The Franchise Record

hometownautodealers.org

A sourced record of franchised auto dealers and the law.

Franchised auto dealers, and the law that governs them

The Franchise Record is an independent reference publication covering motor-vehicle franchise law in the United States — the 2009 General Motors and Chrysler dealer terminations, the Section 747 arbitrations that followed, and the state statutes that govern manufacturers and dealers today.

Everything published here is written from primary sources: the enrolled text of the statutes, the opinions, the congressional hearing record, the federal audits and the dockets. Each page names its documents and links them. Numbers carry their source and their date in the same sentence. Where credible sources disagree, both figures are printed with attribution rather than one being quietly chosen.

The publication takes no position and speaks for no one. It is not a dealer association, a law firm, a lobby or a campaign, and it sells nothing.

If you arrived from a 2009 footnote

From 2008 to 2011 this domain was used by the Committee to Restore Dealer Rights, a campaign run by franchised dealers after the General Motors and Chrysler bankruptcies. That campaign stopped publishing in December 2009 and the registration lapsed in 2011. The Franchise Record acquired the domain in 2026. It is not the Committee, is not affiliated with it, is not its successor, and has republished none of its material — the Committee is a subject covered here, from the public record: the history of the campaign, what it asked Congress for and what it got. What this site is, and how it got this address.

Where to start

Everything published so far, by section. Each piece is written from the documents listed with it, and each carries the date it was published and the date it was last substantively revised.

The 2009 terminations

What happened between April and June 2009, and on what legal authority.

  1. Two companies, two legal routes, seven weeks: how 789 and 1,454 dealerships were cut in 2009 Published 2026-08-05
  2. The criteria: what General Motors used to pick 1,454 dealerships, and the 763 that met them and stayed open Published 2026-08-05
  3. Why state good-cause protections did not stop the 2009 terminations Published 2026-08-05
  4. The Committee to Restore Dealer Rights, 2008–2011: what the campaign was, and what it got Published 2026-08-05

Section 747

The arbitration program Congress passed instead of restoration, and what it produced.

  1. Section 747: who qualified, what the clock was, and what winning was worth Published 2026-08-05
  2. What an arbitration win was actually worth: Chrysler Group LLC v. Fox Hills Motor Sales Published 2026-08-05

The bills

The legislation that was introduced, and the amendment that actually moved.

  1. S. 1304 and H.R. 2743: one bill, two numbers, and no vote Published 2026-08-05
  2. 287 of 435: the House side, and the amendment that actually moved Published 2026-08-05

Dealer law today

The same question, still live: direct sales, affiliates and the state statutes.

  1. The same question, live: can a manufacturer sell around its own dealers? Published 2026-08-05 · state of the record as of 2026-08-05

Ask

Reference for people looking for a specific record. Not legal advice, and no evaluation of anyone’s case.

  1. How to find the record of a dealership’s 2009 termination Published 2026-08-05

Documents

The primary sources, each with its citation, its date, its current legal status and a link to the government or court copy.

  1. The document index, and the master timeline of the terminations, the statute and the litigation that followed In preparation

Where the publication stands today

Sections open as their articles are published, and nothing is linked here before it exists. Alongside the articles above, the pages that describe the publication itself are live: who runs it, how it is funded, how it handles errors, and how to reach it.