AUTOMOBILE

SHOWROOMS

OPEN AGAIN

Appointments, Social Distancing

Convince Cuomo They Can Be Safe

By JIM KEVLIN • Special to www.AllOTSEGO.com

ONEONTA – Happy days are here again at Otsego County’s automobile showrooms.

At noon today, a press release arrived from the New York State Automobile Dealers Association breaking the news: From County Club Motors to Five Star Subaru, Oneonta’s Southside and everywhere in between, auto dealers, severely limited by Governor Cuomo’s March 13 emergency declaration, can again do what they do – sell cars.

“We’re back in business,” said Tom Armao, proprietor of Oneonta’s Country Club Automotive. “With some measures to ensure social distancing, car sales can resume again in Otsego County and around the state.”

Armao said that, since the restrictions were imposed, sales were only allowed via the Internet, with salespeople working from home, interacting with customers by phone or email. “People could buy a car,” he said. “They could come in to pick it up. But they couldn’t look at it.”

Other local auto dealership proprietors weren’t immediately available this evening, but Austin Henchey of Unadilla, a four-year salesman at Empire Toyota on Oneonta’s Southside, said proprietor Geoff Harris “is really excited to get back up and working.”

In addition to people generally prevented from buying new cars, Henchey said customers whose leases on cars expired after March 13 have faced challenges extending their leases or acquiring new vehicles. And, he added, there are emergencies – “someone who hits a deer.”

The announcement from NYSADA and other dealer associations came a week after they sent Cuomo a plan to restart on-site sales amid the COVID-19 crisis. While customers just can’t walk in to a showroom, they can call ahead to make an appointment and speak with a salesman, the NYSADA press release said.

If a customer shows up for an appointment, the dealer must be sure to follow social distancing rules, including wearing a mask when interacting with customers, the announcement said.

After a customer takes a test drive, dealers should sanitize the vehicles before they’re used again. Plus, due to the confined space, salespeople should not ride along on test drives.

Despite the remaining restrictions, “we’re excited,” Armao said. “Last month, we ran at about 50 percent of a normal April. We’re hoping we can get 80-90 percent of a normal May.”

Pressure to reopen showrooms increased locally this week, after Oneonta Common Council member Len Carson announced he’s sent a message to the Otsego County Board of Representatives, advising them Onondaga County dealerships had reopened Tuesday, and asking why local ones couldn’t as well.

At Wednesday’s county board meeting, county Reps. Danny Lapin and Andrew Stammel, both Oneonta Democrats, urged action on the matter, and county board Chairman David Bliss, R-Cooperstown/Town of Middlefield, he would have the matter researched before the next board meeting on May 20.

At the meeting, County Treasurer Allen Ruffles pointed out that auto sales are the largest generator of sales tax in the county, and Otsego is facing a severe drop in those revenues as the major summer activities – the Hall of Fame Induction, Dreams Park and Glimmerglass Festival – has called their seasons.

Today, county Rep. Peter Oberacker, R-Schenevus, who is also running to success Jim Seward in the stae Senate, issued a call to the governor to ad auto dealerships to Phase One businesses – factorings and construction firms – that can reopen May 15. “Now it is time to get our economies up and running again and ensure small businesses are able to get back on their feet and find success,” he wrote.

All that now seems to be moot.