Featured Blog Posts – June 2009 Archive (21)

Chrysler Financial to Cut 350 Jobs

From the Wall Street Journal:

Chrysler Financial, once the financial arm of the new Chrysler Group LLC, will dismiss roughly 350 employees, or 9% of its work force.

More than 100 of the layoffs are effective Tuesday and will come primarily out of the company's sales teams. Another 240 will come at the end of August, when a customer call center in Kansas City, Mo., will be closed, the… Continue

Added by JJ Hornblass on June 30, 2009 at 9:54pm — 5 Comments

Not Surprisingly, GMAC Cuts Off Certain Chrysler Dealers

GMAC LLC has reportedly cut floorplan financing from about 80 dealers, or 6% of the surviving Chrysler dealerbase. Without floorplan financing, those dealers face daunting prospects, and are likely to fail.

There is no surprise in GMAC's action. The pseudo-captive is merely behaving like a financial institution should, dispensing risk with care.

What is surprising is that… Continue

Added by JJ Hornblass on June 25, 2009 at 9:32am — 3 Comments

The Future of Leasing

If there’s one component of finance that’s gotten hammered hard in the past year, it’s leasing. Like lenders, lessors have tightened underwriting across the board. What makes things more difficult is the fact that so many lessors have curtailed their businesses or exited the market altogether. In a nutshell: Fewer providers are offering leases, and of those that remain, qualification standards are tough.

Technically, it would seem that leasing would be a popular option these days,… Continue

Added by Marcie Belles on June 24, 2009 at 12:40pm — 11 Comments

Floorplanning Venture Inches Toward IPO

A de novo dealership floorplanning continues to move toward an initial public offering -- albeit a small one. Today, Lincoln Floorplanning Co. Inc. filed its fifth amendment to its first IPO filing in December. No offering date has been set yet for Lincoln.

Lincoln is a new venture. Daytona Beach, Fla.-based Lincoln has never earned a penny of revenue from operations and it won't until capital is raised. The company had about $7,500 in its bank account at the end of last… Continue

Added by JJ Hornblass on June 22, 2009 at 11:45pm — 3 Comments

Balboa Insurance Secures Top Sponsorship at '09 Auto Finance Summit

We are very pleased to announce that Balboa Insurance is the Diamond Sponsor for the 2009 Auto Finance Summit.

Balboa Insurance is a provider of risk mitigation products and services for the auto finance community.

Also participating as sponsors of the 2009 Auto Finance Summit are Fiserv and Experian Automotive.

The 2009 Auto Finance… Continue

Added by Mike Gibb on June 22, 2009 at 10:30am — No Comments

Auto Delinquencies Still Pointed North

Amid all the worst-is-behind-us sentiments being tossed about these days, auto loan delinquencies are still on the rise, TransUnion says.

In data released yesterday, TransUnion indicated that the year-over-year national 60-day auto delinquency rate increased 27.69% in the first quarter of 2009 to 0.83%. While that is not a terribly high number, TransUnion expects the 60-day delinquency to continue its march higher:

TransUnion's national 60-day auto delinquency rate… Continue

Added by JJ Hornblass on June 16, 2009 at 2:00pm — 1 Comment

Treasury Expands Vehicle Tax-Deduction Program

Car buyers in states without sales tax now have tax-deduction benefits, thanks to expansion of a Treasury Department program meant to bolster new-vehicle sales.

The plan is part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, which enables taxpayers who buy new cars, light trucks, motor homes, and motorcycles to deduct their sales tax. In states without sales tax, buyers can deduct other fees or taxes imposed by state or local governments.

The states without sales… Continue

Added by Marcie Belles on June 11, 2009 at 11:34am — No Comments

Done Deal

In 41 days, Chrysler has gone from a company on the brink of extinction to one being run by Italian automaker Fiat. Chrysler emerged today from Chapter 11 bankruptcy, after the Supreme Court refused to hear arguments from three Indiana funds that sought to block the deal. Fiat Chief Executive Sergio Marchionne was named CEO of the new Chrysler.

As part of its bankruptcy exit, Chrysler received $6.6 billion of financing from the federal government, which, along with the Canadian… Continue

Added by Marcie Belles on June 10, 2009 at 11:19am — 1 Comment

Chrysler Deal On

Chrysler Order 6-9-09…

Continue

Added by JJ Hornblass on June 9, 2009 at 10:43pm — No Comments

Agenda Set for Auto Finance Summit

The agenda has been set for the Auto Finance Summit, the industry’s premier event, with a particular focus on liquidity and the credit crisis.

Now in its ninth year, the Auto Finance Summit — sponsored, in part, by AutoFinanceNews.net — draws the entire automotive lending and leasing community for meaningful discussion and debate on the future of the industry. This year's conference will take place Oct. 12-13 in Las Vegas.

