GM, Ford and Chrysler

J

JohnKleven

New member
Anyone locally here detail for an american car dealership? I'm interested to see if anyone here will be affected if they go under? I strongly support a bailout, but they obviously need to change their ways. A major car manufacturer bankruptcy will affect millions.
 
I am brand loyal to Chevy, and will continue to buy their cars (used) even if they go under. I would like to see the company continue to produce vehicles, but I am really tired of all these companies spending money like water, jerking off their executives, and then asking the government or rather U.S. tax payers for bail out. It would be nice if they were able to bail themselves out.



DG
 
JohnKleven said:
Anyone locally here detail for an american car dealership? I'm interested to see if anyone here will be affected if they go under? I strongly support a bailout, but they obviously need to change their ways. A major car manufacturer bankruptcy will affect millions.
Click to expand...





aka UNIONS. My $0.02USD.
 
It's crazy to ask for at least 25 billion dollars for a bailout of your company, when you come to congress in a private jet. You claim to not have enough cash to last for two months, but you gladly pay $20,000 to fly to congress to ask for tax payers money. Also, when asked by a member of congress if any of the big three executives were willing to give up their fleets of private jets? Not one even flinched as if they thought they might consider raising their hand.
 
JohnKleven said:
Anyone locally here detail for an american car dealership? I'm interested to see if anyone here will be affected if they go under?
Click to expand...



I sold my shop in Metro Detroit about 4 years ago and they still only do work for Ford (5), GM(5) & Chrysler(3) dealerships. If American car companies do under, that means 8 people from the shop will be out of a job. Not to mention the several 100's that work for those dealerships. Or, closures *could* stimulate the Used Car market in some sick way, but I doubt it.
 
I am not so sure they are going to totally go out of business. If they file for bankruptcy they can then restruction and most likely come back. This happens a lot in business and especialy in construction. As someone else mentioned the Big 3 need to rework their agreements with the unions or else they will certainly be out of business.
 
qballjr13 said:
I am not so sure they are going to totally go out of business. If they file for bankruptcy they can then restruction and most likely come back. This happens a lot in business and especialy in construction. As someone else mentioned the Big 3 need to rework their agreements with the unions or else they will certainly be out of business.
Click to expand...





The big 3's woes are being discussed in length on another thread here on autopia.



Should the government bail-out include domestic automakers? - Autopia.org



The issue of chapt 11and why it wont work like other industries has also been voiced
 
Bradleys said:
aka UNIONS. My $0.02USD.
Click to expand...

Unless you've been a factory rat on an auto assembly line of any automaker, don't even go there. Factory work in general can really suck, but the physical nature of the assembly line and the mind numbing repetition of mass production really pushes a lot of people to the limit. The "horror" stories about union workers that get passed around the internet are based on decades old exaggeration and the vindictive nature of some people, who have the attitude that if someone has something they themselves don't have (pay, benefits, etc), then no one should have. I call it "The Politics of the Vindictive".
 
Streetlife said:
It's crazy to ask for at least 25 billion dollars for a bailout of your company, when you come to congress in a private jet. You claim to not have enough cash to last for two months, but you gladly pay $20,000 to fly to congress to ask for tax payers money. Also, when asked by a member of congress if any of the big three executives were willing to give up their fleets of private jets? Not one even flinched as if they thought they might consider raising their hand.
Click to expand...

The Lehman Brother/AIG clowns haven't given up their fleet of private jets either. And don't forget the "distinguished" members of Congress who bitched about the private jets, fly regularly on junkets, aboard the Air Force's fleet of Lear/Bombardier/Gulfstream luxury jets, while racking up their eligibility for the nations best retiree health care and pensions. All courtesy of the taxpayers. Talk about the pot calling the kettle black.



And to make political points, they're willing to risk the futures of the millions of us who depend on the Big Three. Including guys like me.
 
David Fermani said:
I sold my shop in Metro Detroit about 4 years ago and they still only do work for Ford (5), GM(5) & Chrysler(3) dealerships. If American car companies do under, that means 8 people from the shop will be out of a job. Not to mention the several 100's that work for those dealerships. Or, closures *could* stimulate the Used Car market in some sick way, but I doubt it.
Click to expand...
Where, in the Metro Detroit area, was your old shop?
 
David Fermani said:
Yes Sir. Poly Pro Indoor Do-It-Yourself Nothin' Touching Auto Wash!!!
Click to expand...

Dave, then you used to own the Poly Pro Touchless Car Wash on Telegraph down in Taylor, too, and I was one of your customers, with my company cars!!
 
My parter owned the Car Washes (Redford/Taylor/Romulus) & owned the Detail Center. He was the originator/founder/pioneer of the touchless systems and his Uncle was one of (if not the 1st) people to open the 1st Coin Operated washes in America.
 
