Chrysler Dealer Network On Verge of Collapse Says One Owner

Karma really is a b-word..

Remember all those Dodge dealers who price-gouged potential Challenger buyers back in 2007?
My Uncle had ordered two SRT-8's from two different dealers. They both price-gouged him upwards of $10,000 AFTER the orders were already placed.
He cancelled the orders and swore to NEVER buy a Dodge/Chrysler again..
Chrysler simply commented that "they had no control" over what their dealers could charge.

Welcome to May 2009 Chrysler.

69johnny... you can't blame the manufacturers for dealer "gouging." Dealers are completely separate entities from the manufacturer, and they really don't have any legal control over a dealership's actions. Manufacturers set MSRP... the keyword in that acronym being "suggested."

If your uncle were to swear to never buy a particular make because their dealerships charged over MSRP, what would be left for him to buy? They've all done it... Ford GTs, Mazda Miatas, Honda Odysseys, Pontiac Solstices, Toyota Priuses, Nissan GT-Rs, VW New Beetles, Smart ForTwos, etc. If people are willing to pay extra to be the first person on the block to have one, why not charge extra?

Sounds like those people just wanted to be soothed. They walked in there to look at cars in the first place, didn't they? So obviously they are still willing to buy a Chrysler, you just have to calm their fears a bit.

Maybe Chrysler and it's dealership network are in their current position because they sell product no one wants. With the exception of the gas guzzling 300 series there is not a single relevant vehicle in the Chrysler lineup. They are bottom of the barrel in their particular class. Most of GM's products are too and I expect to see them in bankruptcy court this year as well.

This is what happens when you manufacture crap product, and when your leadership is in it for a quick buck with no thought of the future. It was all about high profit margin low cost to manufacture trucks and SUV's in the 90's and early 00's. While other manufactures continued to have small, fuel efficient vehicles dominate their portfolio, not GM, they made their gas guzzling behemoths as fast as they could sell them. They put zero effort in their rest of their fleet as evidenced by the craptacular small cars that came from GM (anyone want a Dodge Neon, Chevy Cavalier/Sunfire, Chevy Colbalt, Saturn ION, or Dodge Caliber, no, I didn't think so!)

I have zero pity for the plight of the American car manufactures. You reap what you sow. American cars will be remembered as gas guzzling, poor handling, ugly, cheaply made, unreliable, and in many cases unsafe. What a great legacy, see ya!

Hey, dgs4, how's your Sonata?

Proving my theory that some Americans just love to hate American cars and their country in general.

@dgs4, *everyone* was building and profiting from large vehicles, not just GM, Ford, and Chrysler. For example, most of Toyota's growth in the last several years was from larger SUVs and truck type vehicles. And consumers loved these vehicles because they kept on and kept on buying them.

I have another theory -- part of the Big 3's problem has been that they've done at least one thing too well, to the point that not enough buyers can perceive them as doing anything else, no matter how many offerings they have in other market segments. Trucks and larger cars with V8 engines is what Detroit has done very well for so long, without having to charge the prices the Germans do. It's why the G8, Challenger and its LX variations, and Camaro have gotten enthusiasts more interested.

V8s and rear wheel drive are special and always will be, which is why they were having a renaissance in Detroit, once GM finally realized that front wheel drive Cadillacs, even with good power, just would not do.

At least in America, we are free to hate American products. Think about what people have to endorse in North Korea!

I think America is great. On one side of the street, you have the muscle car and shoe box drive in meet, and on the other side of the street, you have the neon-glowing bolt-on wing ricer crowd playing Playstations out of their hatchbacks.

Enthusiasts of every thing.

So what if America made crap economy cars. People still bought them. If people were so concerned if their cars were so inferior to Honda Civics, would you see as many Dodge Calibers on the road?

My experience with Chrysler and their products hasn't been very good. I currently own a Dodge Intrepid (I was desperate) and this will most definitely be my last Chrysler product. Though, it hasn't left me stranded ... YET, everything else is falling apart or going bad. Now at 119k, I'll name a few issues: transmission has been failing for more than the last 25k miles (extremely typical of Chrysler, and yes, I've had it flushed), engine cradle mount bushings are shot ($300 + labor to replace), windshield wiper assembly is shot, power locks act retarded, steering wheel bounces with every bump in the road, oil light flashes even when it's full, had a fuel leak on top of the motor, headlight switch falls off if I turn on the foglights, and I can never achieve better than 25 MPG on the highway going roughly the speed limit (3.3L V6).

I now wish I would've kept my new Chevy HHR Lemon (won a settlement via Lemon Law) and dealt with its minor electrical problems. It had decent power (2.4L) and got excellent mileage on the highway. One trip averaged out over 35 MPG with a mix of stop-n-go and mountains. The DIC AND a calculator confirmed the mileage (512 miles and 14.6 gallons to refill: do the math).

I was at a local Chrysler dealer when the Service Manager came out and said to the General Manager "Mrs. Smith's Charger is in for the 3rd transmission (not even 1 year old). She said if it's not fixed, she wants us to buy it back." The General Manager's response? "Tell her she can trade it in." That dealer recently folded up!

My mom purchased a new F-150 Harley Davidson Edition (back in '07). With 311 miles on it, the cooling fan fell off and left her stranded... the first week she had it. The CD changer doesn't work when it's freezing outside. The power sliding rear window works when it wants to. The tires keep leaking off (search Chinese supplied tire valves under recall). The rear end shutters when you pull away from a stop. All of this on a $43,000 truck.

To sum it up, American cars still need improvement, but Chrysler just needs to die.

