Motor Village was set to be the ultimate Chrysler Brand dealership. Part of this dominance would be, in part, because the dealership was under direct control of the parent company. Franchiseses, after all, can get sloppy and tend to want to make their own decisions like they own the place or something.
Everything worked out great for Motor Village for a while. They built a nice, clean, stylish dealership and it was staffed pretty well. (We've bought two cars there and had others serviced by them.) The dealership was also going to be a testbed for new ideas and new practices to help make the dealership experience more tolerable. Chrysler was hoping this store would help California sales which are currently at 4.38 percent (3.89 percent in LA) compared with 10.2 percent nationwide.
Unfortunately for them (and any customer who may have benefited from a new approach to the dealership scenario) the California New Car Dealers Association dug up some annoying rule about factory-owned stores being illegal within 10 miles of a non-factory owned store and filed charges with the DMV.
And now Chrysler is being forced to sell the dealership. The New Century dealer group (Century West BMW, New Century BMW, Puente Hills VW and more) is the lucky buyer who gets the fully functioning, 189,000 square-foot dealership.
(Autonews)
e90_m3 says:
03:12 PM, 09/21/11
"Unfortunately for them (and any customer who may have benefited from a new approach to the dealership scenario) the California New Car Dealers Association dug up some annoying rule about factory-owned stores being illegal within 10 miles of a non-factory owned store and filed charges with the DMV."
Given the company's Italian connections, can't just make these pesky Dealers Association people to, you know, swim with the fishes?
jriz says:
03:37 PM, 09/21/11
Boooooooooooooo. Stupid dealership rules.
teampenske3 says:
03:54 PM, 09/21/11
Yeah, I'm with e90 on this...where's FIAT's "connections"? I'm sure they could take care of this mess.
stress83 says:
04:01 PM, 09/21/11
What this says to me is that it's time to revisit dealership regulations that were set over a half century ago.
ralphhightower says:
04:19 PM, 09/21/11
+1 @jriz
agentorange says:
04:38 PM, 09/21/11
The People's Republic of Kalifornistan strikes again.
se_riously says:
04:41 PM, 09/21/11
What this says to me are two things:
1) Chrysler corporate failed to adequately research the local dealership network rules before proceeding with their project.
2) The competing dealerships didn't really give a damn when the project was being planned and economic times were better, but only care now (after it's built and operating).
litewerk says:
07:19 PM, 09/21/11
What se_riously alludes to, I think, is that all corporations have Compliance Department attorneys. I was under the impression that projects were never put in motion until all of the "due diligence" took place. Sounds like a failure in completeing the "due diligence."
threemopars says:
08:08 PM, 09/21/11
Shoulda just closed the other "non factory store" when they dumped those other dealers.
firstwagon says:
09:03 PM, 09/21/11
+1 stress83
The whole dealership system is long out of date and does far more harm then good.
Time for it to go.
kain77 says:
05:33 AM, 09/22/11
Can't expect a multi-billion dollar corporation with a fleet of legal staffers to read the fine print. You guys expect too much.
snipenet says:
08:13 AM, 09/22/11
this is what happens when the dealers have their own union, call it what an 'association' if you like.
jriz says:
08:31 AM, 09/22/11
"agentorange says: The People's Republic of Kalifornistan strikes again."
I'm no fan of California's government, but I'm pretty sure Texas and a whole heap of other states have stricter dealership franchising laws.
93aero says:
08:46 AM, 09/22/11
oh great. Another place to potentially buy some mixed up german cars.
transpower says:
09:03 AM, 09/22/11
What you expect from a commie-Democrat state?
bodyblue says:
09:38 AM, 09/22/11
Dealers are small business people trying to make a living in a tough business. Would you be happy if your parent company plunked down a showroom near you and undersold you with lower prices that you cant get? I am not sure I agree with the law regarding this but I sure can understand how the dealers would feel.
cr_driver says:
10:28 AM, 09/22/11
Dealers are small business BB? Trying to make a living? Maybe in your town.
Even the thread we are discussing, look to whom they sold this dealer
"And now Chrysler is being forced to sell the dealership. The New Century dealer group (Century West BMW, New Century BMW, Puente Hills VW and more)"
Is that a small business people trying to make a living? Hahaha. No way BB
I tell you that all the people I know who have dealerships, are rich people. Really rich people. With millions of dolars in cars and properties.
Probably your experience is different than mine, that should explain why you said that, and is fine, cause some might be indeed small business people.
Take care buddy.
bodyblue says:
10:47 AM, 09/22/11
Everything is relative I guess. Compared to a multi-billion dollar company most dealers are indeed "small".
"I tell you that all the people I know who have dealerships, are rich people. Really rich people. With millions of dolars in cars and properties."
Come up here to Sac and see all of the empty and out of business dealers....they were not rich....just trying to stay in business and keep paying their employees.
Major market dealers are a lot different than smaller town ones. You must live in a bigger market...even though Sacramento is a larger market the economy has really nailed it and car dealers are really struggling.
stovt001 says:
09:54 PM, 09/23/11
Oh trust me, dealers may be small in size but they are beyond powerful. They punch above their weight, I guess the cliche would go. It isn't like the factory store was subsidizing cars, at least no more than the subsidies (rebates) available to all dealers.
And don't forget, it was dealers who asked GM to give us the Pontiac G3. Remember that before feeling bad for them.
veryhrm says:
04:26 AM, 09/24/11
I have a hard time understanding the whole car dealership thing. On the one hand it probably provides decent prices to the consumer because there's competition...
but why is the service (repairs, etc) always (in my exp. anyway) so expensive AND lackluster (if not outright bad)?