David Fermani said:
My parter owned the Car Washes (Redford/Taylor/Romulus) & owned the Detail Center. He was the originator/founder/pioneer of the touchless systems and his Uncle was one of (if not the 1st) people to open the 1st Coin Operated washes in America.
Click to expand...



Too funny! I used the DIY indoor facility in Redford many times, many winters it was there. Talk about a small world. My wife graduated from nearby Bishop Borgess High School.
 
I went to Redford Thurston (class of 88) and had alot of friends at Borgess.



Too bad Poly Pro closed. It was an amazing concept, but was managed very poorly. They really tanked in the summer time too. I'm sure we spoke to each other 1 time or another. What car did you use to take in the Redford store?
 
David Fermani said:
I went to Redford Thurston (class of 88) and had alot of friends at Borgess.



Too bad Poly Pro closed. It was an amazing concept, but was managed very poorly. They really tanked in the summer time too. I'm sure we spoke to each other 1 time or another. What car did you use to take in the Redford store?
Click to expand...

A tan metallic Mercury Sable that was a company car, and a 1996 Ford Taurus LX with chrome wheels - this one here: Autopia Member Photo Gallery



Do you remember Fairlane Car Wash in Dearborn - Michigan Avenue, near Miller Road? Full service, touchless car wash (not any more, but back when you were here in Detroit). I used them once in a while in the winter (damn salt), too, when I was in a hurry and had to pick up a Ford or Detroit Edison customer for lunch. Back when I used Meguiar's No. 20, and one of the managers would insist that the kids drying my car got fresh towels before they started drying mine. It was too funny, because ehtey used to be a detailer, too, and he would always ask me "What do you use on your car? It's got incredible slip!"



You went to Thurston? I graduated from Dearborn Heights Annapolis - we played Thurston often, in football, basketball, and wrestling, if memory serves correct (which at 49 years old, it doesn't always).
 
I'm not a fan of the Big 3 at all! Most people here are for it, I'm 100% against it just like half the Senate...reason being was all the reasons already mentioned in the hearings:

**7500 GM Dealerships vs. 1500 Toyota vs. 1200 Honda= Honda and Toyota outselling GM Ford and Chrystler for the past 15 years.

**Manufacturing plants that arent currently producing , are still paying 95% of wages to people that aren't even working! (are you serious?) I don't care about the union, thats just wrong! This economy boggles me when it comes to business principles and practice! 3 million jobs, such an inaccurate number!



We constantly wonder why India and China are soo far ahead of us. Why are all the Doctors, Indian or why are all the tech giants are Chinese. They are soo far ahead of us here its unreal. We complain about them stealing our job, yet we piss away money for non-working employees!



Thats my rant for the day, many will disagree, but thats life, I'm proud to be american, but will never buy an american car.
 
Twista616 said:
I'm not a fan of the Big 3 at all! Most people here are for it, I'm 100% against it just like half the Senate...reason being was all the reasons already mentioned in the hearings:

**7500 GM Dealerships vs. 1500 Toyota vs. 1200 Honda= Honda and Toyota outselling GM Ford and Chrystler for the past 15 years.

**Manufacturing plants that arent currently producing , are still paying 95% of wages to people that aren't even working! (are you serious?) I don't care about the union, thats just wrong! This economy boggles me when it comes to business principles and practice! 3 million jobs, such an inaccurate number!



We constantly wonder why India and China are soo far ahead of us. Why are all the Doctors, Indian or why are all the tech giants are Chinese. They are soo far ahead of us here its unreal. We complain about them stealing our job, yet we piss away money for non-working employees!



Thats my rant for the day, many will disagree, but thats life, I'm proud to be american, but will never buy an american car.
Click to expand...

If you have a problem with the number of dealerships, which is a valid concern, then you need to educate yourself, then go take it up with your state government and all fifty state governments. All fifty states passed franchise laws, in the late 1960's well before Toyota or Honda were ever on anyone's car shopping list, that give all the power to the franchise dealer, not the auto company. GM wants to close a dealer, the state laws make sure that the dealers demands for compensation for closure take 100% priority, and not the auto makers. Closing Oldsmobile cost GM ten times what they had planned for, not because they miscalculated, but because the state courts and supposedly independent arbitrators held GM's feet to the fire. An auto maker has the odds stacked against them when they go up against a dealer. Toyota is now finding that out when they started threatening to withhold allocations of car inventory from dealers who refused to expand their service departments - it's going to court, and Toyota is starting to feel the pinch just like GM. Welcome to the party.



This is prime example of misinformation and lack of information, mostly perpetuated by the media. They like to tell news stories in little sound bites, and give only one side of a story, to rile people up in times for the ratings sweeps. And then the mindless sheep known as the American audience just laps up the half truths of the news sound bites and take the crap as gospel.



You're 100% against it? Then you're 100% wrong, because you're basing your judgment on half truths, innuendo and distortions. The Big 3 have their faults, to be sure, but no where near the crap that's been tossed around. Problem now is it's been bandied about so much, the majority of people take is as truth.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top