Letter from a Dodge dealer

American Thinker ^ | 5/19/09 | American Thinker

[American Dream 246]

My name is George C. Joseph. I am the sole owner of Sunshine Dodge-Isuzu, a family owned and operated business in Melbourne, Florida. My family bought and paid for this automobile franchise 35 years ago in 1974. I am the second generation to manage this business.

We currently employ 50+ people and before the economic slowdown we employed over 70 local people. We are active in the community and the local chamber of commerce. We deal with several dozen local vendors on a day to day basis and many more during a month. All depend on our business for part of their livelihood. We are financially strong with great respect in the market place and community. We have strong local presence and stability.

I work every day the store is open, nine to ten hours a day. I know most of our customers and all our employees. Sunshine Dodge is my life.

On Thursday, May 14, 2009 I was notified that my Dodge franchise, that we purchased, will be taken away from my family on June 9, 2009 without compensation and given to another dealer at no cost to them. My new vehicle inventory consists of 125 vehicles with a financed balance of 3 million dollars. This inventory becomes impossible to sell with no factory incentives beyond June 9, 2009. Without the Dodge franchise we can no longer sell a new Dodge as "new," nor will we be able to do any warranty service work. Additionally, my Dodge parts inventory, (approximately $300,000.) is virtually worthless without the ability to perform warranty service. There is no offer from Chrysler to buy back the vehicles or parts inventory.

Our facility was recently totally renovated at Chrysler's insistence, incurring a multi-million dollar debt in the form of a mortgage at Sun Trust Bank.

HOW IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA CAN THIS HAPPEN?

THIS IS A PRIVATE BUSINESS NOT A GOVERNMENT ENTITY

This is beyond imagination! My business is being stolen from me through NO FAULT OF OUR OWN. We did NOTHING wrong.

This atrocity will most likely force my family into bankruptcy. This will also cause our 50+ employees to be unemployed. How will they provide for their families? This is a total economic disaster.

HOW CAN THIS HAPPEN IN A FREE MARKET ECONOMY IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA?

I beseech your help, and look forward to your reply. Thank you.

Sincerely,

George C. Joseph President & Owner Sunshine Dodge-Isuzu

[HKMk23]

Begging your pardon, but any “worker bees” who voted for this Obama cretin are by NO means “innocent”; they should bear the FULL FORCE of the destruction presently coming upon this country.

[BlueNgold]

Wonder what the racial balance of the kept dealerships is.

Seriously? You said that out loud?
And you wonder how people can go on CNN and MSNBC and call FR a racist hate site - thanks for enabling them.

And by the by, thank your kid for going to Colorado Springs instead of Annapolis. We neither need nor want that kind of idiocy at Navy.

[Free Descendant]

Can the courts do something? Even if Dodge is contractually entitled to do this to someone it’s so one sided I should think a judge could nullify this. It’s criminal.

[navyguy]

There must be some way this guy can sue the Fed or Chrysler. I know that if I were him I would have difficulty exercisng restraint.

[Radix]

"Shut up and take your free health care, prole."

Yeah right, he should not have voted for Obama in the first place. Now he is a prole thanks to the anointed one.

Besides, what is the loss of just 51 people's jobs in the grand scheme of things?

Gosh, here I am without a sarcasm tag.

[El Gato]

A dealership must carry a certain number of new vehicles - that means production rates must be aligned to the minimum stock required. At the end of each model year a certain number of cars/trucks at each dealership are converted to used because they could not be sold. Less dealerships means less used conversions.

I would think that the requirements for maintaining a certain number of new vehicles would vary by the size of the dealership, say as measured by last year's sales, or the approximate population served by the dealership. If that is true, it throws your analysis into a cocked hat. More, but smaller dealers would mean less geographic area per dealer, and more convenience for the buyers, especially when it came to service.

