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Strategies for Responding to the Financially Distressed Auto Dealership

By John R. Skelton

In the past, an automobile dealer filing for bankruptcy was likely the result of poor management, fraud, or declining sales because of a less-than-desirable facility or a depressed market area. Today, the current economic and credit crisis has changed the dynamic, and otherwise viable dealers in important markets are struggling.

Because the financial distress is network-wide, how manufacturers respond to the financially distressed dealership is more important than ever. Strict enforcement of operating standards, enforcing terminations, opposing proposed sales, terminating or suspending floor lines, repossessing inventory, and aggressively pursuing collection actions are established strategies. But today, the impact of those strategies on the larger dealer network and the brand need to be considered. For some dealerships, the appropriate strategy may be creative cooperation forbearance agreements, operating stipulations, and workouts ' not adversarial enforcement.

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