Dealership

THE COUNTRY'S largest auto retailer, AutoNation, announced last week that it is closing or converting its 37 used-car superstores, acknowledging that the multibrand megastores equipped with playrooms and computerized displays were not profitable. The company, the brainchild of Blockbuster founder H. Wayne Huizenga and based in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., will switch its focus to its 406 smaller new-car franchises and its car-rental services.What problems did AutoNation face? Can the used-car superstore concept work?

Mario and Donna Clementoni call their Ellicott City home "our castle on the hill" and it's easy to see why: The 9,800-square-foot house has eight bedrooms, 10 bathrooms, 60 interior doors and hundreds of windows.The house is so big, in fact, that when the Clementonis first toured it they ended up in different parts of the house and had to use the intercom to find each other.But the impressive numbers are just part of the story here. When the Clementonis moved into their "castle" less than a week after closing in late April, it was more royal wreck than regal dwelling.

H. Wayne Huizenga never seems to do anything on a small scale.He won national recognition and enormous wealth by turning Blockbuster Entertainment Corp. and Waste Management Inc. into industry giants, then was vilified for turning his Florida Marlins baseball team from world champions into also-rans in a matter of months.Now he is bringing his fast-lane approach to automotive retailing to town -- and the Baltimore market might never be the same.Twenty months ago his company, Republic Industries Inc. of Fort Lauderdale, Fla., began a nationwide buying spree that turned it into the world's largest auto retailer.

Richard H. Shepherd Jr. learned that he had received one of the highest awards given to small-business people in Maryland last month. But barely a week later, he lost the job that helped him get it.It was days after General Motors Corp. officials warned Shepherd that he might lose his ownership of Columbia Pontiac Buick GMC that a photographer from the federal Small Business Administration went to the dealership on McGaw Road in Columbia to take his picture.That was when Shepherd knew that he had been named the state's Minority Small Business Advocate of the Year for his outstanding business performance and community service.

Richard H. Shepherd Jr. learned that he had received one of the highest awards given to small-business people in Maryland last month. But barely a week later, he lost the job that helped him to get it.It was days after General Motors Corp. officials warned Shepherd that he might lose his ownership of Columbia Pontiac Buick GMC that a photographer from the federal Small Business Administration went to the dealership on McGaw Road in Columbia to take his picture.That was when Shepherd learned that he had been named the state's Minority Small Business Advocate of the Year for his outstanding business performance and community service.

Time now - because we could all use a laugh - for Guilty But Mostly Stupid (or Accused But Mostly Stupid, depending on the status of the criminal case at hand), a sporadic TJI feature in which are told true tales of dumb crooks, those wayward wrongdoers who fall on their own foils. This latest edition comes to us from the service department manager of a Baltimore County car dealership. He asked that he not be identified because his boss is none too happy about what happened - despite the giggles and grins.

For years, next-door neighbors Vivian Archibald and Arlene Clifton talked of real estate deals -- and of the car dealership behind their Owings Mills homes. In September, Archibald sold her property to the car dealer.Now Clifton, the last holdout on her stretch of road, faces the prospect of living on a peninsula -- bordered on three sides by a lot filled with Len Stoler's new and used cars.Today a Baltimore County deputy zoning commissioner will consider Stoler's plan to raze the Archibald residence to make way for a parking lot. That plan would leave Clifton virtually surrounded by cars.

The last thing two men expected when they tried to steal a side-view mirror at Davis Buick in Westminster last weekend was an eyewitness who is an artist.Their attempt was foiled and the artist's sketch of one of the would-be burglars is hanging at the Maryland State Police barracks.Richard Edward Stogo was watching television Sunday afternoon when he heard someone talking in the parking lot below his apartment. Stogo has rented an efficiency apartment above the car dealership for two years and says he fancies his panoramic view.

The Baltimore County zoning commissioner has blocked an Owings Mills automobile dealer's planned expansion in a residential neighborhood -- at least for now.Commissioner Lawrence E. Schmidt denied a request for a special exception that would have allowed auto dealer Len Stoler to raze a house on Kingsley Road, a side street off Reisterstown Road, in Owings Mills, for an employee parking lot.Can appeal"We're happy, but guarded," said Arlene Clifton, whose...

Mel Farr is coming to Baltimore.The former National Football League running back is not making a comeback with the Ravens -- he's in the final stages of buying Archway Ford, a financially struggling dealership in Northwest Baltimore. The price was not disclosed.This is not Farr's first venture into the world of selling cars. Mel Farr Auto Group, one of the largest African-American dealerships in the country, owns a dozen new-car outlets in four states.Archway is the company's first venture in Maryland.

