Dealer survey, compromise bill

J.D. Power’s 2009 sales satisfaction index has been released, and Dodge and Jeep dealers are anchoring the bottom, rated better than just one non-luxury brand – Mitsubishi. Every brand other than Chrysler was ranked above Dodge, Jeep, and former partner Mitsubishi. Chrysler came in just below Toyota, beating Hyundai, Nissan, Mazda, and its fellow Chrysler brands.

In the meantime, responding to Americans’ overwhelming demands for health, tax, and budget reform, both parties of Congress have made changing the law to benefit rejected car dealers their top priority. Congress will most likely pass a law later this week to give the dealers rejected by GM and Chrysler in accordance with Federal bankruptcy law a chance to get reinstated.

While some dealers and many blogs have accused Chrysler and GM of dropping dealers solely for political reasons or caprice, dealer advocates have criticized the automakers’ proposed arbitration system because the stated business criteria would be used to validate the cuts, and, to quote Automotive News, “Few franchises would be restored under those criteria, [dealer advocates] have said.” This perspective would seem to invalidate prior accusations.

The legislation would allow dealers to provide any information during arbitration, including their experience, local demographics, and geography.

Dealers had wanted all terminations to be reversed, and financial compensation; a bill that provided full-scale reversal was actually passed by the House of Representatives, but it was not passed by the Senate and would probably have been vetoed by President Obama, who had a role in creating the current bill.

Some have critiqued any “reversal” measures because they would not benefit dealers who no longer have the finances or financing to re-open their franchises, or to open new ones in different regions.

Many also objected to the methods used by GM and Chrysler, which in some cases closed dealers who were clearly committed to the brands, and in other cases closed the only dealers in large geographic areas, along with dealers who seemed to be clearly abusing their franchises.

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