The familiar car dealership in the heart of Scotia, Scotia Motors, which until recently mainly sold new Chrysler, Dodge and Jeep vehicles, is still going strong as a used car dealership.
In May, Scotia Motors and Terry Chrysler Jeep, both located on Route 50 within miles of each other, found out that they were on the list of 800 Chrysler dealerships across the country that were being reorganized. Also in May, Salisbury Chevrolet was hit with an announcement from GM that it was shutting down 1,100 franchises. Salisbury closed soon thereafter. While Scotia Motors’ contract with Chrysler was terminated June 9, and it no longer sells new cars, it is functioning as a used car dealership.
According to the company’s Web site, Scotia Motors was started more than 60 years ago by Vincent James Koehler, in the same location it stands today.
`We have been a Dodge dealer here in Scotia since 1946 – a dealer in good standing with no problems,` said Tina Koehler, who owns Scotia Motors with her husband, Jim Koehler, Vincent Koehler’s son.
`On May 15 we got a letter terminating our new car franchise with Chrysler. We were given three weeks to cease our new car business, meaning we had to redistribute any new cars we had left here,` said Koehler.
She said that initially when news broke that Scotia Motors was a `targeted store` by Chrysler, the Koehlers knew they weren’t going to sit back and shut down.
`We said, ‘They can’t close us. They don’t own us. We are staying in business,` said Koehler.
She said that since then, both her business and customers have received letters indicating that Scotia Motors is no longer in business with Chrysler.
Koehler said that there is a misconception among Chrysler owners that since Scotia Motors is no longer affiliated with Chrysler, it can no longer work on the vehicles.
`That is extremely inaccurate,` said Koehler.
Scotia Motors can still work on Chrysler vehicles ` it specializes in them ` but for vehicles that are still under warranty by the Chrysler Corporation, that warranty will no longer be honored at the Scotia Motors location.
`We have paid for the tools that Chrysler insisted that we use on these vehicles. We have paid to have our technicians to be trained to work on these vehicles,` said Koehler. `We have that infrastructure here, and we certainly plan on continuing to [service vehicles]. That has been our main focus right now.`
She said that they are also trying to maintain their overall used car inventory, but it hasn’t been easy recently.
`Right now anybody who is in the car business will tell you the used-car part of the business has changed dramatically. There aren’t as many used cars out there as we’ve seen in the past,` said Koehler.
She said that her company purchases cars from auctions and `other entities.`
She also noted that Scotia Motors has the same number of technicians that it has always had ` they haven’t had to cut back on staffing and they don’t want to.
`We keep saying that we’re still here for sales and service,` said Koehler.
Jim Koehler said that it’s been a challenge converting to a used car dealership because of the recently wrapped up Cash for Clunkers program that was offered by the federal government, which offered credit to customers ranging from $3,500 to $4,500 to turn in their old cars for brand-new, more fuel-efficient ones.
`They put me out of business and then within the next month they started incentivizing people to buy new cars,` he said.
Koehler said that he has $150,000 worth of brand-new Chrysler car parts that he can’t sell.
`I can use some and wherever that situation arises I certainly do that,` said Koehler. `We’re trying to stay in business, of course. I was selling more used cars the past couple of years anyway because the new car market, especially with Chrysler, was tough.`
Since Chrysler won’t warranty any service that is done at Scotia Motors, customers who still have cars under warranty have to have their cars serviced elsewhere. The nearest dealer is on Central Avenue Albany.
`[This] has angered many of our customers,` said Tina Koehler.
Koehler said that she and her husband are not opposed to selling a new kind of car at their dealership, but said they’re `just going to have to wait and see what’s out there.`
`Certainly any of the major manufacturers are pretty well-taken, so that’s probably not something that would happen, but who knows? I mean, who would have ever thought that this would happen?` said Koehler.
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