GM dealers say delayed rebates are minor inconvenience

By: Katie Stallcup Staff writer | Opelika Auburn News
Published: November 21, 2008

Local General Motors dealerships say the automaker’s recent announcement about delaying rebates to dealers is just a minor inconvenience.

“It’s basically a two-week delay,” said Marrell Hartley, president of Bence-Hartley Buick, Pontiac and GMC in Opelika. “It will affect our cash flow during that time period, but it will not have a significant impact on our dealership.”

Skip Kendrick, general manager of King Chevrolet in Valley, said he supported GM’s efforts.

“Basically, they’re doing this for cash flow for a certain period of time,” he said. “It’s not going to have a real adverse affect on anyone, unless they’re in a real tight financial situation ...”

GM and other American auto manufacturers are looking for ways to increase cash on hand, and delaying reimbursements will give them more time, Kendrick said.

Local dealerships said they have not had devastating sales losses during the economic downturn.

Johnny Jones, general sales manager for Glynn Smith Chevrolet in Opelika, estimated sales have dropped perhaps 15 percent since last year.

“It’s a little off, but it’s certainly not a killer,” Jones said.

Hartley said his sales are down, but they’re not suffering as much as some other market areas.

Kendrick said it helps that his customer base is local, repeat and referred business. It also helps that sales of trucks and SUVs, while down elsewhere in the country, are pretty level in his salesroom.

“The bank president (who owns a big truck) is probably not going to continue to drive it,” he said. “But a man who owns a septic tank business, he still needs it. He can’t pull his backhoe with a (Chevy) Malibu. That’s why we’ve always had more trucks and SUVs sold than cars, and I think it’ll continue that way in our area.”