Bruce Cavenaugh lays off employees

Prices were not the only thing being slashed at a Wilmington car dealership today. 18 employees lost their job at Bruce Cavenaugh Automart on Market Street Monday.

Bruce Cavenaugh owns 3 car dealerships on Market Street. After Monday’s consolidation, he is only selling cars at two of them.

Employees spent the day moving cars from Cavenaugh’s Automart to the Super Store just down Market Street. Cavenaugh said he is making the same cutbacks people are making at home. “When things slow down a little bit, you have to be willing to adjust your cost. It’s as if you were to personally find out you were to be making 20 percent less money in the coming year.”

Cavenaugh has sold cars in the area for more than 30 years. He said he has seen sales decline every 10 years or so before they rise again. “There are sways in the economy, sometimes it’s good, sometimes it slows down, then it’s good, then it slows down. It’s never always straight up,” Cavenaugh said.

Experts say that the current buying slow down could lead to a big sales increase in the future. “We may see extra business coming. This pent up demand that should have been happening over the past month or two, but it hasn’t,” said certified financial expert Ross Marino.

While slower than normal sales caused Cavenaugh to consolidate his Automart lot, he said that doing so actually helps those that are buying a car. “We feel like by watching our expenses and cutting our expenses we can continue to sell cars for less than our competition does.”

Marino said some people might be waiting till after the election to make big decisions like buying a car. Others want to make sure they get the best price possible, but if they wait too long, prices could start to rise.