U.S. Auto Sales institutes furloughs

Southern used-car dealership chain U.S. Auto Sales will keep its retail and supply chain locations closed "for the foreseeable future" and furlough those and other employees without pay, according to a company memo reported by an Atlanta, Ga., TV station.

"Although we have been diligently working for some time, including over this weekend, with our private equity owner and lenders, we were unable to reach an agreement that will allow our retail and supply chain locations to remain open," the Sunday message from U.S. Auto Sales CEO Bob Anderson stated, according to the NBC affiliate WXIA. The memo said business development center staff and the underwriting and marketing teams also would be furloughed.

Automotive News was unable to obtain a copy of the memo. However, U.S. Auto Sales employee profiles on LinkedIn featured posts Monday reporting furloughs and launching job hunts.

"As a result of our entire sales organization being furloughed last night, I am currently #opentowork," a Monday post from Fayetteville, N.C., store manager Scott Ellingson said.

Assistant compliance manager Kyle Wilkins also announced Monday he was job hunting "in lieu of our entire organization being furloughed last night."

Last week, the dealer group's usautosales.info website contained a pop-up declaring, "We have temporarily closed our dealerships and are working on a solution to reopen them as soon as possible. But don't worry, we aren't going anywhere!"

On Monday, however, the usautosales.info site had been stripped of the pop-up as well as references to the chain's inventory and locations. It focused instead on topics related to existing customers, such as repair claims and loan payments.

"Our affiliated loan servicing company, USASF Servicing LLC, is open to accept your payments and to assist in servicing your account," the website states.

Messages seeking comment Monday to the media email provided for U.S. Auto Sales' loan servicing operations and U.S. Auto Sales' media email address have not been returned. A customer service representative said she couldn't speak on behalf of the company.

Also, email messages and phone calls Monday to private equity owner Milestone Partners, which has held a stake in U.S. Auto Sales since June 2015, were not returned.

Founded in 1992 in Lawrenceville, Ga., U.S. Auto Sales' 39 locations span Alabama, Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee. The group had 459 vehicles in its inventory early last week.

U.S. Auto Sales' closure follows the sudden closure of American Car Center, a used-vehicle dealer group with more than 40 locations.

Bloomberg contributed to this report.