Witt Buick to remain open; Betten permitted to sell Cadillacs

April 03, 2010
by Dave Alexander
Muskegon Chronicle

MUSKGEON -- A historic downtown Muskegon new car dealer has been given a reprieve by General Motors Corp. that will allow it to continue to sell Buicks.

The owners of Witt Buick, 67 W. Western, say they have been told they will receive a "letter of intent" by General Motors that will keep it an authorized Buick dealership beyond 2010. The troubled American auto manufacturer had put Witt Buick on a list of dealerships to lose its General Motors affiliation.

Meanwhile, Betten Chevrolet, Cadillac and GMC has been told it will be able to continue to sell the Cadillac brand, a co-owner said. It had been told by General Motors that it would lose its Cadillac affiliation at the end of the year.

Witt Buick was put in jeopardy as a business with the General Motors dealership cuts last June. Witt has been selling new cars in Muskegon for nearly 100 years and has been selling and servicing Buicks for 70 years.

In 2009, General Motors -- which entered bankruptcy and received bailouts from the U.S. government -- announced reductions of its dealerships by 2,600 nationwide as a cost-cutting move.

Since June 3, company co-owner and Vice President Jan Witt said she has been preparing the case for a third-party arbitrator that Witt Buick should continue. A petition with 3,500 customer signatures of support was part of that case, she said.

Witt said her company was told by General Motors representatives Thursday that the family business will keep its Buick affiliation, a decision made before a late May arbitration hearing.

"Our GM representative said he did not want to take our case to arbitration," said Witt, who was visibly relieved and pleased Friday afternoon. "We were prepared and thought once we got to arbitration that we would get it.

"Our case was that we outperformed all the requirements that GM had asked," Witt said. "On their own scoring, we rated at 110 percent." On issues of sales, service, customer satisfaction and employee training, the dealership should never had been threatened, Witt said.

However, the auto company faced government regulators forcing widespread dealership cuts. Being a stand-alone Buick dealership put Witt on the elimination list, she said.

"My frustration is with our government," Witt said. "The government didn't have to tell GM to get rid of its dealers."

The appeals process through the American Arbitration Association would have cost Witt approximately $30,000, she said. Those costs were reduced by not having to go to a formal hearing, Witt said.

Witt said her family was considering other options to remain in the auto business if the Buick dealership had been removed by the end of 2010. She said her company has invested $100,000 in the business in the past four years to remain viable in downtown Muskegon.

"I think the decision is clear that Muskegon needs to have two General Motors dealerships," Witt said.

Betten, 2501 Henry, also took the General Motors decision on removing Cadillac from the Muskegon market to arbitration before being reinstated. The nearest dealership is Harvey Cadillac in the Grand Rapids market on 28th Street.

"Everyone had to get into the arbitration mess," said Betten co-owner Chris Baker. "GM relooked at our sales, customer satisfaction and our facility."

Cadillac represents 20 percent of Betten's General Motors sales and a greater percentage with it comes to service volume, Baker said.

"Our Cadillac customers were irate as most of them were not going to drive 45 minutes for service," Baker said of warranty work that would have had to been done in Grand Rapids if Betten had lost the name plate. "We are in full swing with our Cadillac business. It's back to business as usual."

Meanwhile, Betten continues to make progress on two new dealership buildings on its growing Henry Street auto sales and service campus. A new 30,000-square-foot Betten Honda building on the west side of Henry Street is expected to open in May and a 20,000-square-foot Betten Hyundai dealership should open by late summer, Baker said.

Hyundai is a new brand for the Muskegon market.

"Business has been outstanding," Baker said of sales at the Betten-Baker Group's Muskegon and Coopersville dealerships. "We had a record March with 502 (new and used car) vehicles sold."