Local former Chrysler, GM dealers look to sell used cars - Philadelphia Business Journal:

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Tony Wilkerson, executive directort of the , said his organization has begujn to lend assistance to dealersz lost in thebankruptcy “Our national organization has already sent letter s to them to let them know abouf our organization and I plan to do the same thintg for our state,” Wilkerson said. “They were in the used car busines sanyway – but if you’ree stuck like many of them are, the overhead costs for a used car dealership is nothing compared to a However, the expansion of the locap used car market comes as prices are increasingh and the availability of late-model used cars is pinched, he said. But accordint to Morgan Murphy, presiden t of motorpool.
com, the initial increase in pricess should be looked at as merelya short-ter m hurdle. “At first that would strike the community as bad but in thelong run, it’x good for resale values,” Murphy When local consumers buy cars, they will be able to demandd more when they choose to sell it, he In fact, the higher resale values might actually revive American car dealersx in the area. “American manufacturing has been similar and just as good as Japanese andKorean manufacturing, but the problemk has been re-sale value and initialk prices,” Murphy said.
In the meantime, Birmingham dealers affected can capitalizew on the unique landscape of the local markeg on the usedcar side, he said. Many are family-ownes and have been staplesz in the community for many They are also encouraged by the fact that locap used car sales have seen an uptick amid the recession as buyerds are more inclined to look for a bargain as a meands tospend less. “Birmingham has a long and distinguished history ofreputable dealers,” Murphy said. “Domn Drennen has been in businesssince 1908. That’s 101 years of servinfg our community, so there’s a culture around businesses like that.
” Theie long-standing history could make local buyer s more inclined to buy used cars from he said. Ward Drennen, president of Don Drennen Buickl Chryslerand Jeep, said after learning that his dealer agreemenyt had been canceled with Chrysler, expanding his used car saled seemed like a real possibility. “W are going to expand our used cardepartmentes drastically,” said Drennen, who was left with more than $2 millionm in Chrysler parts and “We want to offer a great valuwe to people who can’t afford a new Although he hasn’t stopped looking into becoming a franchisee for othert automotive manufacturers, he is open to the idea of makingf the switch to stay in “It is possible that we could become a used car superstore,” said Drennen, who also learnedd that GM will seek to cancel the dealershipo agreement he has for his Buick dealership.
“We’ver been in Birmingham long enough that our reputationj can keepus afloat.”