The first half of 2020 has been trying for almost everyone, and that includes legacy auto. As if production and supply chain issues weren’t enough, many stealerships dealerships across America have been vandalized and attacked. In many cases cars were destroyed, crashed, or stolen.
Whitney McDonald and Krystal Hur have the story at Automotive News:
Tim Thomas, general manager of Honda of Oakland, said damages included broken windows in the showroom, flipped-over desks and computers thrown through office glass windows. He said there was an attempt to set a car on the showroom floor on fire along with broken windows on cars on the floor. Computers and electronics were stolen, he added.
Automotive News
Although new cars may be viewed by protestors as symbols of wealth, legacy auto isn’t exactly flush with cash these days. These rioters really kicked the automakers when they were down. Many of these franchise dealerships are small businesses, while others are large national chains with many locations.
In Oakland, protestors drove through the dealership window to steal cars from the showroom floor:
Thomas said cleanup began Sunday morning, with the glass cleaned up and windows boarded. Employees came in to help on their day off. Dealership vendors offered to store cars on their property and to send employees to help clean up.
“There was a lot of outreach for help for us, which was nice to see,” he said.
Despite the damages, the dealership has not closed its doors and even sold eight cars on Saturday, the day after the damage occurred.
Automotive News
Glad to see the dealerships are getting back on their feet. They didn’t deserve this.