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Chrysler Hasn't Fully Paid Some Dealers It Cut Off

 
By Jeff Flock
FOXBusiness
     

    Some of the auto dealers cut off by Chrysler now claim that they aren’t being paid money owed to them by the company.

    At least 20 of the 789 dealers cut off by Chrysler claim that they haven’t been paid money the auto maker owes them from the final sales they made before losing their franchises.

    The National Automobile Dealers Association said it has gotten multiple complaints.

    "This situation is unacceptable. The dealers got 26 days notice they would be closing. It's been two months now and to not pay dealers even a portion of what they are owed is outrageous,” said Jim Moors, a NADA spokesman. “Dealers are entitled to their money. The dealers have suffered enough."

    Chrysler maintained that dealers will receive all money owed to them.

    "All dealers will be paid monies due to them for incentives and warranty work,” the company said in a statement to FOX Business. “On July 28 Chrysler notified its former dealers that the payments were delayed, due to unforeseen complexities as a result of the bankruptcy reorganization, but they will receive final monies due to them."

    Some dealers aren’t so sure, though.

    Rob Isakson of Isakson Motors in Hobart, Ind., a former Chrysler dealer now selling used vehicles, said a Chrysler representative told him if he hadn't been paid by now he wouldn't be.

    "They've added insult to injury," said Isakson, whose dealership had sold Chryslers since the 1930s.

    Chrysler severed agreements with the 789 dealers as it worked through bankruptcy, hoping that the smaller network would be more efficient and would help the remaining dealers become healthier operations.

    General Motors also is cutting off some of its dealers, but gave a longer timeline before the relationships are terminated, so they are still in business as GM dealers. Rival auto makers such as Ford (F), Toyota (TM) and Honda (HMC) have thus far avoided any large-scale dealership cuts.