Scottsdale car dealership closes; 148 laid off

by Jane Larson - Sept. 12, 2008 05:05 PM
The Arizona Republic

SCOTTSDALE - Bill Heard Chevrolet abruptly closed its Scottsdale dealership and service department Friday, laying off 148 employees.

The dealership, part of Columbus, Ga.-based Bill Heard Enterprises Inc., said in a letter to the Scottsdale officials that the closure was due to "unexpectedly poor financial performance, recent adverse action by the dealership's lenders, and our inability to obtain sufficient financing."

The company said it is closing both of its Scottsdale locations today. It sold new and used vehicles at a dealership that it built two years ago at McDowell and Pima roads within sight of Loop 101. It ran service and parts departments at its longstanding location at McDowell and Scottsdale roads on Scottsdale's dealership row known as Motor Mile.

Heard built the new dealership in 2006 for an estimated $12 million.

 

I don't think that will be the last one either. Some places have been mis-managing their used car inventory and are in way deep.

Add that to the money-crunch they're in with lenders... bad mix.

 

This news is really sad. In California we are seeing store after store after store closing. We went to the Acura dealership this weekend to look at an MDX and the salesman was close to our age so we chatted for a bit. We asked him how sales have been and he said WAY down.....first salesperson to actually admit that beleive it or not of the 5 dealerships we have been to.

The other day at the mall there was one of those Ford Flexs in the mall. I should have taken a pic of the price but here is what the addendum said:

DVD : $2,995 OMG!
AND

Dealer added markup....: $4,995!

Almost peed myself right therein the mall holding my orange julius from laughing so hard.


Seems some people just want to deny deny deny.

Anyway....sad state of affairs!

 

When you're not sellng as many cars you have to TRY to make up the money somewhere I guess.

We're slow.... but, thankfully, it says "Toyota / Scion" on our store and many people are wanting to make a smarter purchase and considering things like cost-of-ownership and resale value.

 

They have been doing this for years even when the economy was decnet. It just seems pretty balsy to even ask fr that. Anyway, sometimes it just makes me sick how companies try to rip off their customers.

 

True. Didn't say it was a good thing. Look at a Challenger at a Dodge store. 19,000 dollars in mark-up? WOW.

Even Prius' on a Toyota store... sometimes they get a little "pumped".

 

They're not a non-profit organization though. Along with Agree'ing with Mark, it can only go up from here.

 

There is a massive difference between making a profit and bieng a participant in a decpicable business practice.