Last day: Pain - and 3 cars to sell; As Pontiac and Dodge depart, Hine moves on with Mazda.(NEWS)(John Hine Jr.)

Automotive News, June, 2009 by Rechtin, Mark

Byline: Mark Rechtin

For John Hine Jr., the final indignity came on Tuesday, June 9.

On the last day that Hine was allowed to sell new Dodge vehicles under the franchise agreement that Chrysler LLC moved to void in May, a car hauler pulled up to his dealership and deposited two gleaming Journey crossovers and a Challenger coupe.

Those were vehicles allocated to Hine that he had floorplanned since April 28. With Hine and the owners of the 788 other doomed Chrysler, Dodge and Jeep dealerships in fire-sale mode, having cars delivered on closing day added insult to injury.

Fortunately, Hine had planned ahead. He sold the three vehicles to another dealer.

Tough year

It has been a rough year for the dealer. On top...

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