Chrysler announced Thursday the list of dealerships it will close or pull franchises from as part of a bankruptcy motion. The move will close or eliminate franchises for 11 dealerships in South Carolina, four in the Pee Dee region.
Meggs Chrysler in Bennettsville, Floyd Motor Company in Lake City, Mullins Motors in Marion County and Raceway Chrysler in Hartsville are all on Chrysler's list.
Those dealerships found out Thursday morning that Chrysler was pulling their franchises through letters delivered by UPS.
There is good news though, the four dealerships will remain open and sell other brands.
In 26 days, the sign at Raceway of Hartsville could be coming down. It's one of the four dealerships in the Pee Dee that is expected to lose its Chrysler franchise agreement by June 9th.
John Isget is the president of the Raceway Automotive Group. He says they own seven dealerships in the Pee Dee and will continue to sell cars in Hartsville, even without Chrysler.
"We're not shutting our Hartsville store down. We may lose the franchise for Chrysler/Jeep/Dodge and may not be able to sell you a brand new Chrysler/Jeep/Dodge, but we're not going to lose the ability to sale you a car in general."
Isgett says now they can sell programmed or pre-owned cars here at much cheaper prices.
"I will sell you an '08 '09 Chrysler/Jeep/Dodge at typically $8,000 to $10,000 less."
Meggs Ford in Bennettsville has carried Chrysler/Jeep/Dodge cars since 1984. The owners learned Thursday, they too will lose their Chrysler franchise. Hubb Meggs said, "That does not mean we're going out of business ,and we're gonna be here for our customers."
Just as they've been since 1972, when the Meggs family opened for business. They started out with ford cars and will continue to sell them.
"We can still fix them up with with Ford products and their needs in that way," said Meggs.
The owner of Floyd Motor Company in Lake City says he will now sell used cars. The finance manager for Mullins Motors says they will continue to sell their GM line of vehicles.
Chrysler officials head to bankruptcy court to see if their closure plans are approved on June 9th.
