Residents in Mahoning Valley to see signs of change soon

By Don Shilling

Chrysler signs will come down later this month at a terminated dealer in Warren.

YOUNGSTOWN — The day after cutting loose two local dealers, Chrysler sent an official to count unsold new vehicles on the lots.

It didn’t take long to count the five Jeeps that remained Wednesday at Preston Auto Mall, said Kevin Lyda, co-owner of the Warrren dealership.

“He was here for 10 minutes, and then he was headed to Frederick,” Lyda said.

Frederick Chrysler Jeep Dodge in Boardman is the other dealership in the Mahoning Valley that had its franchise terminated by Chrysler.

Without Chrysler, the Warren dealership has become Preston BMW. It will survive just fine because 85 percent of its sales were BMWs, Lyda said.

“I feel bad for the dealers that just had Chrysler, Dodge or Jeep and nothing else to fall back on,” he said.

Frederick is in that category, and it isn’t clear what will happen to the dealership. Bob Frederick Jr. and Sr. were not at the business Wednesday morning and haven’t been returning phone calls this week.

The younger Frederick said last month that he had several options, including opening a used-car dealership and repair business.

On Tuesday, Chrysler received court approval to terminate 789 of its dealers, or 25 percent of its network. Control of the company also switched to the Italian automaker Fiat.

The termination means that affected dealers, as of Wednesday, could no longer sell cars with the automaker’s financing, incentives or warranties.

Chrysler told Lyda that it would have an independent contractor out by the end of the month to remove signs from his dealership.

The automaker also will be buying back the five Jeeps that remain, minus a $350 per-vehicle fee. Those vehicles will be shipped to other dealers, probably ones that are out of the area, Lyda said.

When Chrysler announced the termination on May 14, Preston had 25 Chrysler vehicles in stock. Of the 20 that were sold, two went to other dealers and 18 went to customers.

Lyda said Chrysler wasn’t buying back any vehicle that had more than 125 miles. He had two demo vehicles that fell into that category, so he knocked the prices down until they sold.

Three of the dealership’s 23 employees were transferred to other Preston locations, but the rest kept their jobs. Bob Preston owns dealerships in Boardman and New Castle and Sharon, Pa.

shilling@vindy.com