Projo Cars Blog

Auto dealer Bill Heard Enterprises, the world's top selling Chevy dealer, has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, according to court documents cited by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

Well, that's one way of dodging more than $50 million in potential legal liabilities stemming from the kind of bare knuckle sales practices that have given auto dealers a bad name over the years.

Last week, the Columbus, Georgia-based company closed the doors of its 14 dealerships, laid off more than 2,500 employees and issued a news statement citing a number of problems, including high fuel prices, reliance on sales of pickups and SUVs, a soft national economy and struggles in local markets.

Most notably, the company could not get short-term financing from GMAC Financial Services. Certainly I'd think twice about loaning money to a company facing millions of dollars in lengthy court cases and possible fines.

But that apparently was not all. The Journal-Constitution said the company owes between 1,000 and 5,000 creditors between $500 million and $1 billion, according to Burr & Furman, a Birmingham law firm handling the bankruptcy filing.

Industry newsletter Automotive News reports that the sales volumes generated by 74-year old Bill "Mr. Big Volume" Heard "were generated via mix of hard-sell tactics that got Heard into deep legal trouble with regulators in recent years."

Heard was "notorious for business practices that generated consumer complaints, lawsuits and state investigations.... Most complaints involved deceptive advertising and sales practices," according to Automotive News.

"In August, the Georgia Governor's Office of Consumer Affairs filed a legal motion seeking penalties of more than $50 million for deceptive marketing and alleged signature forgery."

Automotive New also quotes a number of its readers on the demise of Heard Enterprises and it makes sobering reading. Here are three:

"Probably not very many of us former employees are surprised that the inevitable came to fruition. What was once a well-respected business had become the biggest cathouse in the industry. Good riddance."

"As a vendor who has dealt with the Heard organization, I must agree that their business practices drove them to this point. I always got the creeps walking into one of their stores and felt like their sales techniques were stuck in 1978."

"What goes around comes around. I feel very bad for the employees but the organization got what it deserves."

But spare a tear for poor old Mr. Big Volume. In July he put his $17 million lakefront home on the market, according to Automotive News.

- Peter C.T. Elsworth

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