Auto dealers report credit still available

Local dealers list sales increases

GRANT COUNTY - Despite a nationwide credit crunch, some Columbia Basin auto dealers claim this rural area is insulated from the larger sales slowdowns affecting metropolitan areas.

Figures from the state Department of Revenue show the dealers' claims aren't just wishful thinking.

While statewide numbers show a 13 percent decrease in auto sales from last year, Grant County's sales were down by less than 1 percent, said Mike Gowrylow, state Department of Revenue spokesperson, citing second-quarter taxable retail sales reports for April thorough June.

Third-quarter reports aren't yet available from the state, but some area dealers are reporting sales increases ranging from 7 percent to 30 percent as compared to a year ago.

"It could be Grant County is bucking the trend," said Gowrylow. "It could be certain counties for whatever reason are doing better than others in certain sectors. New and used auto sales appears to be one of them."

Denver Morford owns Barry Chevrolet in Ephrata. He said the dealership increased its sales from last year by 17 percent.

Morford said an $8,500 rebate on a Chevrolet Silverado and an up to $10,000 rebate on a Dodge Ram have helped.

"Those are dollar amounts I've never seen in my entire life," Morford said.

More pickups are selling because of attractive rebates by the manufacturers, he explained. Figures weren't available for pickup sales, as they weren't separated from sales totals.

Morford also said the lenders who work with his dealership are still there and his business still has interest rates as low as 4.75 percent.

"It's a scenario people find surprising," he said. "People always buy cars. What's really nice about our local economy here is that it's driven by factors far different than on a national basis."

Grant County is a strong agricultural area and its county seat, Ephrata, provides the government presence of the courthouse. The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation and Grant County PUD also have offices in Ephrata.

So businesses have a sense of stability, he said.

When there's a dip in the stock market, people are looking for a more secure investment and commodities are a sure thing, Morford said.

The demand for commodities also provides a stable environment for the area, he added.

In Moses Lake, Kandi Bersanti, sales manager at Discovery Ford and Honda, said the lenders the business works with are still there.

Discovery deals with Ford Motor Credit in Henderson, Nev., she said.

John Daschel, Discovery's owner, said Honda business is up by about 30 percent from last year and Ford sales have remained the same with a possible slight increase.

Discovery is outselling the Wenatchee store and for the first time last month, outsold the Tri-Cities store, Daschel said.

He mentioned a decrease in floor traffic and talked about the advertising "barrage" that came with the presidential, state and local election races.

"Every commercial, whether TV or radio, is political," Daschel said. "It's not positive or conducive to a buying climate."

He added that he still thought it was going to be a good year.

"It's a fairly insulated agriculturally based town," Daschel said.

Gary Burns, manager of Moses Lake Family Auto Center, said business during the first three quarters increased by about 15 percent or 20 percent from last year.

"We've been in business a long time, we have a good reputation, and we service our customers," Burns said as reasons for the increased sales. "Our customers, we take care of them like family members. We always help them out when they have a problem."

Brian Faust, general manager for I-90 Toyota and Chevrolet near Moses Lake, said GMAC put out an advertisement stating it could only finance customers with a 700 beacon or higher credit score.

Faust said that wasn't true at I-90, which sells GMAC products.

"The hype of the media did decrease consumers' confidence," he said.

He mentioned the business did see decreased floor traffic.

At I-90, Toyota sales are up this year by roughly 7 percent or 8 percent from last year, he said. In 2007, the first year I-90 took the business over from James Chevrolet, Toyota sales increased by 24 percent, he added.

The National Auto Dealers Association (NADA) put out an ad telling people not to believe the media hype and to talk to your local dealer, he said.

The NADA's ad also claims there are "great deals, great incentives, great quality and great fuel-efficiency," to be had by buying a vehicle.

In October, Toyota spent money on rebates to build consumer confidence, Faust said.

Faust called the last year's high gas prices old news, but acknowledged they made it difficult to place a true value on a trade for a big-engine vehicle.

"Now we're getting out of that," he said. "We haven't been hit as hard as the metro areas."

Customers have bought Tundras and Silverados over the past few months, although he didn't term the sales as an increase.

In the future, prices will be driven up on trucks because manufacturers have cut back on production, he said.

So now is the best time to buy a truck, Faust added.

There are loans available to buy a vehicle. Faust said he feels Toyota works with the strongest bank, as I-90 does most of its financing with Toyota, he said.

"We're here to help," he added.

"I feel we're going into an upswing," he said in part. "Before that, it was just media hype. We have cars, loans and money for customers."