Would Our FORD Dealers Pass the Test ??

[csv8]

After a year of fighting Chrysler’s decision to cast aside his dealership, Jim Bickford expected to be back running Westminster Dodge, the only Chrysler franchise in Boston.

Jodi Hilton for The New York Times
Jim Bickford, owner of Westminster Dodge, said new restrictions may keep the dealership from selling new cars and trucks.
An arbitrator last month declared the dealership “a proven performer, with an experienced, enthusiastic and competent management team, which has earned the right to continue.”

But Mr. Bickford is still not sure whether he will be able to return to selling new cars and trucks. Chrysler is offering to bring Westminster Dodge back aboard only if it meets a list of restrictions, undertakes immediate renovations — and if no nearby dealer objects.

“We won our case, let’s move on,” said Mr. Bickford, whose father began working at the dealership more than 50 years ago and bought it in 1977. “I don’t understand why they’re playing such hardball. I really want to just be reinstated and go back to the way things were.”

[cycle myth]

Typically there's more to this than just what is in the article.... sometimes truths that aren't nice to print.

As for Ford Dealers here in Australia - probably some mixed results, probably similar to other brands, but maybe not better than most..

[pottery beige]

after being screwed by Chrysler he should ditch them and start flogging off Fords.....

[Kryton]

Youd think that Chrysler would be doing all they can do make sure there is a dealer in that region, not doing everything they can to not sell cars.

[Road_Warrior]

Originally Posted by pottery beige

after being screwed by Chrysler he should ditch them and start flogging off Fords.....

I agree, but as has been said, there must be more to this than meets the eye.

[russellw]

The "rationalisation" of dealerships by both GM and Chrysler was something of an oddity in the way it was addressed and in the case of GM their original 2,064 closures have been subsequently whittled down to about 1500.

Chrysler reinstated 50 of the 789 originally closed and others have succeeded in the arbitration process but the logic behind the decision making seems flawed at best.

Obviously, both chose to remove dealerships that had been under performing and no doubt some that had simply been thorns in their side for whatever reason but to suggest that they had to meet higher standards than other similar dealers is really just making it deliberately hard.

It is interesting to note that FoA did some internal work a few years ago in the lead up to the reworking of the MFA that classified dealerships into the good, the bad and the ugly but as far as I can see they actually didn't really do anything about it.

Indeed, the fact that we still have a dealership group with a Ford sign out the front after they have been accused of rebranding parts would suggest that there aren't a lot of teeth in the current MFA. It actually raises an interesting point given that there has been nothing in the way of legal decisions since early 2008 as to whether this is still before the courts, has been settled or has just fallen into the too hard basket.

The current standards applied to our dealerships are quite strict and go down to the minutest of detail (colour of floor tiles for example) in terms of the actual look of the dealership but it somewhat less clear how standards are applied to the customer experience and that is what counts from our point of view. I know that bad service feedback and new car sales feedback is followed up (if somewhat inconsistently) but I can't see that there is any real capacity to apply sanctions in the case of bad customer feedback. If there were, then I can name a few that would have been long closed.

Sorry for the deviation from the question but it is a roundabout way of saying that it wouldn't matter if they passed or failed anyway.

Cheers
Russ

[Papa Smurf]

Subaru and Alfa are VERY picky about how showrooms should be presented.