May 19, 2014ÛÛÝÛÛ
USED CAR NEWS
Sewer
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oline while excavating near the line to the former dealership property. They believed petroleum may have been left behind from a BP gas station that shared the site 30 years ago. As of now, the building’s bathrooms are unusable. “I’ve been hoping every day they’re going to call us and tell us ‘We’re going to fix it,’” Jay Mullen said. “We’ve gone through this for four months, and I’ve come to the conclusion that they’re not going to fix it.” Village officials have said they can’t reconnect the sewer line until they are certain there is no residual fuel in the property or the sewer lines. Tests conducted at the village’s request on April 1 showed there was no contamination in the ground. But village solicitor Virginia Barborak said the fact the soil tests were clean doesn’t mean there’s no petroleum in the old sewer line. “The old line was closed because there was an odor of oil or some type of petroleum product,” she said. “It’s not as simple as going in and opening that line, so a new line needs to be dug. All they did was soil samples.” Barborak is attempting to work out a solution with BP if she can, but said it’s the Mullens’ respon-
sibility, not the village’s, to dig a new line. Barborak said she recommended the Mullens hire an attorney to pursue their legal rights. Had the property gone through a typical sale with a conventional loan, she said, an inspection should have revealed the problem with the sewer. But the couple bought the property as-is at an auction. She said they could have legal recourse against the bank they bought it from. “The bank that sold it has a duty to disclose material defects with the property, and they didn’t do that,” Barborak said. Mullen said they’re considering moving the Elkton Auto Corral back to its former home, located about three miles away. But it’s not something they want to do. Despite all their troubles, their sales have been better in Lisbon, he said. As taxpayers in the village, who fixed up a dilapidated building, hired employees and plan to hire more, they feel they have brought a lot to the town of about 3,000 residents. They’re bringing shoppers from around the region to their car lot, he said. “We bring a good amount of people from Pittsburgh,” Mullen said. “It’s a beautiful facility, but customers want to use a bathroom.”
Carolina_UCN_June_1-4.pdf
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AutoTrader.com released a new case study, which details how an Oregon dealership uses the Trade-In Marketplace to enhance its trade-in process and acquire inventory. Based in Wilsonville, Ore., Parker Johnstone’s Wilsonville Honda is a franchise dealership that markets primarily within a 50-mile radius of Portland. Since October 2010, Trade-In Marketplace has played a role in the dealership’s integrated trade-in and sales process. The first thing customer service representatives do when discuss-
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ing a trade-in value with consumers is to generate an offer through the Trade-In Marketplace. “There is no coming through the used-car manager and whispering” said Larry Skreen, business development manager at Wilsonville Honda. “It is all electronic and visible to the consumer from the moment they first step into the lobby.” Trade-In Marketplace is an AutoTrader.com vehicle valuation tool accessible via links on AutoTrader. com, KBB.com or participating dealer websites. K
5/12/14 4:50 PM