The credit crisis and record high gas prices have teamed up to drive the world's largest Chevrolet dealer out of business. Bill Heard Enterprises is closing all 13 of its stores today, the company told its local managers yesterday.
Insiders said the company notified the stores' general managers of the closing at 2 p.m. yesterday, Automotive News reported. It closed a store in Arizona earlier this month.
The Bill Heard dealerships relied heavily on the sale of pickups, which have slumped drastically since gas prices hit historic highs over the last several months. A pullback in dealer financing by GMAC also influenced the decision, reports said.
The company began in Columbus, Ga., in 1919, founded by W.T. Heard Sr. It developed into the countrys biggest Chevrolet dealer and ran dealerships in Georgia, Alabama, Florida, Tennessee, Texas and Nevada. At its height, the company said it sold around $2.5 billion a year and employed more than 3,500 workers.
In July 2007, Bill Heard faced a $50 million deceptive advertising lawsuit and was bombarded with a litany of complaints from consumers in the states where it operated.
"My husband and I purchased a 2007 Silverado ... and have been trying to get the dealership to explain to us why the purchase price of the truck was higher than the sticker price," Dawna of Webster, Fla., complained to ConsumerAffairs.com. "We have learned that they took our trade ins, paid them off but didn't tell us that most of the money we owed on them was added back to the price of our new truck."
More than 40 ConsumerAffairs.com readers filed complaints of various problems with the Bill Heard dealerships.
Late last month, the Georgia Governor's Office of Consumer Affairs said in a court filing that the company had participated in "deceptive and misleading business practices." The company denied those allegations.
Bill Heard had filed a lawsuit against the Office of Consumer Affairs in May 2007 under the Georgia Open Records Act to obtain the names of people and dealerships who had filed complaints against the company.
The state filed a countersuit in July 2007 saying the company had used misleading advertising that looked like a vehicle recall notice. The state said that advertisement violated the Georgia Fair Business Practices Act of 1975.
"The company had worked to develop and implement a strategy and a course of action that would enable it to operate successfully; however, the conditions necessary to sustain the business through the current challenges were not present," a statement released by Atlanta publicist Alan Ulman said.
