Art Douglas

Owner, Jim Douglas Auto Sales
Pontiac, Mich.

Business has fallen about 50 percent since 2006 for Douglas, whose father Art Douglas founded the Pontiac, Mich. company in 1975. Since 2006, in order to conserve cash, he's had to lay off two of his twelve employees. About 70 percent of Douglas' business is wholesale sales to other dealers; 30 percent is retail. But the current financial crisis also makes it hard for Douglas to purchase more inventory, partly because he's been competing with leasing companies who tend to sell their used cars at auction, cutting him out of the loop. And with inventory moving more slowly, "you have to watch what you are buying," Douglas says, adding: "We are working on smaller margins."