[Pastor J]

In our area we have one Ford dealership in our town that specializes in Saleens and then two other dealerships in the major city about 25 minutes from us.

Well, we have heard rumors lately that the local dealership was closing but never heard anything. Honestly the rumors didn't surprise me since the local dealership never came down on the price of a car and had 2 1/2 year old Saleens sitting on their lot for sticker price and they wouldn't negotiate.

Well, the day finally came. Apparently the workers got to the dealership in the morning to find all the Saleens had been sold to another Saleen dealership and loaded on a car hauler and sent off the lot before anyone got there.

They then told the workers, some of whom had been there for 25+ years that everyone that stayed for the next 2 months to help sell the excess inventory would get 1 WEEK severence.

Obviously some of the workers didn't take it well. One took a tire iron to the front windshield of a brand new quad cab Ford pickup on the showroom floor. Another worker apparently assaulted the general manager and was taken to jail by local law enforcement.

The only cars they have left at the dealership is new 2009 mustangs, Ford 4x4 pickups and Expeditions.

Man, things are getting bad.

The ironic thing is that they claimed that they are selling every vehicle at their cost.....which is 1 grand less than sticker.

[bamagt]

Things are pretty tough everywhere, padre. The used car lots around here are full of trucks and SUVs and nobody's buying squat. You can get a 4cyl Preius for about 30K!

For a Holy Man, you sure drive an evil looking pony.

[Pastor J]

Thanks....At first I was going to call him the Beast but I didn't think that was appropriate so instead he's now "The Reverend". It's funny when I refer to him as the reverend and people realize I'm referring to my Roush.

When people ask why I need such a fast car, I tell them it's so I can get from house to house to visit people faster.

[her name is ponie]

Ford is closing about 6-8 dealerships in the socal area

[03_StangGuy]

That Sux Even More Messed Up The Dealer Didnt Tell The Employees They Were Gonna Be Closing.

[06RedfireGT]

Yeah man, things are getting bad. The value of trucks and SUVs is in the shitter. My local Ford dealer did 85 new and used cars in July. The local Honda dealer did 180.

Now it is hard to find a dealer that will take an SUV.

[Mustangfan99]

I would be really pissed if I worked there, that would be enough to put me over the top.

[silverstang]

there are alot of Ford dealerships closing across the country, it is nothing new. Also dealer cost is NOT 1k below sticker price, if they told you that they are pulling your leg.......it is WAYYYYY below sticker price, i promise.

[1FastFox]

Value of new and used cars altogether suck. I just bought an 06 Eddie Bauer Explorer w/20k on the clock for $8,500. They are practically giving these things away to whoever will toss out the smallest chunk of change for them.

[JAY'SRED02]

Sorry to hear that! It wasn't Ted Russell or Lance Cunningham was it?

[Pastor J]

Originally Posted by JAY'SRED02 Sorry to hear that! It wasn't Ted Russell or Lance Cunningham was it?

No, those two are going strong. In fact, I believe that they bought some of the inventory from this dealership.

[JAY'SRED02]

Great thats two of my stops when I go to the mountains.

[Pastor J]

Originally Posted by JAY'SRED02 Great thats two of my stops when I go to the mountains.

Those two dealerships are great. Plus they are remodeling the Ted Russell dealership right now. I could spend hours at those two places looking at those great cars.

[JAY'SRED02]

Originally Posted by Pastor J Those two dealerships are great. Plus they are remodeling the Ted Russell dealership right now. I could spend hours at those two places looking at those great cars.

I could spend hours looking at your great cars.

[03_StangGuy]

Originally Posted by silverstang there are alot of Ford dealerships closing across the country, it is nothing new. Also dealer cost is NOT 1k below sticker price, if they told you that they are pulling your leg.......it is WAYYYYY below sticker price, i promise.

I read that dealers like ford, dodge and chevy dont make much money of their cars only a few grand, i beleive it was under 5 grand a car. I dont have the article but I remember thinkin wow they dont make much at all on these things.

[mattblasi]

From the sound of it the dealership is closing because of bad management. Everyone likes to blame the economy these days when something closes. The fact is that there are more than just Ford dealers closing and it is not Ford closing the dealerships.

Dealerships are having a hard time selling cars because of how they try to sell cars. A good view of this is the way some dealers are still putting markups on cars. I saw a dealership trying to sell a fully loaded Challenger SRT8 for $62K +ttt. When I actually spoke with them they would only come a few thousand off their $20K markup. Down the road not 15miles another dealership moved 4 in 1 day selling them for $43K each.

Another example is that there is a dealership in Maryland that has 3 2006 SSRs brand new never titled. The dealer refused to come off the mark up and when the desire for the car died down they were not able to move them. The dealership ended up having to pay off the cars after 2 years all of that had to come out of their bottom line. This is probably what happened with the Saleen's sitting at the other dealership.

It is true that a dealer makes more than just $1k profit on a car the actual price varies from car to car and dealer to dealer.

May dealerships have a very greedy mentality and they are use to getting it so they do not want to realize in this day they will not. This is nothing new it has been going that way for the past several years. Those that do not manage their business properly will lose it unfortunately.