Word: carlies
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
Back at Ganley Chevrolet, the dealership's bank announced in a meeting yesterday morning that it will increase the floor plan rate - the interest on money that car dealers borrow to buy new inventory - by 1.5%. "Which forces me to have less inventory on hand," says Jim Helton, the general manager. "That makes it harder for me to sell cars, because I'm giving people fewer choices." The dealership's owners were planning this summer to spend millions of dollars on a complete renovation and expansion of the façade, showroom and service area. Rising credit costs, combined with...
...car lots of Cleveland, people at the ground floor of the economy are getting nervous too. In an average month, 260 customers walk through the doors of Boyland Acura in Cleveland. That total dropped to 80 in August, says general sales manager Clayton Hrabik. The few remaining shoppers find that it's getting harder to secure a loan. "Once we get down to the meat and potatoes of their credit worthiness," Hrabik says, "they just can't afford...
That's what Cleveland resident Mildred Maldonado realized last week when the timing belt of her 1994 Saturn broke, causing the engine to seize. She would like to borrow money for a used car. If her Saturn had died two months ago, perhaps she could have qualified. But Maldonado has a low credit score. And banks, nervous about a global credit crunch, are requiring down payments of up to 30%, according to several Cleveland dealers. Maldonado cannot afford that. So she begs relatives for rides. "I hate it, but there's nothing else I can do," says Maldonado, 49. With...
Similar credit concerns have contributed to a 20% drop in sales at Marshall Ford in Mayfield Heights, an affluent Cleveland suburb, says owner Larry Elk. Leased vehicles typically make up half of Marshall's new-car business. As Ford, GM and other manufacturers take steps to cut back on car leases, Elk says he feels the pinch. "People are getting the message that leases aren't happening," he says. "If people don't have to buy a car, they're just holding off to see what happens...
...pain will soon come to Main Street - in Beijing and Brussels as much as in Boise. Economists are already outlining the downward spiral that they predict will follow. Banks will cut back on their lending to households and businesses. Mortgages and car loans will become harder to get. That in turn will stifle consumer spending and crimp investment in companies, leading to production cuts and job losses. Judging by previous crises, it can take about 18 months to two years for a financial squeeze to spread to the rest of the economy, which means that 2009 is shaping...