The Franchise Record
A sourced record of franchised auto dealers and the law.
https://hometownautodealers.org/
2026-08-05T00:00:00Z
Original text © The Franchise Record. Quoted statutes, opinions,
hearing transcripts and federal audits are United States government works.
The Franchise Recordeditor@hometownautodealers.org
Two companies, two legal routes, seven weeks: how 789 and 1,454 dealerships were cut in 2009
https://hometownautodealers.org/terminations/two-companies-two-routes/
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Chrysler ended 789 franchise agreements by rejecting them in bankruptcy; the terminations took effect on 10 June 2009. General Motors wound down 1,454 by agreement, due back by 12 June 2009. The two routes, the dates, and every number defined so it cannot be confused with another number.
The criteria: what General Motors used to pick 1,454 dealerships, and the 763 that met them and stayed open
https://hometownautodealers.org/the-criteria/
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The criteria General Motors used to select 1,454 dealerships for wind-down in 2009, the June 12 deadline to sign, the appeals process with no criteria, and what the Special Inspector General for TARP found when it audited the selection: 992 dealerships scoring below 80 were closed and 763 scoring below 80 were kept.
Why state good-cause protections did not stop the 2009 terminations
https://hometownautodealers.org/why-state-law-did-not-stop-it/
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State franchise statutes require good cause, notice and a remedy before a manufacturer may end a dealer agreement. In 2009 the bankruptcy court supervising Chrysler held those statutes preempted by 11 U.S.C. § 365 with respect to the rejection of 789 dealer agreements. The mechanism, the holding verbatim, and what state law was still worth afterwards.
The Committee to Restore Dealer Rights, 2008–2011: what the campaign was, and what it got
https://hometownautodealers.org/committee-to-restore-dealer-rights/
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The Committee to Restore Dealer Rights was an advocacy campaign run by three franchised dealers after the 2009 General Motors and Chrysler bankruptcies. It published at hometownautodealers.org, asked Congress to enact the Automobile Dealer Economic Rights Restoration Act, and stopped publishing in December 2009. What it was, what it asked for, what Congress gave it instead, and what became of the address.
Section 747: who qualified, what the clock was, and what winning was worth
https://hometownautodealers.org/section-747/what-section-747-did/
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Section 747 of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2010, read subsection by subsection: who counted as a covered dealership, the four deadlines, the seven factors, the bar on damages, and what the 2,789 eligible dealerships actually got. 1,575 filed, 166 written determinations, 55 for the dealership.
What an arbitration win was actually worth: Chrysler Group LLC v. Fox Hills Motor Sales
https://hometownautodealers.org/what-a-win-was-worth/
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Fifty-five dealerships won a Section 747 arbitration. The statute barred the arbitrator from awarding any money and fixed the remedy as a letter of intent. In 2015 the Sixth Circuit decided what that letter had to contain, and held that Michigan's and Nevada's dealer protest laws could not be used to keep the winners out.
S. 1304 and H.R. 2743: one bill, two numbers, and no vote
https://hometownautodealers.org/category/s1304/
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S. 1304 and H.R. 2743 would have restored the franchise agreements of terminated General Motors and Chrysler dealers in 2009. One drew 48 cosponsors, the other 286 — a majority of the House. Neither got a committee vote. What Congress passed instead was Section 747, which granted an arbitration, not an agreement.
287 of 435: the House side, and the amendment that actually moved
https://hometownautodealers.org/category/hr2743/
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H.R. 2743 carried 286 cosponsors plus its sponsor, 45 of the 71 members of the committee it was referred to, and that committee's chairman. Its whole legislative record is three actions. What moved instead was a dealer provision in an appropriations bill, and it did not survive conference.
The same question, live: can a manufacturer sell around its own dealers?
https://hometownautodealers.org/direct-sales-2026/
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As of August 5, 2026: the state of the direct-sales fight. Volkswagen and Scout Motors, California's affiliate clause, the March 30, 2026 order in the Southern District of California read exactly, Washington's new carve-out from the enrolled text, and how the constitutional attack on franchise laws actually ended.
How to find the record of a dealership's 2009 termination
https://hometownautodealers.org/find-the-record-of-your-dealership-termination/
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A guide to the public files left by the 2009 General Motors and Chrysler dealer terminations: the Old Carco and Motors Liquidation bankruptcy dockets, the claims register, the Section 747 criteria letter and arbitration determination, the federal audits, the congressional hearing record, and the state dealer boards. Reference, not legal advice.