Local motorists bored with their Mercedes, BMW or Bentley have one place to go around here where someone will listen to such troubles without judgment, without even a snicker. At Maryland's only Maserati dealer, they understand. On York Road in Timonium, of all places, across from Bagel Works and next to Timonium Animal Hospital, Jack Davis, the general manager, and salesman Alfred Ramos hear the stories of men, and even the occasional woman, in pursuit of something ... something ... else.

The pending closure of Chrysler and General Motors dealerships in Maryland will mean job losses and financial hardships for sales associates, mechanics and other workers directly involved in the business. But the closings also could hit the rest of the Baltimore region's economy, hurting other local businesses and communities that benefit from the auto retailers. For Sean Lloyd, a barber at Theo'z Barbershop on Liberty Road in Randallstown, the shutdown of Antwerpen Dodge across the street means losing customers.

With gas prices hitting $4 this summer, drivers in Maryland and across the country have been driving far less as they choose in growing numbers to take public transit, share rides or simply stay home. Federal Highway Administration figures for June show a 4.7 percent drop nationally in vehicle miles traveled compared with the same month last year, and a 4.4 percent decline in Maryland. The national decline for the month was the steepest the country has seen since the oil shocks of the 1970s, said a federal highway spokesman, Doug Hecox.

Thinking back now, Earl Arnette figures it was probably a bad sign when he couldn't find exactly what he was looking for at a dealership in Maryland - a fully loaded, gold metallic GMC Acadia with 19-inch chrome rims, dual DVD player, dual sun roof and navigation system. Arnette thought he found it online, however, at a dealership in Pittsburgh. So the Glenwood resident flew there in April, and even though he found it was missing the chrome rims, Arnette paid $45,000 and drove his dream wheels 225 miles home.

The owner of an Annapolis car dealership ponied up $1.92 million this week to buy a former police station in Edgewater from Anne Arundel County, although he won't be able to sell cars there. George B. Criswell of Edgewater, who owns an Acura and Audi showroom on West Street, beat out 19 other parties Tuesday for the 1.16-acre property and the Southern District building, which is more than 6,000 square foot, in the first-ever auction of county land, Anne Arundel officials said. Criswell would not say what he planned to do with the parcel, located in a commercial corridor on the 2900 block of Solomons Island Road, or Route 2, just blocks from the South River.

An overturned pickup truck was one of six vehicles smashed together or tipped over at a Bel Air car dealership last week after someone gained access to a backhoe being used in nearby construction. A patrol officer noticed a truck on its side early Tuesday at Schaeffer & Strohminger Dodge during a routine patrol. Upon further investigation, the officer discovered five other 2006 Dodge pickups with damage, according to police. Employees said other equipment had been moved as well. "We found it to be completely bizarre," said Joe Jankowski, chief executive officer of Schaeffer & Strohminger.

Theresa Wilson's automobile angst began in July with an oil leak in her silver 2001 Hyundai Elantra. A subsequent visit to a car dealership fixes the leak, but then sticks the 42-year-old U.S. Army auditor from Columbia with a damaged car, plundered property, a $75 red light ticket, 694 more miles on her odometer and a gigantic migraine. But we digress. Let's go back to the beginning, when Wilson discovers the oil leak, calls Antwerpen Hyundai in Catonsville, and speaks to a service representative, who then tells Wilson to drop the car off the following day, July 7, for service.

As technician Kurt Ward leaned over an engine at Classic Chevrolet in Grapevine, Texas, recently, he caught a glimpse of the future flickering from the brim of his black baseball hat. Ward, a master tech with 31 years' experience, was wearing a device that allowed him to view complex repair and diagnostic information from a 2-inch screen attached to his hat - as he worked on the car. In the past, Ward would diagnose a vehicle's problem with information from...

NEGOTIATING a car's price with a smooth-talking salesman can unnerve even the most seasoned car shopper. However, a little preparation and strategy will help level the bargaining field. "If you're armed with really good facts, then the negotiation takes care of itself," says Philip Reed, senior editor for Edmunds.com, an online resource for car data. Every hour you spend researching translates into time saved at the dealership and during the negotiation process. Then, too, you can control the flow of the sale, isolating each component such as pricing, loans and incentives so "you know what you got at the end of the day," said Rob Gentile, director of auto price services for Consumer Reports.

A Laurel man pleaded guilty yesterday to manslaughter in a gruesome hit-and-run incident last August in which a motel employee was struck and his body dismembered by a car involved in what police say was an impromptu road race. Richard McHale II, 23, made no statements during the brief Anne Arundel County Circuit Court hearing, and will be sentenced June 25. He is free on $5,000 bail. Prosecutor Shelly Stickell said she will seek a four-year prison term - the maximum recommended by state guidelines under a law allowing up to 10 years in prison.