Posted on 05/19/2009 10:29:47 AM PDT by 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
Her comments had nothing to do with economics and everything to do with racism. There was nothing reasonable about what she said, and likely nothing reasonable in my response.
Shock value? Sure.
Should people stand up, take notice, and comment when they see racism? I believe so.
Will anything I said change her opinion? Probably not.
Will she think before she says something that bigoted again? I can only hope so.
In order to toss out the UAW contract it certainly does. UAW would have called their bluff and tried a work stoppage, and Chrysler would had to have been willing to let them...
I have qualified my statement time and again on this thread - Chrysler was failing and should have been allowed to fall all the way - crash - burn. Sell the bad assets and burn the contracts. Let new investors come in and pick up the pieces. Anything short of that, including what we have now, is nothing more than patchwork ending with a short shelf life. Chrysler remains in trouble, and will probably have to fall again before she can be rebuilt properly.
Chrysler is irrelevant. The hope is to save Michigan.
Why the attack on her son? Don’t bother...
Anything you attribute as cost by the auto makers is BUILT into the cost of the car to the dealer. The auto maker has his.
This is nothing more than POWER grabbing by the auto makers via OBAMA. They have finally figured out the way to eliminate the middle man aka THE DEALER. Same as the oil companies did in the past. No compitition, how high the moon (price).
American war veterans have long memories.
My father & uncles would roll over in their graves if they saw a Toyota in my garage. You do know what Toyota did in WWII...
I’ve got a Jeep Cherokee that has served me well for 20 friggin’ years. And I will continue to purchase American labels as long as possible. Not to mention the long list of American classic cars that I have yet to purchase.
Semper Fi,
Kelly
There was a dealer on Fox and Friends last week. He was a top earning dealer in the nation and also said his franchise was going to someone else. Guess who started this dealership with him and was his general manager?????? Brian Kilmead’s brother!!!!!!
Why, he’s nothing but a filthy capitalist pig!/S
You forget. GM and Chrysler are NOT the ones making these decisions anymore. Now it’s Obama and his lackeys making the decisions. So as far as “smart” — yep, that was gone the moment the government stepped in. People expect a fascist and his lackeys to make “good” business decisions? Not a chance - they will make the decision THEY think is best with no real business acumen, or long-term plans for re-achieving solvency. (Honestly, I think they’re making this all up as they go — they worship Obama and think he can’t fail... And, their “grand utopia” is right around the corner.)
I wouldn’t be surprised if it all comes out after the fact that the CEOs and such at Chrysler and GM were given offers they “couldn’t refuse” (in other words: Ask for the stimulus money to help Obama get that power he needed, and then fork over the companies. “You’re all going to be out of business one way or another”. The GM and Chrysler execs seeing there was “no way out” accepted the stimulus money (think of it as severance pay), and have basically let the government take everything now. The only ones I’ve heard complaining now are those actually getting their PRIVATE COMPANIES taken out from under their feet...
And, what are they supposed to do — if GM & Chrysler are in the hands of the government what are they supposed to do? Sue the government? Ask for a bailout? I don’t see what any of them CAN do to stop this... They were sold out months ago.
LMAO...
That’s the thing though - these “retail outlets” are not like say a KMart store that corporate is closing due to a decrease in business, and rising costs. These dealerships are NOT owned by Chrysler or GM, they are owned by the Franchise Owner and they are technically privately owned businesses.
The dealerships are not like a retail store where all the merchandise is owned by the corporation itself, and sent to its various retail outlets according to orders requested weekly, etc...
These dealers BUY the cars from GM or Chrysler (depending on the terms of their franchise agreement), unless the car is “custom” ordered (extra packages, special trim, etc...).
If I were this man I’d look into suing the Federal Gov’t, somehow. Or a class-action suit on behalf of ALL GM/Chrysler/Dodge/etc... Franchise owners who will be losing money out of their own pockets due to a government decision which is unconstitutional in the first place.
If it were possible I’d name all current and former CEOs, personally, as well all government employees responsible for making these business decisions, up to and including Obama himself. Granted I don’t know anything about the laws in this area, but honestly, what else can he, or another dealership even consider doing in this case?
What can we as concerned citizens do either? It’s not like we can call Washington D.C. and demand they stop nationalizing corporations. Like any of those people in Washington really care what we want, or think as long as they think they’ll get enough votes in the next election to remain in Washington with their perks and power...
Chrysler is in Bankruptcy Court. The list of dealers to be closed was drawn up prior to filing as part of their restructuring plans. They are just executing those plans - with approval of the court.
The dealer has not had his day in court.
He can, and some dealers have, challenge the decisions in court as part of the bankruptcy process, however the options are narrow and the rules are iron hard. He is probably not going to come away with anything except a very high legal bill.
In a bankruptcy there are few good choices. I've been there and done that, ate a half million and turned the page.
There are going to be a lot of good people in this situation before this is all over. On the flip side, there are a lot of opportunities to make money in the rubble.
We have a free market economy???
That’s what I was thinking, too. There have GOT to be some other FOREIGN OWNED companies that may be interested in his new shiny building to proudly display their cars. (NEVER thought I’d be saying that, but these are no longer AMERICAN companies, they are COMMUNIST COMPANIES now...).
I saw that too! There’s absolutely no rhyme or reason that I’m aware of for the dealerships that they’re stealing!!!
I was under the impression that the executive branch of the federal government (Obama and his henchmen) was dictating the terms of the bankruptcy, in ways that might well be illegal.
My dad is a retired police officer from Waterbury, CT. He once told me a story about a fur company that went up in flames. He said that “Jewish Lightning” must have struck the building and what a shame (tongue in cheek). I asked him what “jewish Lightning” was and he told me it was when Sol would take a trip overseas and while he was away, an “unfortunate accident” happened to his building, i.e., it caught fire and burnt down. Sol would respond with an “oi”!
hence Jewish Lightning.
Maybe lightning will stick your dealership
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