Alright, here we go.
I'm really sorry I couldn't let you guys know, it was part of an agreement I had with the dealership. I had to keep everything on the DL, the salesmen out there can understand that. I didn't know we were 100% closing until this past Monday. You see, we were told that the franchise was going to move to another dealership, so I was totally expecting to pop on here and say "Hey guys, we moved to the Fred Beans down the street if you need us!". It didn't turn out that way. Euro Motor Cars Devon tried to find a buyer in a short amount of time, but to no avail. SmartUSA will still be looking to restart a new franchised Smart Center in the area as soon as possible (maybe contact your local dealer, see if they want to try to become a Smart Center).
I have no animosity to EMCD, and no one here should either. They really did try their best to keep it opened, but because of how it was set up by the previous owner, it was costing too much. You see, as much as I complained that there were no local dedicated smart car dealers except us, where there was a dedicated sales team and what have you, that actually saved those smart dealers (case in point, Smart Center Germantown is owned by the same company, and they are not closing that one). Basically the way the previous owners set up our dealer it was costing $40,000/month just to run it with an operating crew, even with Seth and I and everyone else gone, it would cost $30,000 just in maintence fees, and no one would be able to available to manage any of the dealership. We would have to sell 40 cars/month just to keep our doors opened and break even (we were doing just that up until around April/March area, then it all went down hill) and the demand for the car in this area just wasn't there.
Another problem for the SEPA area is credit and financing. I can't tell you how many people have poor credit scores around here. It's sad really. Talking to some of the other brand specialists on the other coast, it's really not like that for other places. Also, a lot of customers kept saying "Oh, I really do like them, but I'm not interested in getting a car
now" (there are less stars in the galaxy than the times I have heard that one). Believe me, towards the end, I was laying it on thick to try to get the sale, throwing in every which piece of extras I could, to no avail. And Seth is a better car salesman than I am (I can't believe I just said that), and he had sooooo much trouble getting any car sold.
The short of it comes down to this. This dealership was set up so it would work only in the good times and couldn't make it in the bad times. For EMCD to go back and fix it to make it like the other smart centers it would cost way too much money (that showroom that I worked in cost over a million to renovate to smartUSA specs, or so I've been told), money that they need to grow the MB side (can't really blame them at all, great people if you ever want to buy a Mercedes, go to them). Couple that with poor demand in our area and customers who want the car for a massive discount (guys, I've told most of you, there is only a $500 profit margin in this car) it just was unsustainable.
Okay, one by one:
Margie: She's worked there for 25 years, so she had so much good will built that she is working back in service for Mercedes again.
Christina: We have something called the Business Development Center, which she was familair with (she worked at MB for 4 years total) and she just slid back into that spot.
Seth: He's laid off. Looking for another job. If anybody in the Philly area has need for a great guy on their team, I highly recommend him (what are these words coming out of my mouth? Haha). But seriously, he's a good strong worker who can get stuff done.
Eric(me): Laid off as well. I'm going back to school for engineering (I hope). Come Monday I'll be sending out my transcripts to schools. Anybody got access to good scholarships? Willing to write! In the meantime I'll be substitute teaching, mostly automotive, and free lancing cars (I was a technicain at one point) and computers. Not the greatest thing to happen to me, but I guess I'll get by.
Feel free to ask me any questions about who what why, or whatever, or even your cars, I actually spent quite a lot of time under the hoods of these smarts, I know them pretty well (no CELs!).
Eric.
Today
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