Bad news delivered to Rensselaer GM dealership

Steve Roberts in Rensselaer received one of these letters. Roberts is president of Charlie Roberts Chevrolet - Buick located on the courthouse square in Rensselaer.

The letter from GM was not signed by any individual and only included an e-mail address for questions or response. Roberts and other family employees at the business were disappointed in the unprofessional manner in which this notification occurred.

"We didn't know we were getting it. Let me put it this way, it didn't surprise me," said Roberts. "I've got till 2010, and that's when my contract expires. We're not going to close.

We are going to continue doing what we've been doing - that's come to work every day and greeting the customer with a smile and do our best to sell automobiles, and servicing their cars. But we won't be able to sell them a new car."

Roberts says he might end the contract with GM before that 2010 deadline. He's not sure he wants to drag this out till then. "If you have an abscessed tooth, you pull it."

Roberts met with all the employees at the dealership about noon on Friday. He plans on retaining all of their jobs in the future.

"That's our two options - to lock the door period, or continue to be a good family owned business to take care of used cars and service," said Roberts.

Although Roberts, believes there's a future, it doesn't help the sting of the cut.

"Our tax dollars bailed out GM, who in turn told me I'm not good enough to be a GM dealer," said Roberts.

He said he also doesn't understand how dealerships are costing General Motors money. "I buy the cars from GM. We sell them to the public. We either make the profit or if we have the car awhile we make the loss. Sometimes we sell cars for losses. We buy their parts from them. We take care of their customers. We buy their special tools. We advertise GM products. Where have I cost GM a dime," said Roberts. "I don't know how we cost them money."

GM said the move targets "underperforming" dealers with small sales volumes and markets in which they are not competitive.

According to an article by the Associated Press, Mark LaNeve, GM's vice president of North American sales and marketing, in a conference call with reporters, said, "Dealers are not a problem to GM; they're an asset to GM. Too many dealers, in actuality, are a problem."

The company did not disclose the dealers it plans to eliminate and left it up to dealerships to reveal if their franchises will not be renewed.

According to the Associated Press, Friday's cuts will not be the last. GM said it expects to lose more dealers through attrition. Ultimately, about 90 percent of the remaining dealerships will stay with GM, the company said.

Roberts said he started working at the store in Rensselaer 41 years ago for his dad, Charlie Roberts.

His dad also started working at the dealership at a young age - before purchasing the business in 1972. Steve took over the business in 1995. "To me it's just another piece of Main Street being lost," said Roberts.