WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — A long-standing South Florida-based used car dealership, Off-Lease Only, has filed for bankruptcy in the past week, leaving many surprised and hundreds out of work.
Customers and those at other car dealerships have questions about how the company got to this point and what could this mean for the used-car industry as a whole.
Consumer
Off Lease Only closes operations after bankruptcy; 466 out of work in Florida
Off-Lease had locations in West Palm Beach, North Lauderdale, Bradenton, Opa-Locka and Orlando closed its doors Thursday to customers. At the five locations, 466 people were out of work. There also was an operation in Katy, Texas, near Houston.
This comes after years of being an industry leader in used-car sales.
"I'm real surprised to hear it because I thought they had the market cornered because they always seemed to have the most inventory as far as used-cars go and their price you pretty much couldn’t beat it," Brian Cone, a certified master mechanic at a new-car dealership, said.
Cone said he's been personally involved in purchasing at least four cars from Off-Lease Only, including his younger brother Benjamin.
"It's just the price and the upfront pricing and the inventory is really good too. So if there’s a car youre looking at and it doesn’t have an interior light or a color or something like that they usually have something for you to look at."
Since 2004, Off Lease Only has sold more than 300,000 vehicles, according to its website,
At the West Palm Beach location, doors were locked with a flyer on the front door matching the statement on the company's website.
"Off Lease Only is winding down its operations and is closed to the public," the company posted on its website. "In an effort to responsibly wind down operations of the business, we have filed for voluntary protection under Chapter 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code."
Around the corner at Car Solutions, manager Jorge Neyra said he was "definitely surprised. In the car business they were one of the icons in pre-owned car sales."
Many WPTV spoke with talked about questions about the Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing.
The filing included a long list of creditors as well as estimated assets and liabilities ranging from $100 million and $500 million.
Off-lease leaders says it’s based off several issues within the market including inventory and price inflation.
In a statement from the company also points to “supply chain disruptions and multi-year declines in new vehicle production,” as part of the significant challenges they’ve been facing .
