Pennsylvania Dealer Closes, Citing Recession, PennDOT and Lead Law

Pennsylvania Dealer Closes, Citing Recession, PennDOT and Lead Law - Dealernews

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Pennsylvania Dealer Closes, Citing Recession, PennDOT and Lead Law

Publish date: Nov 18, 2009
By: Arlo Redwine
Source: Dealernews

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Dennis McCartney, a Pennsylvania dealer who last year reported to us how a PennDOT decision regarding Chinese scooters was forcing dealers to close, has gone out of business himself.

“We have been forced to close our business and file Chapter 7 both on the business [CBXman Motorcycles in Edwardsville] and personally,” McCartney said in an e-mail to colleagues. “We have lost everything, and at the ripe old age of 56, I now must find a job.

“We gave it our best shot and tried everything we could think of to generate revenue,” he continued, “but the recession and lack of any government support killed our business.

“In addition, last fall PennDOT withdrew its approval for us to issue license plates for any China-made vehicle, which impacted all Pennsylvania dealers of China-made motorcycles and motorscooters, and this hurt us. The other dealers locally got wind of this in early 2009 and began telling consumers not to shop here because we couldn't issue plates. We had to send our paperwork to Harrisburg, and the consumers had to wait three weeks for the plates. And as you can imagine, people wouldn't wait.”

McCartney said the final blow to his seven-year-old business came in February 2009 when the CPSIA lead law forbid dealers to sell most youth ATVs and dirtbikes due to their lead content. The law also forbid the sale of related parts.

“That killed sales of an important segment of our business,” he said, “as if the recession wasn’t enough.”

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Comments from our Readers

scootermike / thurmont, MD, UNITED STATES
Posted 2009-11-19 09:54:30.0
This is bad news I have known Dennis for the past 5 years I have been in biz and yes he has helped with my business which is just about the same as his but much smaller. I too have done everything I can do to stay in business recently moving where i could afford it plus I never stocked more than I knew I would sell, I did not get caught with scooters I would not sell and only bought when my customers bought. I also dfo a good internet beuisness and do the same as my local retail I do not try to stock every item I sell. Its very easy not to hence I am still in the mix very much. I also had the Penn DOT thing happen but was able to fix every single one which was two the rest of mine no problems Michael scootertronics.com

Concerned PA Dealer / PA
Posted 2009-11-20 15:17:44.0
I feel for Dennis and his business. I am amazed at how strong he was given the products he sold. I can't help but also feel that Penndot needed to step in and control the units coming from China. Too many machines were not up to PA inspection code, and safety has to be considered. Every year there are more and more China imports, and nothing has been done to approve these machines. I too had a couple machines that were affected, and in a short amount of time they were approved. I wish Dennis good luck in the future.

2 Wheel Toystore / Riviera Beach, FL, UNITED STATES
Posted 2009-11-20 16:11:56.0
I feel with you Dennis, the Gov. is compl. forgetting about Main Street. Giving all the help to Wall street and the Banking Industry was needed but who is helping us the small Businesses? In the meanwhile trying to stay alive loosing all credibility one small Business after the other has to close there doors. The Banks and Wall street gets funding even the fact that they are failing we can not get a Credit-line for $10,000.00 because we are to BIG of a RISK, or is it we do not have HIGH $ CEO's to pay. But NO, this is not enough the Gov. has to pull the carpet away under our feet. There is no value to it anymore being a businessman. When you are finished paying your overhead and your TAXES you only are able to go to McDonalds for a Burger. Hail to free enterprise, only if you have enough of other peoples money or you swim in it yourself. But, starting a Biz and building it up is a fiction only to be remembered from the 50's and 60's, before Wall street synthetically raised the value to make there CLIENTS money. SMALL BUSINESS PEOPLE UNITE !!!!!!

twowheeltom / wilkes-barre, PA, UNITED STATES
Posted 2009-11-21 11:49:22.0
Penndot keeping unsafe scooters off the road, good for them. they push these machine in to this country, totally tumbing there nose at saftey regulations. Plus they are always broke. we get so many calls a week from frustrated people who spent the hard earned money on these machines thinking they are doing good by saving money on gas and such. only to be let down by poor quality machines, no parts support, no service support. Blame it on who ever you want, but when it all comes down to it poor quailty is poor quality.

About the Author

Arlo Redwine

Articles by Arlo Redwine