Posted on 09/11/2023 11:06:11 PM PDT by Dexter Morgan
A car dealership has closed its doors for good, citing unprecedented changes in the used car sales industry as the motivating factor behind the decision.
Off Lease Only, the Florida-based dealership chain, has filed for bankruptcy and fired all its employees.A message on the company's website explains that management is winding down operations and thanked customers for their years of patronage.
Many former employees told local Fox affiliate WOFL that they received notice of their termination directly after a large company meeting on Wednesday.
The company boasted five locations across Florida, with over 500 vehicles available.
Some frustrated customers were forced to leave empty-handed after receiving the news of the sudden closure.
(Excerpt) Read more at the-sun.com ...
A competitor needs to offer discounts equal to the amount Off Lease took as a deposit, proven by an sales order between Off Lease and a customer.
This dealer then needs to sell inventory and not replace it.
Eventually others will follow and this will cause a buyers market. Sellers won't be able to offload used cars to dealers; it's more difficult to sell to private buyer. This will lead to a market glut and put downward pressure on prices.
Some private buyers will benefit directly from the price cuts, but soon enough prices will fall and bulk buyers will reenter at new, lower wholesale pricing.
Well, it’s okay.
Just buy a new electric car. They’re cheap right now...
The semiconductor shortage did not help things.
Glorious bideneconomics at work!/s
GREATEST ECONOMY EVER!!
Pretty big in Florida news ping.
Looks like Bidenomics has killed another business.
5 locations? That’s tiny.
Rick Hendrick has about 100 dealerships.
Approximately two years ago, hubby and I had reason to travel to a town about hundred miles away. On the outskirts of one small town in the middle of nowhere we came upon a field of hundreds of cars. All brand new cars with the sticker labels clearly attached to the windows of each one. As I said, this was way out in the middle of nowhere and the field was surrounded by cow pastures. Meanwhile, we are hearing on the news about the extreme shortage of new cars available due to supply chain problems caused by the ‘pandemic’.
Fast forward to last week and we once again had to travel to that town. In the same field was once again hundreds of brand new cars (obviously not the same ones since they were all shiny and brand new). After we traveled past and then reached the small town nearby, I noticed the car dealership itself had very few cars on its lot as if to give the impression they only had a few cars available (buy one today—before they are all gone!).
So why would there be hundreds of cars parked in a field near a cow pasture a few miles on the outskirts of town? Do dealers just keep one “representative” car of each model on their lot and then let potential customers know there are plenty more where that one come from (or direct them to the field if they want to choose from different colors)? Any thoughts?
100’s of cars in a field, they may be waiting on electronics parts. the microchip shortage put a lot of dealers way behind on orders.
More likely they tell the customer that they don’t have the exact car he or she wanted, but they would call around and work a swap deal with another dealership. The car would magically appear a few days later. Sometimes that’s exactly what happens, sometimes not. It does give the impression that the dealership is working hard to please the customer and may prevent a walkaway.
Poor business management. You need to keep ahead of the market requirements or at the very least keep even with it.
Why come you won’t tell us the name of the town?
A car manufacturer wouldn’t ship out incomplete vehicles with window stickers to BFE.
Off Lease Only, a used-car retailer that ran six dealerships in Florida and Texas, filed for bankruptcy after shutting down, succumbing to the pandemic-fueled rise in used-car prices and fresh competition from traditional dealers that had jumped into the secondhand market.
The private company, owned by alternative investment firm Cerberus Capital Management and its founders, closed its operations when its liquidity dried up following deteriorating performance and after online bank Ally Bank tightened the terms and conditions...
https://www.wsj.com/articles/cerberus-backed-car-dealer-shuts-down-in-bankruptcy-6e182aba
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cerberus_Capital_Management
“We’re going out of business. Everything must go.” I can see endless commercials. Of course they will end up opening in another name, and start all over. Furniture and used car salesmen. Go figure.
“Why come you won’t tell us the name of the town?”
Don’t worry. it’s coming. over leveraged dealers will start falling in larger numbers soon.
car sales are down. way down.
I just renewed my drivers license-Calif. Failed the written test. Passed the 2nd time. They’re making it difficult. Might be proper. Too many illegals stopped for DUI.
The microchip shortage seems the most likely answer for this. Maybe if one knew what system on the car would be inoperable because of a needed chip, they might be able to sell them anyway. I know if I were to buy a new car & it had a feature I didn’t want anyway, I might be convinced to buy that vehicle without that certain feature, providing of course there was a savings involved. Another thing that might have to happen in an effort to move some of these vehicles would be to utilize one vehicle’s parts to make a salable vehicle. A good solution would be to design & build simpler vehicles where needed parts would be known to be available BEFORE beginning assembly. In other words, leave off some of the gadgetry known to cause expensive problems down the line. Vehicles could be built cheaper & sold cheaper.
Less money for the car companies and dealers and shops, that's why it will never happen, it's too good for the consumer.
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