The battle for Billings: A Montana dealer fights to reopen his terminated Chrysler-Jeep store, and even the factory now backs him

摘要

Auto dealer Steve Zabawa believes justice will come his way - any day now. Nearly five years after Chrysler terminated his Billings, Mont., Chrysler-Jeep store, along with 788 other dealerships around the country, Zabawa believes he is on the threshold of reopening. If it happens, he will be one of a small band of Chrysler dealers in the country to pass from termination to reinstatement to reopening. "This is going to be a landmark case for all the other terminated dealers out there," says Zabawa 56, a partner in the five-store Rimrock Auto Group. "They will be able to say, 'At least we won one case.'" According to Chrysler, 44 dealerships that were terminated in 2009 have reopened, one way or another, after prevailing in arbitration.