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Car Makers Offer Their Dealers Financial Help


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Automakers Offer No-Interest, Deferred Payments as Dealerships Struggle

The Detroit News reports that as auto dealers across the United States are bracing for what the outbreak has in store for their dealerships as the government expands measures to reduce the spread of the virus, foreign and domestic automakers for which they sell halt production at their plants, and customers stay home.

And while automakers have announced new buyer incentives with deferred payments and interest to get people through dealer doors, some retailers just are hoping to survive the downturn — especially if they are forced by the government to close.

Some automakers have lessened dealer burdens by reducing monthly target for dealers (DUH! ed.), offering cash incentives and relaxing terms of dealer loans.

"It seems to me like a lot of the programs are about the uncertainty about people's employment," said Jessica Caldwell, executive director of industry analysis at auto information website Edmunds.com Inc. "Am I going to be able to make a payment on time? It's not the traditional $10,000 off. It does feel like the incentives are going to be around the understanding of rough economics times for a few months in terms of payments and whatnot." Read more here.