All of the Dodge and Ford dealerships in my area are being bought out by mega-stores

[RollingsFarms]

What in the world is going on??? In the past 2 months every single Dodge and Ford dealership within reasonable driving distance of me have either been bought out by some new dealership that owns 5 other dealerships or they are going partners with them. Now, I'll admit the service was never the greatest before these dealerships changed management but now I hear EVERYONE complaining of how bad these new dealerships have become. It's like they are following the same model that John Deere did with their dealerships, kick out the small ones and turn it over to people who own 5 stores. It basically kills price shopping because the price you get at one is going to be the same at the next dealership you drive to. Is this happening anywhere else?

 

[jwstewar]

It happened here several years ago - started happening before the 2008 melt down, but really picked up the pace since then. If the little guys didn't get bought, they had to do buying to at least become a little, big dealer

 

[CobyRupert]

The natural progression of capitalism. Ever play the board game Monopoly? How'd it end?

 

[RollingsFarms]

The natural progression of capitalism. Ever play the board game Monopoly? How'd it end?

Yeah I guess y'all are right. The funny thing is I was never impressed by these dealerships before and now they've gone and made them even worse then before service wise. I'm noticing that GM still has all their small dealerships around my area that have always been there. I guess that'll change soon enough.

 

[mikehaugen]

Yeah I guess y'all are right. The funny thing is I was never impressed by these dealerships before and now they've gone and made them even worse then before service wise. I'm noticing that GM still has all their small dealerships around my area that have always been there. I guess that'll change soon enough.

The majority of the small gm dealerships in my area closed shortly after the "restructure"... some of the medium ones as well.

 

[Diamondpilot]

It's the opposite here. We have 4 small Ford dealerships within 10 miles and 3 Dodge. When I say small I'm talking 50 vehicles or so.

The only 2 GM dealers are massive. Maybe 300 vehicles and the lots are 1/2 miles square. Prior to GM going belly up we had maybe 6 small dealers in a 15 mile radius but they all were forced to close.

Our 2 Toyota dealerships are medium sized but move the volume. The other imports are smaller size but do very well also.

Chris

 

[dodge man]

It happened here, in out case the Ford dealership stayed under the same ownership but the other one, a GM-Dodge store was bought by a much larger dealership.

 

[MoKelly]

It basically kills price shopping because the price you get at one is going to be the same at the next dealership you drive to. Is this happening anywhere else?

I think this is the answer. Car dealers have enough of an issue competing with other brands much less competing with other dealers on their same brand.

The big problem for the manufacturer is if they get stuck with a bad dealer in an area they are screwed ... no where to go.

But, overall, I think they prefer the fact dealers don't compete with one another on their brand.

MoKelly

 

[dusty3030]

Money is still cheap, but not for long. There is more money to be spent out there in private equity than there are companies to buy. Auto is a good investment right now.

Bad economy people have been holding cars longer, up to the point that the average age of a car in service today is the oldest it has been, creating a pent up demand for new cars.

So, lots of consolidations. It is happening in the aftermarket too, Advance recently bought Carquest. AutoZone had another acquisition this week.

 

[dusty3030]

Lots of good reading on the subject.

Dealership Consolidation at autonews.com