Dealerships

It's all crossovers these days. From the polo grounds of Malibu to the campgrounds of Maine, nearly a fifth of all vehicles sold in the U.S. last year resided somewhere in this netherworld between a car and an SUV. So the stakes were high for Toyota's overdue redesign of the RAV4, a pioneer of the segment in the mid-1990s that had grown stale in comparison with competitors. Often resembling small sport utility vehicles, crossovers are truck-like vehicles built on front-drive car platforms.

In the latest iteration of the classic buy or finance conundrum, Edmunds.com took an innovative look at the Buy Here Pay Here industry and its alternatives. Subject of increasing attention in recent years, the Buy Here Pay Here used car lots target consumers with credit issues, cash shortages and an urgent need for transportation. That combination allows the dealerships, which finance their own loans, to charge interest rates upwards of 30%, demand large down payments and repossess with aplomb.

Auto leasing deals abound these days, with offers that often seem too good to be true. How about a well-equipped Honda Accord for $250 a month with no down payment or any other drive-off fees? Or better yet, $199 a month for a Chevrolet Malibu? So, what's the catch? There isn't any if you know what you're getting into. There are always details. You need top-tier credit to qualify. You pay a penalty if you turn that Honda in with more than 36,000 miles. And the payment is not $250 a month because of that little matter of tax. It is more like $275, depending on where you live.

Supporters of green-car technology like hybrids, plug-in hybrids and electric cars say they were happy to hear that automakers like Ford and Honda are expanding the number of dealerships who can sell those cars. Honda's 2013 Honda Fit EV, launched in California and Oregon in July, will be added to dealerships in Massachusetts, Connecticut, Maryland, New York and New Jersey. Ford Motor Co. is accelerating dealership certification for its plug-in electrified vehicles from 200 to 900 dealers.

Second of three parts The J.D. Byrider used-car dealership in Visalia, Calif., sits amid a jumble of tow yards, hubcap vendors and vacant lots littered with empty beer cans. It may not look like much, but selling aging cars to waitresses, secretaries and farmworkers is a lucrative business. That's why private equity firm Altamont Capital Partners of Palo Alto bought the J.D. Byrider chain in May for a reported $50 million. Altamont's offices, on the 10th floor of a luxury office tower overlooking Stanford University, are 200 miles and a world away from the Visalia lot. On a recent morning, a dozen executives could be seen huddled in a glass-walled conference room, reviewing a slide presentation on plans to buy some franchised Byrider lots.

In a move that could provide economic relief for hundreds of communities nationwide, General Motors Co. said it would reinstate nearly 700 dealerships that it had planned to drop from its sales network. The automaker sought to shed what it considered excess dealers as part of a bankruptcy reorganization last year, an effort to bring its franchise network into better balance with its declining car sales. Closing unprofitable and poorly performing franchises was expected to channel business to the stronger dealers.

Additional signs are fine, balloons are not and trees are still up in the air as Glendale officials work to revamp restrictions on car dealerships along South Brand Boulevard. The reappraisal of rules is an attempt to create a more business-friendly environment for the city's second-biggest tax revenue source. Autos and transportation companies brought $6 million to Glendale last year, with car dealers leading the pack, said city Finance Director Bob Elliot. "We have to do everything we can to try to help them increase their sales," Councilman Frank Quintero said as planning officials mapped out the proposed zoning changes this week.

Re "Chrysler spreads the pain with move to drop dealers," May 15 The Times reports that, to better compete against the likes of Toyota, Chrysler is reducing its number of dealerships by 789 (about 24%). Sounds dramatic, but according to figures provided by The Times, if Chrysler wishes to create efficiencies in cars sold per dealership similar to that of Toyota, it actually needs to reduce its number of dealerships by about 76%. Obviously, it is not even coming close. It's sad to think that even at the brink of total failure, Chrysler is unwilling to emulate the model of its foreign competitor.

General Motors' chief executive says that the sales network isn't shrinking fast enough and that the automaker wants to step up dealer consolidations. Rick Wagoner says GM aims to combine Pontiac, Buick and GMC dealerships, the Detroit News reported. General Motors Corp. reduced its dealer network by about 7%, to 14,118, from 2005 to 2007.

