ARLINGTON — The national auto industry crunch has reached Arlington.
Dwayne Lane’s Family of Auto Dealerships announced Aug. 20 that it will be closing Dwayne Lane’s Arlington Chevrolet as of Aug. 31
The family-owned dealership will be moving its remaining inventory to 7800 Evergreen Way in Everett — the former site of Dwayne Lane Dodge — along with about 10 of the Arlington dealership’s 15 employees, said Tom Lane, president of the Northwest auto group.
The new dealership will be renamed Dwayne Lane’s Quality Used Cars when it officially opens its doors Sept. 1.
Dwayne Lane will also be losing franchise rights to sell Chevrolet, meaning it can no longer sell and purchase any new Chevrolet makes and models.
The dealership has been located in Arlington for more than 15 years, Lane said.
“We are excited to be able to expand our offerings of pre-owned vehicles to our very supportive customer base,” Lane said. “We are not going away for good, we are just moving our inventory and team to a larger location.”
About 50 used vehicles will be moved from Arlington to Everett.
The dealership’s sales department will slowly transition into the new location by Sept. 1, while the service department will continue operating normally until Aug. 28.
Lane said customers will still be able to service their vehicles through Dwayne Lane, and the dealership will still service Chevrolet vehicles.
Staff at the dealership were informed in May that General Motors would be closing the location. Lane said General Motors officials told him that he had 30 days to appeal the decision.
The corporation also told Lane he would not be able to order new inventory.
“Without the ability to order new cars, we were just delaying the inevitable,” Lane said. “We would like to just move forward.”
On Aug. 20, mostly used vehicles lined the Arlington dealership’s lot. Only a few brand new vehicles remained on the lot, including a red Chevrolet Corvette.
Sales consultant Dan Finch, who has worked for the dealership since March, said the move is bittersweet.
Although he said he will continue to work for Dwayne Lane in Everett, he will miss the community in Arlington.
“That’s what’s going to really be missed,” Finch said. “Many people here have purchased three or four cars from us in the past.”
The Arlington dealership will be closing down less than a year after the Arlington Planning Commission Design Review Board approved Lane’s proposal to build a new Chevrolet dealership on 59th Avenue and SR 530 in Island Crossing.
Lane said the plan was to move the Dwayne Lane Chevrolet to the location once the proposed dealership was completed.
But earlier this year General Motors announced it would be shutting down approximately 2,400 of its 6,000 dealership nationwide, including about 30 in Washington state, Lane said.
“It’s very ironic that when we have the property approved for the franchise that we no longer have the franchise,” he said. “With the meltdown in the auto industry, GM had to make a lot of decisions and this is just one that they made.”
Although the dealership will be closing, Lane said he is hopeful that in the future the auto group can acquire the Chevrolet franchise again.
“We had had three sets of plans (to move the Chevrolet dealership to Island Crossing) over the last 15 years,” Lane said. “Now we’ll shelve those plans again, hopefully to be enacted one day.”
