Tag: Hecker

By on February 2, 2009

Holy lack of internal controls Batman! Automotive News [sub] reports the “now it can be told” story behind the story of a Minnesota mega-dealer’s collapse. Chrysler pulled the plug on Denny Hecker last fall, forcing Hecker to close six of his 16 dealerships and sell three others. Turns out Chrysler Financial lent the “flamboyant 56-year-old entrepreneur” $550 million. And get this: $50m of that went to Hecker personally. The information surfaced after Hecker sued Chrysler Financial for canceling his dealerships’ credit lines “without warning.” Chrysler countersued, revealing that it loved them some Hecker. Post-Cerberus, ChryCo threw money at—I mean, “invested”—in Hecker’s dealerships, a rental car agency (since bankrupt), real estate and “investment firms.” Ford was behind the curve on this one; they’ve sued Hecker for a relatively paltry $3.1m for missing vehicle and parts payments. As the Detroit-shaped crater grows larger, look for more “revelations” from American automakers’ go-go past. Others may have done the same thing, but they won’t be facing the same volume or genre of music if/when their dealers end up in bankruptcy court. Meanwhile, Denny better hope his tagline doesn’t apply to his forthcoming court battles: “Nobody walks!”

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