Westfair Online Videos Driven to the edge
Driven to the edge
Third-generation auto dealer Charles W. “Chuck” Tator Jr. drove from his business in South Salem to Manhattan last week to make an informal case for his business’ survival at U.S. Bankruptcy Court. He dropped off a packet of familial and business history for the presiding judge’s reading.
Tator’s Dodge dealership in northern Westchester soon could close if sinking Chrysler L.L.C.’s recent petition in bankruptcy court to jettison nearly 800 dealers nationwide by June 9 is approved. Those dealers account for 14 percent of the company’s sales volume, said Chrysler officials, who aim to steer those sales to other area Chrysler dealers and reduce their competition. The downsizing would leave about 2,400 Chrysler, Jeep and Dodge dealers in the reorganizing automaker’s pending partnership with Italy’s Fiat SpA.
“Chrysler’s list makes no sense,” said Tator, who has had little sleep and a recurring nightmare of tractor-trailers being loaded with the contents of his auto garage and office since learning his 95-year-old Dodge franchise was on that list in a recent letter from the company. He and a Brewster Jeep dealer are the only ones in Westchester and Putnam counties that stand to have their Chrysler ties severed following a June hearing in bankruptcy court.
“We’re now calling it the death list,” he said of dealers who might fight the company’s move in a class action lawsuit being organized by the National Automobile Dealers Association (NADA). “It’s not just little dealers or poor dealers; there are top dealers they’re shutting down.”
Tator’s Dodge in the town of Lewisboro is not among Chrysler’s top dealers. Tator’s chief business is his two-mechanic service garage, where he has earned an international reputation and customer base as a custom restorer and repairer of Dodge Viper sports cars. A few years ago, he was selling 40 to 50 Dodge vehicles a year. Car and truck sales in the recession have dropped to 25 to 30 a year, he said.
Add Comment
Popular
News by Topic
- Advertising
- Architecture
- Arts
- Aviation
- Banking
- Colleges & Universities
- Construction
- Credit Unions
- Economic Development
- Education
- Golf
- Green
- Health Care
- Hospitality
- Hospitals
- Insurance
- Law
- Leisure
- Marketing
- Nonprofits
- Real Estate
- Restaurants & Food
- Retail
- Sales
- Schools
- Small Business
- Taxes
- Tourism
- Transportation
- Travel
0 Comments