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Bill Heard Enterprises Folding Dealerships Nationwide

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TBO.com

Published: September 24, 2008

One of the nation's largest car dealership chains has closed down operations, possibly forever.

The Bill Heard Chevrolet dealership in Plant City closed its doors Wednesday, along with 12 other Bill Heard dealerships across the nation. The chain, in a statement Wednesday, cited rising fuel prices, a bad economy, credit problems and inventory heavy with unpopular trucks and SUVs for its decision to close.

Nationwide, about 2,700 people across the chain will lose their jobs. Company officials would not detail how many worked at each location. Plant City's mayor estimated about 350 people worked in Plant City.

"It's a real shame," said Paul Baker, executive manager of the Plant City dealership adjacent to Interstate 4, said with tears in his eyes, shortly before he walked out of the dealership for the last time Wednesday. "I can't help but think of all the thousands of people who have worked for Bill Heard now being out of work."

The closing marks the end of a long history for the dealership that started as a single site in Columbus, Ga., in 1919, just 11 years after Henry Ford first produced the Model T automobile.

With the most Chevrolets sold by any dealer, Bill Heard Enterprises Inc. earned the slogan "Mr. Big Volume." At one point in the 1990s, the 13 Bill Heard dealers sold 30,000 Chevrolets per year.

Baker, who has worked for the company for 35 years, doubts the dealership will emerge again under new ownership. "Nobody has the guts to have a big dealership anymore," he said.

Although sales operations were shuttered Wednesday, maintenance operations will remain open for the time being, Baker said.

This has been a difficult year for many auto dealers, with tight credit markets, high gas prices and slowing demand for new vehicles. Bob Wilson Dodge in Tampa closed sales operations in April and filed for bankruptcy protection.

John Sharrock, who lives in Tampa, drove to the Plant City dealership to buy a new truck Wednesday only to find it closed.

"I called them this morning and no one would answer the phone," Sharrock said. "I got aggravated and drove over here to see what was going on. It's unbelievable."

Derek Fowler, service department director at the Lott-Mather Buick Pontiac GMC dealership in Plant City and a former public relations representative for Bill Heard in Plant City, said the company wasn't in good financial shape because of bad vehicle loans.

"Once the loans started to fail the company was in big trouble. Even the General Motors financing arm pulled out of the deal. Once that happened it was all over," said Fowler, referring to financial company GMAC halting in August its financing of car loans at several of the Bill Heard dealership locations.

Monte Guthrie, a retired Air Force officer and longtime Bill Heard customer who lives in Plant City, said he was saddened to hear the news.

"I've been dealing with Bill Heard since 1974 when I was stationed at Fort Benning, Ga.," Guthrie said. "I bought several vehicles there, and I bought a Chevy Suburban from them in 2003."

Jim Hossack, an auto consultant with AutoPacific in Tustin, Calif., said the collapse of the chain is a sign of just how tough the market is for auto dealers these days.

"No question Bill Heard is one of the biggest. ... To me it shows just how tough the economic times are for dealers."

First, he said, the volume of new car and light truck sales fell from 16.1 million last year to an estimated 14 million this year. Of those, far fewer sales will be SUVs and pickups, while more sales will be in light and small cars that come with much slimmer profit margins, Hossack said.

Add to that, GM has been especially hurt in the economic downturn he said, and it's a recipe for disaster for GM dealers.

"GM needs to have fewer dealers," Hossack said. "Someone's going to end up without a chair when the music stops. Someone, somewhere is going out of business."

Bill Heard Enterprises bought the old Bell Chevrolet dealership at 601 E. Alexander St. in Plant City in 2000 and moved to the 40-acre, $30 million location at Park Road and Interstate 4 about four years later.

Plant City Mayor Rick Lott said, "I am shocked and sad. They have been a great business partner in the community."

Lott, a businessman who co-owns Lott-Mather in Plant City, said his partner, Bill Mather, was in Orlando on Wednesday morning attending a General Motors dealership meeting headed up by GM's CEO Rick Wagoner.

"Once the news broke about Bill Heard shutting down, that was all the buzz at that meeting," Lott said.

Reporters George H. Newman and Dave Nicholson contributed to this report. Reporter Richard Mullins can be reached at (813) 259-7919 or rmullins@tampatrib.com.

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