At a time when Garden State families face rising costs and growing economic uncertainty, locally owned dealerships continue playing an important role in creating jobs and keeping economic opportunities anchored in the community. In cities and towns throughout New Jersey, nearly 540 franchised car dealerships directly provide or support almost 74,000 jobs.
Many industries are becoming increasingly dominated by large corporations and their attention is drawn away from our local communities and our unique demographics. New Jersey is an incredibly diverse state, with approximately 50% of the population part of a minority group. In that environment, where big corporations are thriving, locally owned businesses play an important role in balancing the playing field by creating local jobs that can’t be outsourced, investing in neighborhoods, and building relationships that are personal, trusted, and rooted in the communities they serve.
Dealerships are more than just a place to buy a car. They are employers, trainers, customers of other small businesses, and civic partners. They work with and utilize accountants, contractors, cleaning companies, electricians, landscapers, printers, marketing firms, restaurants, and other small businesses. They support little league teams, hospitals, first responders, universities, and many other charitable organizations.
Drive through any of the hundreds of New Jersey communities and you will see it firsthand: families browsing inventory, long-term customers greeting sales managers by name, and bilingual staff helping first-time buyers navigate their first major purchase. It is worth considering what these neighborhood businesses have meant to our communities and what New Jersey families stand to lose if local ownership, jobs, and investment disappear.
Franchise dealerships employ an average of 75 people in good-paying, local jobs that offer chances for advancement and can’t be outsourced. Several dealership positions boast the potential for six-figure incomes without requiring a traditional college degree. A dealership career can mean a stable, middle-class life for first-generation Americans and working families.
Some manufacturers are exploring a direct sales model that bypasses local, community-based franchises. Policymakers should consider what would be lost if local dealerships were pushed aside. New Jersey should be careful not to harm community-based businesses that help keep economic opportunity close to home. The good paying jobs, the revenue from these small businesses, the state and local taxes, and the charitable giving that ripples through the state’s economy, due to these locally owned and invested businesses, cannot be replaced.
When local dealerships disappear, communities lose local jobs, local investment, and the opportunity for working families to build generational wealth. At a time when economic power is increasingly concentrated in fewer hands, protecting local ownership matters.
The automotive industry is changing quickly. Innovation should be welcomed. But it should not mean replacing locally owned businesses with distant corporate models that remove jobs, decision-making, and investment from our communities.
For New Jersey’s diverse community, this is about more than cars. It is about whether New Jersey’s economy will make room for EVERYONE to benefit.
Signed,
- NJ Coalition of Automotive Retailers (NJCAR)
- United Service Workers Union
- New Jersey State Council of Machinists, IAM Union
- League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC)
- The Valerie Fund
- ACV Auctions
- AutoTrieve
- Bellavia Cohen, P.C.
- For Rothschild LLP
- Gallagher
- Helient Technologies, LLC
- Performance Brokerage Services, Inc.
- Privacy4Cars, Inc.
- Reynolds & Reynolds
- Schiller, Pittenger & Galvin, P.C.
- Wholesale Auto Supply Company (WASCO)
