Comments for Let's Talk About Cars! http://www.birdnow.com/wordpress Straight talk from Mark Birdnow Tue, 02 Feb 2010 00:39:06 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.1 Comment on Extended Warranties update! by TSwain http://www.birdnow.com/wordpress/?p=73&cpage=1#comment-18 TSwain Tue, 02 Feb 2010 00:39:06 +0000 http://www.birdnow.com/wordpress/?p=73#comment-18 Your blog is so informative … ..I just bookmarked you....keep up the good work!!!! Hey, I found your blog in a new directory of blogs. I dont know how your blog came up, must have been a typo, anyway cool blog, I bookmarked you. :) Your blog is so informative … ..I just bookmarked you….keep up the good work!!!!

Hey, I found your blog in a new directory of blogs. I dont know how your blog came up, must have been a typo, anyway cool blog, I bookmarked you. :)

]]> Comment on Extended Warranties update! by Mitch http://www.birdnow.com/wordpress/?p=73&cpage=1#comment-15 Mitch Sun, 17 Jan 2010 04:08:59 +0000 http://www.birdnow.com/wordpress/?p=73#comment-15 Its such a shame when a company has to go out of business...the human impact is never considered....executives of too many companies do not think of taking care of their employees, their staffs, who have given so much to the company for much less than they get when they make risky decisions. I do hope the employees who lost thier jobs find new, and better jobs...and then maybe there can be a silver lining in all this terrible mess for the only deserving ones in all this mess. Not sure the state AG investigates good companies...no matter what the PR people try to spin. Its such a shame when a company has to go out of business…the human impact is never considered….executives of too many companies do not think of taking care of their employees, their staffs, who have given so much to the company for much less than they get when they make risky decisions. I do hope the employees who lost thier jobs find new, and better jobs…and then maybe there can be a silver lining in all this terrible mess for the only deserving ones in all this mess. Not sure the state AG investigates good companies…no matter what the PR people try to spin.

]]> Comment on Closing dealerships by Mark Birdnow http://www.birdnow.com/wordpress/?p=62&cpage=1#comment-12 Mark Birdnow Thu, 17 Dec 2009 14:05:59 +0000 http://www.birdnow.com/wordpress/?p=62#comment-12 Dear Anonymous, Another way to look at this is to compare Toyota to Chevrolet. In NE Iowa there are many Chevy stores, I have four of them. There are only Toyota stores in metro areas. That makes service less convenient, but more importantly, in my view, it makes price competition a low priority for Toyota dealers. On the "political" issue, I can attest that in the case of GM particularly, all the contacts that I normally are able to talk to at GM professed to know nothing about the process of choosing dealers to terminate. No one knows the criteria used. There has just been a bill passed in the US congress that allows for a review with terminated dealers, and arbitration if the dealer doesn't agree with being closed. This could possibly uncover some situation where a dealer was terminated because the dealer had angered someone at the manufacturer. However, when these meetings are done one on one, at the manufacturers office, and dealers have no mechanism to compare notes with other dealers who are in the same position, it would be difficult to prove that the manufacturer was being unfair. A group formed of dealers who've been terminated called the whole process a sham. Finally, for many dealers the damage is already done, some have closed, some have laid off many good employees in an effor to downsize, some have even had to file for bankruptcy, in addition to the negative public perception of a dealer that came back from near death. Dear Anonymous,
Another way to look at this is to compare Toyota to Chevrolet. In NE Iowa there are many Chevy stores, I have four of them. There are only Toyota stores in metro areas. That makes service less convenient, but more importantly, in my view, it makes price competition a low priority for Toyota dealers.
On the “political” issue, I can attest that in the case of GM particularly, all the contacts that I normally are able to talk to at GM professed to know nothing about the process of choosing dealers to terminate. No one knows the criteria used. There has just been a bill passed in the US congress that allows for a review with terminated dealers, and arbitration if the dealer doesn’t agree with being closed. This could possibly uncover some situation where a dealer was terminated because the dealer had angered someone at the manufacturer. However, when these meetings are done one on one, at the manufacturers office, and dealers have no mechanism to compare notes with other dealers who are in the same position, it would be difficult to prove that the manufacturer was being unfair. A group formed of dealers who’ve been terminated called the whole process a sham. Finally, for many dealers the damage is already done, some have closed, some have laid off many good employees in an effor to downsize, some have even had to file for bankruptcy, in addition to the negative public perception of a dealer that came back from near death.

]]> Comment on Closing dealerships by Anonymous http://www.birdnow.com/wordpress/?p=62&cpage=1#comment-11 Anonymous Wed, 16 Dec 2009 22:17:24 +0000 http://www.birdnow.com/wordpress/?p=62#comment-11 A lot of times, I think we hear about the political games and maneuvering in DC and, to a lesser extent, Des Moines and it doesn't seem like a reality that directly affects us or we don't understand exactly how it will affect us. I think this post helps bring home that reality and explain how these changes will affect those of us in rural Iowa... A lot of times, I think we hear about the political games and maneuvering in DC and, to a lesser extent, Des Moines and it doesn’t seem like a reality that directly affects us or we don’t understand exactly how it will affect us. I think this post helps bring home that reality and explain how these changes will affect those of us in rural Iowa…

]]>