Quote:
|
Originally Posted by RickFLM4
I saw Mike Jackson from AutoNation on CNBC this week. While they won't retail cars with open recalls, it sounds like they do send them to auction (with disclosure) where another dealer will buy them and retail them. So they aren't exactly taking cars out of circulation by not retailing them - just passing them off for someone else to sell. They don't really have a choice. Dealers can't realistically hold millions of cars in inventory while waiting for parts.
|
I've known Mike for years and have worked with him at both MB and AN. This Takata mess has reached such a massive and lengthy scale, the losses incurred for AN alone have exceeded $2B and continuing to hold inventory is no longer an option. Its not an immediate action and affected cars are sent to auction only after 180 days in sell-hold inventory and repairs cannot be guaranteed to occur within the following 30 days with two exceptions; BMW and Honda vehicles continue to be held as they are compensating their franchise dealers. BMW dealers who use BMWFS for their Floorplan, are provided additional credit at zero interest and extendable due dates for these cars specifically. If I were the OP, I'd raise hell with the dealer and BMWNA as there should not be any reason for a BMW Franchise Dealer to refuse a trade-in of an affected BMW Group vehicle.
This is one of those improbable situations that was accounted for back when I was working with a think tank between manufacturers/distributors/dealers/regulators to reform the network structure. I specifically suggested manufacturers/distributors be allowed to establish wholly owned regional service centers within franchise market areas to take on major warranty or manufacturer liable situations such as this. Dealers and their lobbyists balked at the idea and now they're wishing they hadn't.