[alanmcorcoran]

There is a wide range of health in the vehicle dealership business. In boom times, anyone that can fog a mirror can open and run a vehicle dealership. Get a landlord to front you some rent, some banks or manufacturer's to lend you the inventory and you are in business. Hard times will force the weaker dealers to close, and, temporarily, will probably put more pressure on the rest, but, once they are gone, those that remain will have a healthier operating environment. I'm not a republican, but this type of business darwinism is an important, if painful, process and current attempts to avoid it are simply going to make matters worse.

Many of the dead and dying dealers were likely buried in floor plan and other debt and have been limping along on life support. The slowdown in sales wouldn't kill off healthy (more conservatively run) stores in three months.