for the West BC - 43% (102 stores) of the dealers sold 10 or fewer vehicles.

[CarguyCO]

Yikes..I don't feel so badly then....

[Ralph]

yeeeeee haaaaaa......I sold 10. Damn, we're good!!!!!

[XDCX]

Originally Posted by Ralph

yeeeeee haaaaaa......I sold 10. Damn, we're good!!!!!

We're just happy you're still around. Based on your Christmas Day post I was afraid you'd be closed down.

[Ralph]

One final swing of the benefit, overtime, commission, and salary axe was what I did. Stubborn...yes. Intelligent...Maybe. The right thing to do....who the f**k knows. January was the worst month, dollars wise, since 1981. I'll be "open and transparent"...LOL...

10 new , 8 used, $8451 total commissionable gross profit in the sales department. Dealer principal makes $0...from 45 employees to 19 in 13 months...$59,000 property tax bill for the next 12 months, plus $25,000 currently in arrears, $60,000 income tax bill coming March 15th because of LIFO reductions brought into the bottom line...down to 3 techs because two left for other jobs with foreign OEM dealerships where they actually have service business.

Question...how do you bring new techs in to replace them when you can offer no paid vacation, no paid sick days, hopefully 40 hours of work a day, and your a Chrysler/Dodge/Jeep/Ram dealership? On top of this, speaking of service, more training required so I can get paid for labor, (techs have to be at a certain level of training in order for the dealer to be paid for their warranty labor ops), plus more and more crap being thrown at us by Mother Chrysler via SGS, 5 Star, .........I could go on and on.

In my case, as I shrink and slowly rot on the vine, Chrysler's delighted at their progress and profitability. How the hell am I...or anyone else like me, possibly live up to the myriad of new requirements they're throwing at us? Pretty grim kids...pretty grim.

On a bright note, I've sold all my Wranglers and have one scheduled for build. Down to 2 minivans and none scheduled...(since September), a total of three invoices for vehicles received in the last 30 days....

I'm convinced Chrysler is starving out the small guys now. I have a binder of "on order status" matched with allocation. I'm not getting it, not even close. I'm down to 20 on the ground, 2 Rams, a Caliber, a Patriot, a Challenger, 2 Chargers, 2 300's, 2 minivans...thats a recipe for a major sales boost coming in the fabled spring market.

I seem to be Joe Negative sometimes, but I have to say I feel fine. You can't be miserable forever and after awhile it becomes normal. LOL

[possum]

Isn't there a song verse............"I'm feelin better, when I'm feelin no pain" ?

[XDCX]

Originally Posted by Ralph

Stubborn...yes. Intelligent...Maybe. The right thing to do....who the f**k knows.

Can you imagine how many dealers are asking themselves that same question every month?

I'm glad you're hanging in there but I'd also respect a dealer who was smart enough to know when to cut his losses.

The situation you describe is one of the reasons I'm so frustrated with Marchionne's decision to abandon market share in the name of profitability. The dealers didn't have the luxury of being able to wipe away debts with bankruptcy and can't survive on Chrysler's new production plan.

I wish I had some better answers for you. My bet is the Chrysler dealers who survive this mess will be the ones with low overhead and strong used car operations. (A strong S&P operation would also work.)