According to an article in the Dallas Morning News, the bankrupt automaker Chrysler intends to eliminate a 789 of its 3,200 dealerships in the U.S., including eight in the Dallas-Fort Worth area.  Chrysler announced in a court bankruptcy filing that it has more dealerships than its business can support and seeks to cancel the contracts of some of the weaker dealerships.

Dallas-Fort Worth dealerships facing closure:

El Dorado Chrysler Jeep in McKinney; Frank Kent Dodge in Fort Worth; Grubbs Chrysler Jeep in Bedford; Huffines Chrysler Jeep in Denton; McNatt Dodge in Denton; Manuel Dodge in Richardson; Tommy Manuel Chrysler Jeep in Arlington; and Preston Chrysler Jeep in Dallas.

Many workers and dealership owners are surprised by Chrysler’s actions. The article featured a story of one dealership owner who recently bought a Chrysler dealership at the bankrupt company’s urging.

Will Churchill, co-owner of Frank Kent Dodge, said his family bought the dealership 18 months ago at Chrysler’s urging and paved six acres last winter so it could buy additional vehicles from Dodge and help keep the automaker’s factories open.

“We did not even have a contingency plan,” said Churchill, who assured his 40 employees Thursday that the family will find work for them at other dealerships. “We feel betrayed.”

He estimated that the family has more than $3 million invested in the dealership.

Do you have a contingency plan?

The number of bankruptcies affecting companies throughout the country are taking many workers by surprise and most are not prepared.  The Chrysler bankruptcy will cause many job losses and even “domino effect” bankruptcies at businesses that are dependent on the automaker for their survival.

Chrysler has covered its assets by declaring bankruptcy; but unfortunately many ordinary workers are failing to make “contingency plans” muck like the dealership owner mentioned above.  Don’t make that mistake. Create a contingency plan.  How will you financially survive if your company declares bankruptcy and/or implements job losses?  How will you continue to pay your bills, avoid foreclosure and other financial disasters.

You may want to consider using bankruptcy to save your assets.  It’s not just big companies like Chrysler that can benefit from the bankruptcy code.  Bankruptcy is especially helpful to the individual who has suffered a job loss or is struggling to avoid foreclosure.  Even if you don’t eventually decide to file bankruptcy, it should be a part of or one of your contingency plans.  Because when all else fails it is bankruptcy that can wipe out debts and help you get a fresh start financially.