GM dealerships fret for the future if GMAC financing folds

Most General Motors dealers are just like you — they don’t own the cars they have. They finance them.

But as their lender, GMAC Financial Services, teeters on the brink of bankruptcy, some dealers are concerned that their financing could be pulled out from under them.

Boardman car dealer Dave Sweeney said he already has held preliminary talks with banks about providing financing for his $17 million inventory should GMAC collapse.

“I think we’ll be OK,” said Sweeney, who owns Sweeney Buick-Pontiac-GMC and Sweeney Chevrolet, with his brother, Doug. “We’re well-capitalized. I think we’ll be able to find a home [for our financing.]”

A Georgia dealer told Automotive News, a trade publication, that he thinks as many as half of GM’s 6,450 dealerships could be forced to close if they couldn’t rely on GMAC to finance the cars on their lots. They wouldn’t be able to obtain financing in today’s tight credit market, he said.

For more information, see Tuesday’s Vindicator or www.vindy.com.