9 months ago
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Cook Jeep Chrysler in Little Rock was surprised to get a pink slip. It opened in 1914 and is one of Chrysler's five-star dealers, the highest rating for maintenance and customer service.
Charlie Cook with Cook Jeep Chrysler says, "I'm not mad personally but I'm trying to represent 20, 000 Chrysler customers who will be mad and get rid of their Chrysler and get a Ford because they lost their primary service depot."
Chrysler is also closing Crain Chrysler Dodge Jeep in Little Rock. The others are in Malvern, Springdale, Harrison, Osceola and Mena.
As the road stops for them dealers say the closings make no sense because it will ultimately cost the company sales.
It's the end of a long road that has been very bumpy for some time now. A quarter of Chryslers 3,200 locations are expected to shut down by June 9th, but not without an appeal by dealers here in Arkansas.
"We found out early this morning that the numbers were out," Dennis Jungmeyer, President of the Arkansas Automobile Dealers Association says he was in a board meeting with dealers when they started getting phone notifications their businesses are not covered under Chryslers bankruptcy protection.
He explains, "We estimate that this probably represents 300 jobs with an average salary exceeding $40,000 and dealers are pillars in those communities."
Jungmeyer says all eight dealers who invested life savings and have generations of family in the business have a right to feel let down. "We have a great disagreement at what's going on at the national level in trying to pare down the number of dealers, faulting the dealers as part of the manufacturer's cost when in fact, the dealer cost the manufacture nothing."
Rodney Plack with Landers Chrysler Dodge Jeep adds, "We have friends that work at some of these dealerships and hopefully we can bring some of them into our store and put them to work."
Landers Chrysler Dodge Jeep in Benton is the number one Chrysler seller and the biggest dealership in the state. Plack says customers don't need to worry, "All the warranties are taken care of they're backed by the government, its business as usual for us; nothing is changing for dealerships still in business."
Although the rejected dealers have folks like Plack willing to hire employees and Jungmeyer working with attorneys for an appeal he says federal bankruptcy trumps state laws and the fight may be over before it begins.
"Two-years from now all of the dealers that are left are going to be very strong, but that's of little comfort to those dealers who have seen their lives work be ended through no fault of their own," Jungmeyer concludes.
GM could follow; Jungmeyer says Friday we could have as many as 1,200 dealers notified the same way as Chrysler even though they have yet to file bankruptcy.
Chrysler executives say they're trying to preserve their best-performing dealers. The 3.5 million customers nationwide who bought vehicles from the affected dealers will be notified about the closures, and their warranties will be honored.
