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I'm a bean counter at a AHG dealership. I see the financials of some 30 odd dealerships, every week.

I believe the official stats were that sales were 11% down in Oct 08 compared to Oct 07.

This is extremely misleading and may you give you a false sense that "it's not that bad".

The figures "aren't that bad" yet because we are still delivering our orders taken 2 - 4 months ago, when no one could keep up with orders. Our orders taken months ago gets counted as a sale / stat when we delivered in Oct. A case in point would be the Prado D4D's (Diesel Common Rail) that had a 6-9 month wait nationwide only 6 months ago.

Toyota are increasing car prices by 20% in Jan due to FX rate. When all manufacturers follow, we'll see some real blood-shedding in sales.

There are rumours that X (not saying so I don't get banned) will be withdrawing from the OZ market. They have cut all advertising spending and it appears that no other financiar will take over from GMAC as they are not 'financial'.

I wonder which small car companies will eventually withdraw from the OZ market. Skoda? Renault? Citroen? etc...

Edit:

- Every dealer has also been asked to draw up cost savings measures.
- Freeze on new employees.
- Freeze on all "non essential" expenses.
- Any debtor going into 60 days, "automatic stop credit or I lose my job".
- Anyone leaving Accounts, don't replace them, give the existing girls a few $ an hour extra to cover the work. Thus saving half of the exiting wages.
- Ban put on anyone speaking to the media yesterday.

Found out about a panel beater on our books the other day. Not paying his $10K debt but coming in through the back door and paying cash for new purchases. Obviously cash flow problems and trying to "trade his way" out of difficulty. Then I ring up other FC's and find out his got another $30K in debt spread over another 5 dealerships.

<blockquote data-quote="BigAl" data-source="post: 361703" data-attributes="member: 22233">I&#039;m a bean counter at a AHG dealership.&nbsp; I see the financials of some 30 odd dealerships, every week.I believe the official stats were that sales were 11% down in Oct 08 compared to Oct 07.This is extremely misleading and may you give you a false sense that &quot;it&#039;s not that bad&quot;.The figures &quot;aren&#039;t that bad&quot; yet because we are still delivering our orders taken 2 - 4 months ago, when no one could keep up with orders.&nbsp; Our orders taken months ago gets counted as a sale / stat when we delivered in Oct.&nbsp; A case in point would be the Prado D4D&#039;s (Diesel Common Rail) that had a 6-9 month wait nationwide only 6 months ago.Toyota are increasing car prices by 20% in Jan due to FX rate.&nbsp; When all manufacturers follow, we&#039;ll see some real blood-shedding in sales.There are rumours that X (not saying so I don&#039;t get banned) will be withdrawing from the OZ market.&nbsp; They have cut all advertising spending and it appears that no other financiar will take over from GMAC as they are not &#039;financial&#039;.I wonder which small car companies will eventually withdraw from the OZ market.&nbsp; Skoda?&nbsp; Renault?&nbsp; Citroen? etc...Edit:- Every dealer has also been asked to draw up cost savings measures.- Freeze on new employees.- Freeze on all &quot;non essential&quot; expenses.- Any debtor going into 60 days, &quot;automatic stop credit or I lose my job&quot;.- Anyone leaving Accounts, don&#039;t replace them, give the existing girls a few $ an hour extra to cover the work.&nbsp; Thus saving half of the exiting wages.- Ban put on anyone speaking to the media yesterday.Found out about a panel beater on our books the other day.&nbsp; Not paying his $10K debt but coming in through the back door and paying cash for new purchases.&nbsp; Obviously cash flow problems and trying to &quot;trade his way&quot; out of difficulty.&nbsp; Then I ring up other FC&#039;s and find out his got another $30K in debt spread over another 5 dealerships.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="BigAl, post: 361703, member: 22233"] I'm a bean counter at a AHG dealership. I see the financials of some 30 odd dealerships, every week. I believe the official stats were that sales were 11% down in Oct 08 compared to Oct 07. This is extremely misleading and may you give you a false sense that "it's not that bad". The figures "aren't that bad" yet because we are still delivering our orders taken 2 - 4 months ago, when no one could keep up with orders. Our orders taken months ago gets counted as a sale / stat when we delivered in Oct. A case in point would be the Prado D4D's (Diesel Common Rail) that had a 6-9 month wait nationwide only 6 months ago. Toyota are increasing car prices by 20% in Jan due to FX rate. When all manufacturers follow, we'll see some real blood-shedding in sales. There are rumours that X (not saying so I don't get banned) will be withdrawing from the OZ market. They have cut all advertising spending and it appears that no other financiar will take over from GMAC as they are not 'financial'. I wonder which small car companies will eventually withdraw from the OZ market. Skoda? Renault? Citroen? etc... Edit: - Every dealer has also been asked to draw up cost savings measures. - Freeze on new employees. - Freeze on all "non essential" expenses. - Any debtor going into 60 days, "automatic stop credit or I lose my job". - Anyone leaving Accounts, don't replace them, give the existing girls a few $ an hour extra to cover the work. Thus saving half of the exiting wages. - Ban put on anyone speaking to the media yesterday. Found out about a panel beater on our books the other day. Not paying his $10K debt but coming in through the back door and paying cash for new purchases. Obviously cash flow problems and trying to "trade his way" out of difficulty. Then I ring up other FC's and find out his got another $30K in debt spread over another 5 dealerships. [/QUOTE]

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