Interesting discussion of the "gouging" by dealers when a hot product comes in. As jstandefer states, every mfg. has at one point had a "hot" product and Chrysler dealers are no exception. Remember the initial minivan? Or the Vipers, 300/Magnum/Charger's, SRT8 products, etc. All were in high demand and going for list plus "market adjustment" in their first year or two. Once the market cooled, they were/are discounted heavily, even Challengers are going for invoice in Atlanta! Right now they have zero interesting product plus the consumer is justifiably nervous about making an expensive and long-term purchase from a company that may not be here by Christmas. A bad combination for any retailer, be it trucks or toasters. The argument about "parts and service for 10 years by law" doesn't hold water either. Who are you going to sue or drag to court from a defunct company? What I don't understand is the focus GM and Chrysler (Ford too, to a lesser extent) have on slimming down the dealer network. As pointed out above, the dealers are independent business people, does it cost the manufacturer more to have more dealers? I don't think so. It only hurts the consumer in the long run when there are fewer choices out there for both sales and service. Let the dealer network survive or die on it's own, not with the assistance of the government or the franchisor. And as far as the argument that the domestics deserve to die because they only made SUV's and trucks, that's what the public was buying. Remember, Chrysler was owned by the German's during the heydey of SUV's and trucks and after they got tired of playing in a free market economy, they bailed out and went back to Europe. Since they are now a private company (or were, until the bailout dollars), they should have been allowed to fail and reorganize in bankruptcy court or liquidate. It's bad enough the government is propping up the public companies and banks, but inexcusable to be supporting a privately held company like Cerberus/Chrysler. At the end of the day, good product, good service and good management dictate your long-term survival, whether in the auto business, banking business or real estate business. Chrysler enjoys none of those three and thus is likely doomed.

WJTIJANTL: Well said. Look at Mitsubishi: hurting in the last few years. They have a bunch of vehicles with Zero Appeal to the customers. Remember the late 80's? A lot of their vehicles were well positioned and now they are not.

"...To sum it up, American cars still need improvement, but Chrysler just needs to die...."

(redgeminipa)

I own a Dodge Magnum R/T. So I know that Chrysler (with the help of Mercedes) can build a well engineered car. Great Handling, engine power and highway fuel economy, plus a solid high speed cruiser if you so choose. I suppose that's no surprise given the use of Mercedes E-class suspension components. But it is more than the Daimler connection, the hemi engine is a great piece of engineering.

My point is that Chrysler has engineered and built and is still building some great cars and trucks. They appear willing to build in a niche (large rear-wheel drive cars, reasonably priced) that has been left open by others.

Along that line, I will make one claim that will not likely be challenged by anyone who knows anything about cars. The best police cars ever built from a performance and price perspective are the current 5.7L Chargers.

So yes Chrysler deserves to survive. And I hope they do despite the "hostiles" on this thread.

I like Chrysler products. In fact, if Chrysler was not currently in bankruptcy I would go out TODAY and buy a Challenger. Despite living 25 miles away from one of the top 25 Chrysler dealers in tne nation, it is simply too nerve wracking to contemplate.

I currently have a 3yr old Chevy that is no longer on warranty. The Chevy has depreciated almost 70% as well. Given the low value, and no more warranty, I couldn't care less if GM goes under. They owe me nothing, and I can get the car serviced anywhere now that I am paying for all repairs.

Sure the Government is standing behind Chrysler warranties during the whole bailout and bankruptcy process. That doesn't make me feel any better. I will not "invest" upwards of $30K in a new product from a company that is closing dealers, has halted production, and may not be able to honor the warranty directly. They already got some of my money in the bailout (not that I had any say in the matter.) I certainly wouldn't want to deal with the process of getting the Government to honor the warranty should Chrysler close forever.

The Fiat deal is no better and will do nothing for Chrysler. Have you seen the prospective models that Fiat will be selling in the US? Hideous. Not to mention that Fiat's quality/reliability in Europe is among the worst. Doesn't bode well for Chrysler in the long run.

I had to take my car in for some collision work. I won a G35. My insurance covers a rental. The rental company gave me a 2008 Dodge Charger. Oh my god what a piece of crap. It drives like a big 1980s full size car. The engine whines. Drive over bumps the car shakes. Play the stereo and the speakers vibrate and sound like a tin can. What is strange is I rented the Chargers sister the Chrysler 300 in Florida and it ran and drove beautifully! Why the huge difference?

Lol...with the way things are going, Nike will soon be the largest "car" manufacturer.

redgeminipa, 3.3L V6 in your Intrepid? Hm, that means it can't be any newer than 1997. Sounds like except for the transmission those are pretty minor problems for a 13+ year old car, and the vast majority of Chrysler transmission failures can be attributed to third party shops refilling them with Dexron, which is completely incompatible with Chrysler ATF+3 or +4 despite what many mechanics claim. Regardless, "has been failing for more than 25K miles" is a pretty odd claim. Tried updating the powertrain/transmission software? The Chrysler LH cars were the first cars to have flash-upgradeable software starting in 1994.

michael29, the Charger you drove likely had the horrible 2.7L engine in it, which is possibly Chrysler's worst engine ever. The 300 you rented probably had the 3.5L, which is at least a good engine, and depending on when it also probably had the 5-speed automatic instead of the 4-speed, which helps tremendously with an engine that's not particularly torquey. The base LX (300/Charger) cars also, for some inexplicable reason, don't have rear anti-roll bars, so they handle substantially worse. The 300 you drove may have also had the upgraded Boston Acoustics audio system.

The base Charger really wasn't designed for any purpose other than fleet sales IMO, and they shot themselves in the foot with it because anyone renting one thinks that they're all that bad.

After all is said and done Chrysler is still the fifth place seller in the US ahead of BMW, Mercedes, VW, Lexus, Nissan, Hyundai and 19 other major brands. If there are cars that need to go look on the 19 other list.