[topic merged with exisiting DeVries topic]
Good to hear some good news. The Fiat garage in Eastbourne where I bought my Punto from in early 2002 has closed and is now an Autowise independent garage. Funny enough, they are right next door to Kwik Fit...!
We lost our Suzuki dealer 18 months ago and Russells Renault have closed their Bexhill branch and sold my local dealer to Lifestyle - a larger dealer group with dealers in Kent. Both of these were family run businesses I understand.
My nearest Honda dealers - Collins and Bexhill Honda - are both family run. Down here we appear to have a couple of 'big' local monopoly groups like Birchwood (Ford/Nissan/Skoda/Mazda), Chandlers (many BMW sites in Sussex), SLM and Caffyns (virtually everything else). A lot to lose if it all went balls up, as demostrated recently when Sidlow went bust taking several branches around Gatwick with them.