Three Los Angeles-area car dealerships have settled consumer protection lawsuits by paying fines without admitting to any wrongdoing, the state attorney general's office said. Jim Smathers' Cypress Nissan/Datsun and Jim Smathers' Performance Lincoln-Mercury in Van Nuys agreed to pay a total of $32,000 in civil penalties and attorneys fees. Frank Coletto Ford in Harbor City agreed to pay $12,500 in civil penalties.

Honda and Ford are expanding the reach of their green car offerings to U.S. consumers. Honda's 2013 Honda Fit EV, the electric vehicle first launched in California and Oregon in July 2012, will be added to select East Coast dealerships in Massachusetts, Connecticut, Maryland, New York and New Jersey. Customers will be able to lease the Fit EV, which has an EPA estimated range of 82 miles, for three years at a cost of $389 per month. "Expanding the availability of the ultra-efficient Fit EV to the East Coast is the next logical step in Honda's strategic and customer-focused approach to growing the market for low-CO2, sustainable mobility technologies," said Steve Center, vice president of the American Honda Environmental Business Development Office.

A blue-eyed boy sat on a skateboard, a helmet on his head, and stared pensively down a busy street. A pair of white wings extended from his shoulders. Above him were the words, "Angels come in various sizes. " Created out of spray paint, he materialized on the side of a Culver City building less than two years ago. To street art fans, the massive mural was the work of a German duo called Herakut. Most passersby just saw it as a nice way to spruce up a former car dealership that had long stood empty.

When electric-car company Tesla Motors Inc. started selling its flagship Model S luxury hatchback earlier this year, it eschewed the traditional dealership network to open its own stores. But that's not sitting well with U.S. auto dealers, who have controlled new-vehicle sales for nearly a century. The nation's roughly 18,000 new-car dealers got a cut of every one of the 12.8 million new cars and trucks sold in the U.S. last year, from the biggest domestic sport-utility vehicle to the tiniest Japanese import.

Ford Motor Co. will recall more than 484,000 Escape sport utility vehicles internationally including 421,000 in the U.S. because of a problem that can cause the gas pedal to stick. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration opened a probe of the problem this month after it noted 68 complaints, including 13 accidents, nine injuries and one fatality. The issues affect Escapes from the 2001 through 2004 model years that are left-hand drive and with the 3.0-liter V-6 engine.

Hoping to lure car dealerships back to Los Angeles, the City Council voted Tuesday to eliminate the business tax for new auto dealers. Dealerships are sought after by cities because they generate substantial sales tax revenue. But officials say nearly 100 dealerships have left L.A. over the last 25 years, with some businesses migrating to nearby cities such as Glendale, which exempts them from the gross-receipts tax. "For too long, Los Angeles' business tax has driven auto dealers outside the city limits," Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa said in a statement released after the 12-0 council vote.

New-car dealers are adding workers, opening more stores and expressing general optimism about their business, according to an annual report released this week by the National Automobile Dealers Assn. There were 933,500 workers employed at U.S. dealerships in 2011 that sold new cars and trucks, a 4.6% increase from the previous year, said Paul Taylor, chief economist of the trade group. The number of dealerships, which has declined dramatically in recent years, has started to climb, growing about 66 on a net basis to about 17,600.

Hoping to attract more customers to the town's car dealers and create the image of a unified auto plaza, the city is considering signs along Interstate 5 pointing drivers to the San Juan Capistrano Auto Plaza. The City Council was approached with the idea by the newly formed San Juan Capistrano Automobile Dealers Assn., which said in order to compete with other auto malls in the county, the dealerships--all seven located next to one another--must have freeway identification.

New-car dealers are adding workers, opening more stores and expressing general optimism about their business, according to an annual report released this week by the National Automobile Dealers Assn. There were 933,500 workers employed at U.S. new-car and -truck dealerships in 2011, a 4.6% increase from the previous year, said Paul Taylor, chief economist of the trade group. The number of dealerships, which has declined dramatically in recent years, has started to climb, growing by about 66 on a net basis to about 17,600.

Here is a roundup of alleged cons, frauds and schemes to watch out for. 'Free' gas - A federal judge has ordered a company to stop a marketing scheme in which consumers were promised "free gas for life" if they purchased a book online, the Federal Trade Commission said. Consumers who attempted to buy the book ended up being charged a monthly fee for an online magazine and did not receive the promised free gasoline, the FTC said. Under the court order, the Green Millionaire website can no longer offer "free" products and must clearly disclose how much consumers will be charged for its products.