Car Trouble

Before he learned GM would terminate his licensing agreement, the plan was to step back – he’s nearly 70 – and let someone else take over, maybe his sons. “You never get rich in the car business until you sell out,” he says.

Paradee didn’t sign GM’s severance offer. Instead, he had the company haul away his new inventory. “I want to get out of it and get rid of them and start another chapter,” he says. For him, too much damage had been done for the long goodbye other dealers were signing on for.

“I think [consumers] lost a little bit of trust in the company, not in the dealerships,” says Paradee. “The thing that happened to General Motors is these guys in their ivory towers never came out and had a look. No input from the public; no input from the dealers…. None of them have ever been in retail – that’s what I think the biggest problem is. And I think they’ll continue having a problem.”

Already, closures have affected Alberta’s smaller towns more profoundly than Calgary, Edmonton and Red Deer, though those cities lost dealers too. In rural regions, new vehicle dealerships rank amongst towns’ most significant employers and community benefactors. Three Hills, for example, lost its only dealership of any kind. With the closure of Ponoka Chevrolet, community groups will lose a reported $15,000 to $18,000 in annual donations. With Paradee’s decision to remain open and focus on used cars and parts and service, Taber Mayor Ray Bryant gives an impression of relief.

“I’m pleased that the Paradees have looked at other options and will continue to provide service to our community in one form or another. That’s good news.” For one thing, it means more money being spent in town. Perhaps more importantly, it means not having to find new tenants for Paradee’s downtown building.

And though Paradee can’t muster positive comments for the company both he and his father relied upon for the well-being of themselves and their families for decades, he bears no contempt for those that continue to do so. “Dave and I will always be friends. Dave made it; he got lucky. He’s still got a hell of a nut to crack, but he’s an old car dealer,” he adds. “That’s what he is.”

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