[jachevy28]

Two Chevy dealers in our area closed today, claiming because of the bailout restructuring. Is this happening everywhere? If so, could be bad news for people who ordered from these types of places...this is from the newspaper:

Simpsonville Chevrolet on North Industrial Drive in Simpsonville shut its doors Thursday for the final time, and its interim operator called it a direct result of General Motors agreement with Congress as part of its bailout package.

The dealership, which is owned and operated by General Motors, received notification at 10 a.m. Thursday that it would be closed. It shut its doors by 10:30 a.m. and left 28 employees without a job, said Stan Michaels, interim operator.

“GM has a deal with this bailout and they had to come up with a game plan with Congress to get this money,” Michaels said. “They’re eliminating, at least in this case, the dealerships that they own.”

The dealership sat mostly quiet this morning as some employees packed belongings into cardboard boxes. The 54 used cars on the lot will be sold to other local dealerships while GM will purchase the new car inventory and distribute those vehicles to other Chevrolet dealers, Michaels said.

The news came as a shock to Michaels because he said the dealership had been viable even in the sour economy because of its location next to Interstate 385 and its history in Simpsonville. The dealership had been in Simpsonville for eight years as Simpsonville Chevrolet. It operated under a different name prior to that, he said.

“We did extremely well here, but that’s the small picture,” Michaels said. “They have to look at the big picture.”

Customers with warranty or service needs could take their vehicles to any other GM dealer in the area, Michaels said. Some employees will be on site for the next month to clear titles to recently sold vehicles and to liquidate the inventory, he said.

Michaels hoped other dealerships would hire his workers and said he’d already fielded calls from some area dealers that were looking to hire.

“Hopefully the dealers in this town that are looking for people - sales, office, service, mechanics – will give me a call,” he said.