By Mark Boshnack
Staff Writer
October 07, 2008 04:00 am Tight credit, economic woes and high gas prices might have taken a bite out of U.S. and foreign auto makers' sales, but the picture is brighter at area car dealers, several spokesmen said last week. According to national industry reports, September was Ford's worst sales month, with a 34 percent decline. Sales at Chrysler and Toyota showed similar drops. General Motors' sales were helped by special pricing, but new cars shipped still declined by 16 percent. In the region, however, some dealerships have reported positives, including two locations that said they avoided subprime financing. At Otsego Automotive in Oneonta, which sells Buick, Pontiac, Cadillac, GMC and Mitsubishi, company president Scott Davis said that business has been good, with local banks helping support an increase in sales thanks in part to factory incentives. New and used car sales are at 86 vehicles for September, which is nine ahead of last year, he said. The dealership is part of a group that includes Country Club Chevrolet. Because of factory promotions, new car sales are slightly ahead of last year, County Club President Tom Armao said. "We are fortunate to be in this local market where we don't have the highs or the real lows," he said. "Employers are fairly stable, and unemployment hasn't changed that much." At Skinner and Damulus in Richfield Springs, a Dodge and Ford dealer, general manager Dan LaBarge said new car business has been affected _ down about 30 percent. But the used car business is making up the difference. There were about 45 new and used vehicles sold in September, he said. LaBarge, who has been at Skinner and Damulus for 35 years, said that the economy is better than what he saw in the 1980s, when interest rates were at about 18 percent. Today they run between 0 percent and 6.9 percent for someone with good credit, he said. "The new car market is a buyer's market," he said, with dealers offering a number of incentives. The dealership was fortunate in that it did not look for customers with subprime credit, he added. While that stance may have lost some business at the time, in this current economy, "That's good right now," he said. The parts and service department is also doing well, he said, as people are putting more money into cars with more than 100,000 miles. "It's cheaper than buying a new one," he said. With gas prices starting to drop, medium-sized vehicles and trucks are starting to pick up, he said. "I look forward to '09 being a good year." In Cobleskill, while new car sales are down about 25 percent, used car sales are up about the same amount, said Gable Auto and Truck Center sales manager Vinnie Massarotti. The GMC dealership offers Buick, Pontiac and Chevrolet models, selling about 30 cars last month. Sales are better than the national average, and "we are not bogged down by subprime financing," he said. The housing problems and the high gas prices have made this business cycle the most unpredictable in Massarotti's nearly 30 years in the business, he said. He said he was hopeful that the federal financial rescue plan would help restore consumer confidence. September was an average month at Flagpole Nissan in Oneonta, with about 50 new and used cars sold, said Jim Hickin, general manager. In the last two-to-three weeks, it has been harder to get banks to approve credit on some customers, he said, but he was hopeful that the bailout would help. "This is a little downturn, but I don't think it will be a major problem," he said. Instead, with manufacturer's incentives, "It's a good time to be buying."
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