Also, brand loyalty is often really dealer loyalty. I know it is for my wife, sort of in reverse. They don't treat her right at the local dealership, she buys another brand, she does not travel to the next county to buy from another dealer. Happened to her twice. She'd had several Fords in a row, but the local service folks got on her bad side, so she bought a Mazda (which is "part Ford" anyway. Then Mazda closed her dealership, which she *did* like, so she bought a Hyundai, which she is quite happy with at this point. (although now, I'm PO'd cause my 4 cylinder Ford, of about equal size and quality) cost more and gets worse mileage than her 6 cylinder Hyundai. Plus the dealer I bought it from also has Hyundai at a nearby location (far from hers, long story) )

[jennyjenny]

The Dodge dealer in my area (red, suburban area) who was also the #1 Dodge dealer in the metropolitan area, in business for 50 some years, is being forced to close. Whereas a dealer in the city limits (definitely a blue area) gets to stay open. I’ve heard several stories like this, but not necessarily enough to confirm it’s overt. I’d be real surprised if people aren’t looking in to how the decisions were made.

[jennyjenny]

You can also look at donations on opensecrets.org.

[Dionysius]

Dear Mr. Joseph,

You died so that the UAW might live. Your status as a Martyr for the State will be recognized at the next Democratic Party Candlelight Rally.

Sieg Heil!

Unterfuehrer Rahm Von Emmanual

[goodnesswins]

Do you by any chance know the name (and heritage, and political leanings) of the dealership this is being transferred to?

[goodnesswins]

Hey, buddy....DEMOCRATS are the RACISTS....they were the ones who instituted Jim Crow laws, started the Klu Klux Klan, and fought AGAINST EVERY Civil Rights law from the 1860’s thru the 1960’s, including Al Gore Sr’s recordbreaking filibuster of the 1964 Civil Rights Act!!! Read Unfounded Loyalty by a BLACK American.

That a question is asked about “heritage” is logical in light of all that.

[WarriorPoet]

My “Made in the USA” vehicle is a Toyota Tundra—manufactured in Princeton, IN....a fine vehicle which has served me well, no mechanical hiccups and as tight now as the day I bought it.

[Labyrinthos]

Excellent post.

[El Gato]

He didn’t say “The franchise I’ve spent 35 years building was destroyed”, he said it was taken away and given to another dealer.

That means the authorization to sell new Dodges, and do warranty work on Chrysler vehicles in general, was taken away, and assigned to one or more relatively nearby dealers. They did not take any inventory that he owned, nor his buildings, equipment, etc. Of course they left him with the debt that it took to buy those cars and refurbish those buildings.

[only1percent]

yes but under bankruptcy rules creditors have a right of redress if they are being treated differently than other members of the same class.

If it turns out that dealers who are the wrong skin color or made the wrong political contributions are being specifically targeted, then they can go to the bankrupcy juge.

Obama was trying to prevent that so he could imperially order the reorganization according to his left wing communist vision.

Yes and no. The Bankruptcy Code permits you pick and choose which "executory contracts" (including franchise agreements) you "reject" (break) and which ones you don't. Everyone whose executory contract was rejected gets their (specially calculated) claim treated equally with those other unsecured creditors ... but the problem is that Chrysler doesn't have enough value to provide any recovery to its unsecured creditors. The recovery that the VEBA trustee (the UAW health benefit account) is getting is in theory related to future concessions as well as past claims.

In theory, if someone could prove that Chrysler was motivated by bias against a protected minority in choosing who to reject, the Court might do something about that. However, whites aren't a protected minority. And political status isn't a protected classification at all. In any event, the burden of proof would be sky-high.

[El Gato]

However, an objective look at the restructuring needed at Chrysler will show that fewer dealerships is a good thing for the business in the long run.

Possibly true, but it's how it's being done that is the issue.

[jennyjenny]

What would cause you to believe the powers that be at Chrysler would suddenly show the ability to make good, sound financial decisions? His Chrysler dealership is profitable; Chrysler is not.

[Tench_Coxe]

"Some folks are going to start going Bowman pretty soon I think."

Ceaucescu had a pretty good run.....

[DallasDeb]

You calling me a racist? If so, you’re an idiot. Any thinking person (logical) would wonder based on the fact that Obama is a racist.

[DallasDeb]

Thank you.