Car dealerships in utah are out of control
August 8th, 2007 11:08 pm

This evening’s festivities involved a short drive from Sherwin Williams to my house. The exact route is shown here on google maps.

small map in provo

Gary and I were talking about the car market in Provo and Gary and I conducted an experiment on the way home from Sherwin Williams we counted every car dealership we found.

We counted 12 in a mile and a half route (less as the crow flies).

There are 12 car dealerships in one direction of my house. I know for a fact there are more the other way and the funny thing is that this isn’t even the part of town you think of as where all the car dealerships are. If someone tells me they’re at a car dealership I assume they are up on University Pkwy on the other side of town.

Reader question, why does utah have so many car dealerships?

Posted in Confused Yet?, What are you gonna do? by Dan
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Ed
August 9th, 2007 4:25 am

So … you live in Provo and you count more dealerships than you PERSONALLY think should be in Provo. You have done no research to see if the delaerships are profitable and whether they are contributing their taxes to your city economy. You automatically assume that your single observation means the car dealerships are “out of control” and then you project this psychological failing on the entire state of Utah based on this observation. You need to go see a therapist to learn how to handle your feelings of grandeur and your belief that what you think is actually reality. You are truly an idiot.

Dan
August 9th, 2007 8:09 am

Wow Ed, somebody was up late checking their google alerts.

I’ll chalk all that angst up to caffeine or sleep walking or something.

This observation actually came after talking to the owner of a car dealership who was thinking of moving his operation to Colorado because he said there was a lot less competition. I haven’t looked at any statistics or anything but it did strike me odd that there were so many car dealerships in one place.

I didn’t actually say it was a bad thing to have so many car dealerships. I said they were “out of control” just like I would say a large block party is “out of control” because it’s so big. It doesn’t actually mean anything negative, just that I am impressed by the shear volume of what is happening.

As for therapy, my therapist advised me this morning when I called him that my problems don’t stem from delusions of grandeur or problems with projection. He did however call me an idiot.

Guess you got me there!

Paintjunkie
August 10th, 2007 1:48 pm

Wow ed, simmer down. Dan, you’re right. Since that is the route I drive everyday to and from work, I’ve actually seen some of those dealerships recently open on the site of another recently failed one.

Oddly enough, I’ve never seen anyone outside at those dealerships and the inventory rarely changes. (Except at the Love Bug one, cause they actually have nice/new cars.)

Also, I think there is a large number of pawn shops in the same area, especially considering the relatively small population base of southern utah county. Possible connection between sketchy pawn shops and sleezy used car dealerships, Hmm, now tie that into the close proximity to a worldwide MLM company and I think there may be something worth looking into there.

Sista R
August 10th, 2007 3:37 pm

Whoa… Ed is suspect. If an organization exists that aims to cover every inch of the earth with car dealerships then I’m pretty sure Ed is the President and Founder. Seriously, why else would he be so defensive about your post? It wasn’t like you said “I did an experiment to see how fat Ed’s mamma is and it turns out Ed’s mamma is so fat she fell into the Grand Canyon and got stuck!” Now, if you said that then maybe Ed would have something to be upset about and be justified in throwing around words like “therapy” and “grandeur”.
I have also noticed the exorbitant amount of car dealerships that call Provo home. When I lived there I often wondered how such a relatively small city could support so many dealerships. *Note to Ed: I didn’t place a value judgment on the amount of car dealerships, I just merely noticed them and questioned the profitability.
I have a friend whose family owns a dealership in Provo maybe I will ask them what their take on the situation is… would that be “REAL” enough for you ED???? Who am I kidding, based on Ed’s comment it is obvious that he doesn’t “read well” (see: Chris Farley I live in a van down by the river) so I don’t even know why I’m trying to clarify things for him.

Alex McArthur
August 10th, 2007 8:39 pm

If Ed had a reality tv show I’d watch it. It could be called EDtv. Oh…damn.

McCall
August 12th, 2007 8:56 pm

So ED from Sherwin Williams, is that shot for Erectile Dysfunction? just because you can’t get it up, doesn’t mean you should try to put other people down for no reason.

Stuart
August 30th, 2007 3:32 pm

Don’t mind Ed. He’s just pissed cause somebody shoved a stick up his… uh, nose.

When I was about 10 (I’ll just say it was in the mid-80’s) I said to myself, “When I grow up, I’m gonna start me a car dealership!”

Even as a young buck of 10 (and way back in the 80’s) I noticed there were car dealerships on nearly every corner. I figured there must be good money in the business of ripping people off… er, I mean selling cars.