The agenda has been modified to reflect the… Continue

Added by Marcie Belles on June 9, 2009 at 11:00am — No Comments

Former AT&T Chief to Head New GM

Edward Whitacre Jr., former chairman and chief executive of telecom giant AT&T, got the nod today to run the “new GM” when it emerges from Chapter 11 protection.

Whitacre was named chairman of the board, as GM works to replace members who stepped down or are slated to retire amid the company’s restructuring. In all, the board will contain 13 directors, including one appointed by the Canadian government and one by the United Auto Workers healthcare trust.

Whitacre… Continue

Added by Marcie Belles on June 9, 2009 at 11:00am — No Comments

It Is Not Over for Ford

Is "the game is essentially over before it even begins" for Ford because GMAC LLC can offer government-aided preferential financing to GM and Chrysler customers?

The answer is "yes" to Jack Sayer, the managing partner of Sayer Partners, an automotive consultancy who wrote yesterday that "the… Continue

Added by JJ Hornblass on June 9, 2009 at 8:30am — 4 Comments

Supreme Court to Chrysler: Just Hold on There

The Supreme Court has put the brakes on Chrysler's sale to Fiat, after several Indiana pension funds and consumer groups complained that the proposed transaction was unlawful, if not unconstitutional.

The Wall Street Journal:

Ahead of the decision, Chrysler and the federal government warned such an intervention might… Continue

Added by JJ Hornblass on June 8, 2009 at 4:30pm — 3 Comments

GMAC/Ally Retreats in Deposit Battle with ABA

We documented earlier this week the battle of letters between GMAC/Ally Bank and the American Bankers Association over what the ABA called GMAC's "particularly egregious" and too-high deposit rates.

Well, it seems that GMAC has retreated. The Bank Deals blog is reporting today that GMAC/Ally has quietly cut its deposit rates.… Continue

Added by JJ Hornblass on June 5, 2009 at 5:00pm — 6 Comments

Fighting Bankruptcy with Bankruptcy

In an interesting panel discussion yesterday at the National Automotive Finance Association conference, Larry Young, a partner at the Houston law firm of Hughes Watters Askanase LLP, proposed that “rejected” Chrysler dealers looking to forestall their terminations should “file their own Chapter 11.”

The “automatic stay” that is part of the bankruptcy filing prevents all entities from exercising control over the estate. If the dealer files, then there are two parties in bankruptcy,… Continue

Added by Marcie Belles on June 5, 2009 at 12:10pm — 2 Comments

Lies, Damn Lies, and Statistics!

As I watched the Senate hearings today on CSPAN my blood boiled. When asked about the money they would save by cutting their dealer count these guys, Henderson and Press, engaged in some serious obfuscation. They asserted that by swapping an "under performing" dealer for a "performing dealer" they would pick up the gross profit of the additional sales of the new "performing" dealer. These calculations of the difference between what they got and what they felt they were entitled to makes up the… Continue

Added by David Ruggles on June 4, 2009 at 1:15pm — 16 Comments

Looking Down the Road

Harley Davidson had a 4 times larger market cap than GM, based on the stock price just before Chapter 11. Does anyone think that stock value is representative of a revitalized low cost GM in a 15 million SAAR, 15% market share, low fuel price market? There could be a good argument made that buying GM stock after they reemerge from BK could be the equivalent of buying a good company at an IPO price. No guarantees of the low fuel price, but I'd bet on the 15% market share and 15 million SAAR… Continue

Added by David Ruggles on June 2, 2009 at 3:37pm — 1 Comment

AutoFinanceNews.net Survey: GM's Bankruptcy

Click here to answer a few questions about your expectations for GM's restructuring and the impact it will have on the industry.

To view the results, click here.

Added by Marcie Belles on June 1, 2009 at 1:30pm — No Comments

GM's Henderson Press Conference Live Blog

12:15 pm: Conference call begins.

12:21 pm: GM remains open for business. Warranties will be honored. Part of the UAW agreement includes a provision to make a new car in the US.

12:22 pm: Magna MOU signed for Opel today. German government to provide $5 billion of DIP financing.

12:24 pm: The GM that let many of you down is history.

12:25 pm: We need to make sure all of our vehicles are world-class. The days of 15 launches where we hope five or six are… Continue

Added by JJ Hornblass on June 1, 2009 at 12:00pm — 2 Comments

Obama Press Conference Live Blog: GM

11:54 a.m. ET: President Obama says GM is much larger and much more complex than Chrysler.

11:56 a.m. ET: If all goes according to plan, Obama says, GM will build more cars in the U.S. than it has in 30 years.

11:58 a.m. ET: "What we have is an incredible plan full of promise."

11:59 a.m. ET: The plan entitles American taxpayers to about 60% of the new GM, Obama says, because its survival and the overall success of the country depend on it.

12:01 p.m.… Continue

Added by Marcie Belles on June 1, 2009 at 11:30am — 4 Comments