Louisiana Car Dealer Credits Franchise System With Recovery From Hurricane Double Whammy

CARMEL, Ind., Oct. 13, 2005 -- Nearly a month and many gray hairs since taking a hurricane one-two punch, a Louisiana used-car dealer is helping his customers get rolling again, and he's crediting his franchise system and fellow franchisees with getting him back on his feet.

David Harris owns a J.D. Byrider franchise in Houma, 40 miles west of New Orleans, a town that took hits from both Katrina and Rita. Its residents rely heavily on the devastated oil and tourism industries for jobs. As a result, many of Harris's 650 customers can't make their car payments, putting their credit and his business in jeopardy.

"These storms put about six out of 10 of our customers under water. Without J.D. Byrider -- without the franchise system -- we wouldn't have made it," said Harris, a Byrider franchisee since 1995. "Financial help from the corporate office has allowed us to offer customers who are in need extensions on their car payments. That way they can continue building good credit while they recover, and we can pay our own vendors."

"This is the first time we've had a franchisee hit by two hurricanes in a row, and we realized that we had to act quickly to help him," said James F. DeVoe, founder of J.D. Byrider. "We wanted to make sure that both David and his customers got the help they needed to survive this double disaster."

DeVoe transferred $50,000 to the Houma dealer, waived Harris's royalties for six months, and postponed his pending franchise contract re-negotiations. And Harris said DeVoe wasn't the only one offering assistance. Individual Byrider franchisees began calling him to see how they could help before Katrina even made landfall.

A third-generation new car dealer, Harris made the switch to J.D. Byrider because it's in the top 10 percent of U.S. franchises, and is the nation's oldest and largest used car franchise. Byrider is unique because it provides franchise owners the capability to offer credit on-site through their own financing company. That way the dealer can work one-on-one with customers to create financing that best fits each individual's special needs.

For more information, or to interview David Harris and one of his customers, please contact Sanda Pecina at the number/e-mail below.

J.D. Byrider

Headquartered in Carmel, outside Indianapolis, J.D. Byrider was founded in 1989. Its mission is to serve customers with special financing needs who are routinely ignored by other dealers, and to ensure that they receive the same quality service in every J.D. Byrider dealership. Sixteen years and some 550,000 vehicles later, daily customer-satisfaction monitoring by each dealership shows an average 95 percent satisfaction rating. There are 124 franchisee- and company-owned J.D. Byrider dealerships in 28 states. More than 5,000 people-many of them repeat customers or referrals-trust Byrider with their business every month. For more, visit http://www.jdbyrider.com/