Lakes Region dealer bitter about impact of Chrysler bankruptcy

In the words of a close friend and business associate, “They pulled the rug right out from under him. That doesn’t feel like America to me.”

He was speaking about Alan Silberberg whose Lakes Chrysler Jeep franchise was one of the almost 800, including six in New Hampshire, notified last Thursday that their relationship with the Detroit manufacturer would end abruptly on June 9.

The same person, who spoke on Saturday about the Alton residents situation on the condition of anonymity, also said, “It’s all he knows. He has spent is whole life since he was in high school in the automobile business. He is just devastated. All of us who are his friends are doing all we can to help, but friends can only do so much.”

With a trace of anger in his voice, Silberberg himself said, “They are leaving us to drown.”

“I feel no different than my father must have felt when Nazi Germany invaded his Polish homeland and took away his home," he added. "He immigrated to this country, but lost his entire family in the Holocaust.”

“This whole thing has left me feeling extremely bitter. In my opinion, a carefully orchestrated and manipulated bankruptcy has taken away my business,” Silberberg said.

He emphasized that auto dealers have a lot of hard work and sweat in their businesses — that the investment they have in their businesses is huge. Their employees have good paying jobs and the dealers contribute to the communities where they are located.

“Folks need to know, need to remember, that an automobile dealer has no choice," Silberberg said. "Under the franchise agreements, the dealer is required to buy everything — the automobiles, parts, the equipment and tools, the promotional materials. The dealers are the manufacturers’ customers, not the people who buy the cars and trucks. The ultimate buyers are customers of the dealers.” he said.

“We are now left with the inventory on our lot. We own that inventory. We have to sell it. Yet, we are unable to report the new car sales from that inventory. We can’t offer the manufacturer’s rebates or discounts. When it comes to servicing these cars or any others we have sold, for that matter, we won’t be able to use any of the specialized equipment and tools because all of the work is computerized. The computers are connected to Chrysler computers. On June 9, the plug will be pulled on that connection.”

CBS News reported last night that the discontinued dealers have an inventory of 44,000 vehicles to sell before their relationship with Chrysler ends 22 days from now.

If there is an actual location between a rock and a hard place, Silberberg seems to be describing it.

“The flurry of activity at the Statehouse in Concord on behalf of the dealers will do nothing to help those of us who have been cut loose from the manufacturers’ networks. The state laws are designed to force the manufacturers to buy back inventory, special tools, and parts. The federal bankruptcy laws under which Chrysler is operating simply allows the Detroit company to walk away from its obligations,” he said.

Silberberg grew up in the Reeds Ferry section of Merrimack on the Manchester city line. He graduated from Manchester West High School. He attended UNH where he met his wife Valerie, a Laconia native.

He smiles when he talks about “spinning wrenches” during high school and college. He first got grease under his fingernails at the now long gone Bob’s Gulf Station in Manchester. There he met auto dealer Dan Fitzgerald who subcontracted much of his mechanical work to Bob’s. Bob's son “Butch” taught Silberberg much of what he knows about automobiles. Together, the two worked on Fitzgerald’s high performance automobiles.

When he went to college in Durham he tried to get a job wrenching at a number of seacoast dealers and repair shops, only to be told that he looked too young to be any good.

“I trimmed my beard and got a haircut,” he commented. “Finally, I got a job selling cars at Poulan Chevrolet, and I never went back to school. I stayed there for 13-years and ended up as general manager of Poulan’s Chrysler store”

In November of 1990, his business life intersected with Dan Fitzgerald again. Silberberg was offered the opportunity to buy Fitzgerald Jeep Eagle on Rt. 3 — the Daniel Webster Highway — across from the Belknap Mall.

Silberberg acknowledged that he was highly leveraged as he took on the ownership responsibilities.

“Chrysler loaned me the working capital. I was able to repay it in five years as per the agreement I had with them. It’s ironic that the same company that helped get me into the business on my own has just taken it away,” he said.

In the mid-1990s Chrysler eliminated the Eagle brand, leaving Alan as a single point Jeep dealer.

“I had done a successful job as an Eagle dealer. It was hard to shift over to selling only Jeeps,” he continued.

In 2002, the shuffle of the automobile marquees at the top of Prescott Hill on Rt. 106 in Belmont started. General Motors exercised its right of first refusal when the Gauthier family encountered financial difficulties. It assigned the GMC truck franchise which had belonged to the Gauthier’s and the Pontiac operation that had been part of Manter Oldsmobile Pontiac to the Neil McGreevy family. The McGreevy’s already had Buick and Cadillac.

In what it called Project 2000, GM wanted to realign its brands. At the same time, Chrysler was making lineup changes under what it called Project Alpha. When the dust settled in the Lakes Region from the implementation of these two manufacturers’ projects, Cadillac became part of Cantin Chevrolet. Buick, Pontiac, and GMC trucks had already been consolidated under the McGreevy name. Silberberg purchased the Chrysler franchise from the McGreevy’s to form Lakes Chrysler Jeep, which stayed in the Daniel Webster Highway location. Dodge was already a separate dealership owned by Fitzgerald.

Silberberg purchased the McGreevy Buick Mazda building on Prescott Hill three-years ago yesterday (May 17, 2006) when his lease on the property across from the Belknap Mall on Rt. 3 expired at the end of 15 years. He moved his Chrysler Jeep dealership into the old McGreevy facility.

He recalls that all of his dealings with Neil McGreevy were done on a handshake.

“We went out to lunch, talked, and then agreed. We both followed through on our commitments. The way we did business was a far cry from my experience with Chrysler.”

“We did a number of improvements to the building here on Rt. 106. New lifts and a new alignment machine were installed. We have the latest in wireless computer technology which is vital to providing quality service. I think we have developed a good service reputation over the time we have been in business,” Silberberg noted.

At the peak of his Chrysler Jeep operation, he had 18-employees. Today he is down to nine. At the peak of his business, Silberberg sold approximately 25 new vehicles per month. That number has dropped to three or four new units per month during the downturn.

Returning to his current situation, Silberberg believes he will stay in business as a used car and truck dealer capable of providing full service work on all makes and models.

“There are lawyers working on behalf of the dealership body in the bankruptcy proceedings, but I am on the low side of the midpoint between pessimistic and optimistic on the potential success of those efforts,” he said.

“What I am concerned about is what the decline in the American automotive industry and the economic condition that has caused it means for the future of the country. I am also concerned about what seems like incompetence in our government.”

“Greenspan developed the economy we are living with today. It is based on debt. He had to have known what he was doing. But the debt is so huge, it will take us forever to pay it back,” he continued.

“The manipulation of the financial markets is a major part of the reason we are where we are today.”

“I am deeply worried about the corruption in our politics, the economy, and on Wall Street,” Silberberg commented. “I believe that 100-years from now Americans will look back on this time as the second civil war. The country is just too divided. The two major political parties just can’t seem to come together in this time of crisis. The country needs to return to a point where both sides can begin to talk to each other again.”

More specifically, “When it comes to the automobile industry, there is a fundamental truth — even if the United Auto Workers take a 50-percent cut in wages and fringe benefits, the cost of complying with the rules and regulations governing the industry will still make cars produced in American cost too much. Just think of it, the high tech headlights cost $700 apiece. The push button keys for the new electronic locking systems cost $200,” he observed. “The result of all of this over regulation is the loss of the manufacturing base of our economy.”

Alan Silberberg and Lakes Chrysler Jeep are now the local face of that loss.