Is the Todey Auto Group in Oxnard closed down?

[XDCX]

I received an e-mail last night about the Todey Dealer Group in Oxnard, CA. Is the Todey Group closed down or did they just sell off their franchises?

Here's a listing of the Todey stores that are vacant or appear to be closed down:

• Todey Chevrolet Oxnard
• Todey Truck Center Oxnard (vacant)
• Todey Camarillo Used Cars (lease expired)
• Todey Lincoln Mercury Oxnard (franchise now at Vista Ford Oxnard)
• Todey Mazda Oxnard (vacant)
• Todey Hyundai Mitsubishi Ventura (3 cars on the ground)

I used to live in Ventura for a short time and the Todey Group was well known as volume stores. I wonder what happened?

[XDCX]

I received a PM from a new member who indicated the Todey stores are like ghost towns and it's a bit of a mystery why they are closed.

I'd heard the GM store may have been on a wind down agreement and consolidating a Lincoln/Mercury store with a Ford store is certainly a common happening. That said, I would think Hyundai's a hot franchise and it would attract a buyer for the store before simply closing down.

[scooter]

That is too bad. I met Mr. Todey, when I worked with Mitsubishi and he had the franchise in Camarillo. Very nice man and even though I was just a grunt in distribution, he would make a point to talk to me when he came into the office. And of course when he asked a favor on a hot product (way back when Mitsubishi had hot products) I would try to help him. This is sooo sad, this economy is ruining a lot of good businesses.

[XDCX]

Originally Posted by scooter

That is too bad. I met Mr. Todey, when I worked with Mitsubishi and he had the franchise in Camarillo. Very nice man and even though I was just a grunt in distribution, he would make a point to talk to me when he came into the office. And of course when he asked a favor on a hot product (way back when Mitsubishi had hot products) I would try to help him. This is sooo sad, this economy is ruining a lot of good businesses.

Wow, I never knew you worked for Mitsubishi.

Concerning Todey, there still don't seem to be many details. Perhaps it was all part of a wind-down plan or maybe it was something worse - no one seems to know.

Concerning this economy and what it's done to the car business, I agree that a lot of good dealers have been wiped out. I remember first thinking that when Art Schaier closed his CJD dealership in Fillmore - I bet that was almost two years ago.

[LastMango1524]

All Todey stores currently vacant as of 09/28/2011.

The Conant Group takeover of the Todey Hyundai franchise has been a huge success, with the store selling huge numbers at the renovated Todey Lincoln-Mercury Mazda location in the Oxnard Auto Center. No Mazda franchise in the Ventura/Oxnard area and the Mitsubishi location in the Ventura Auto Center appears to have pulled the plug on a Used vehicle sales & Mitsubishi parts and service endeavor. Todey Truck Center and Todey Camarillo Used cars were on leases that were allowed to expire and are now occupied by other tenants.

The once-thriving Todey Chevrolet (a 200-300 car store in its heyday) is a ghost town that is used as a storage facility for carnival rides, boats and motor homes.

[XDCX]

Originally Posted by LastMango1524

All Todey stores currently vacant as of 09/28/2011.

The Conant Group takeover of the Todey Hyundai franchise has been a huge success, with the store selling huge numbers at the renovated Todey Lincoln-Mercury Mazda location in the Oxnard Auto Center. No Mazda franchise in the Ventura/Oxnard area and the Mitsubishi location in the Ventura Auto Center appears to have pulled the plug on a Used vehicle sales & Mitsubishi parts and service endeavor. Todey Truck Center and Todey Camarillo Used cars were on leases that were allowed to expire and are now occupied by other tenants.

The once-thriving Todey Chevrolet (a 200-300 car store in its heyday) is a ghost town that is used as a storage facility for carnival rides, boats and motor homes.

Thanks for the update.

That used to be my old stomping ground and I cannot believe that the Todey Chevrolet facility remains empty. That's a great facility with freeway exposure and a large enough population base to support a store that needs to sell cars in volume.

I'm happy to hear the Connent Group found success with Hyundai in the Oxnard Auto Center. The last time I was in that area it looked like the Oxnard Auto Center was dieing off so I'm sure having a high-volume Hyundai store has been a welcome addition.

On a different note, what ever happened to the facility Crown built for his KIA franchise? The last time I was in the area it was still vacant.

Additionally, any idea what happened to the old Chrysler/Jeep/Dodge facility in Fillmore. When I was there about two years ago the Schaier's had just closed it down - I was curious if anyone ever put the facility back to use?

[LastMango1524]

Not only is the Crown Kia facility vacant, it appears that Crown Dodge Chrysler Jeep (they've taken over Chrysler from Harbor and Jeep from Kirby) is working off about a 1/3 of capacity inventory.
Kirby has taken over Kia with pretty good results to date in the Ventura Auto Center.
The Fillmore CJD store has remained vacant for over three years.
BTW, did you know that the Ventura Volvo location in the Ventura Auto Center is now the Player's Club Poker House?

[XDCX]

Originally Posted by LastMango1524

Not only is the Crown Kia facility vacant, it appears that Crown Dodge Chrysler Jeep (they've taken over Chrysler from Harbor and Jeep from Kirby) is working off about a 1/3 of capacity inventory.
Kirby has taken over Kia with pretty good results to date in the Ventura Auto Center.
The Fillmore CJD store has remained vacant for over three years.
BTW, did you know that the Ventura Volvo location in the Ventura Auto Center is now the Player's Club Poker House?

Thanks for the information - that's really interesting.

Concerning Crown Dodge, I know there was speculation at the time that their dealership may have been caught-up in the Chrysler Financial to GMAC quagmire. If that's the case it would be difficult to find a new flooring source and that might explain the lower volume.

To be clear, I have no idea if the speculation about the GMAC transition for Crown Dodge is true. It's entirely possible they made the transition but simply decided to run a smaller operation.

Concerning Fillmore, that's too bad. One of our members here was running that store before it was sold to the Schaiers and said Fillmore's a tough market.

Concerning the Player's Club at the old Volvo store, I did read about that when it was going through the approval process. I guess the government officials decided some extra sales tax revenue was more important that restricting that space for car dealers.