The shaky economy is putting the brakes on auto sales at a time when a growing number of consumers are already having a tough time repaying their auto loans.

Scottsdale book dealers Charles Parkhurst, Richard Murian and Linda Moore are treasure hunters — but the fortune they seek is made of paper and ink. The trio specialize in collecting rare books. Their vast collection of tomes and documents at Alcuin Books in Old Town Scottsdale is worth hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Scottsdale book dealers Charles Parkhurst, Richard Murian and Linda Moore are treasure hunters — but the fortune they seek is made of paper and ink. The trio specialize in collecting rare books. Their vast collection of tomes and documents at Alcuin Books in Old Town Scottsdale is worth hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Three west Mesa auto dealerships are moving from Broadway Road to a Chandler auto mall being developed by the same people behind Riverview at Dobson.

May 5, 2005

May 5, 2005

Auto dealers in south Scottsdale are preparing to ask city officials for a sizable chunk of corporate welfare — $2.5 million over five years.

If you have a few grand to spare and a hard-to-buy-for name on your holiday gift list, the Segway store at Scottsdale Fashion Square has a suggestion.

Mesa-based Empire Southwest said Wednesday it agreed to acquire assets of Arizona Production Machinery & Supply in Casa Grande, an agriculture machinery dealer. The acquisition will expand Empire’s current product line of Caterpillar and Challenger machines to include agricultural machines from AGCO, Claas, and Massey Ferguson, which now includes Hesston.

A local used car dealer who irked Chandler officials by using well-endowed female mannequins to advertise on Arizona Avenue quietly closed late last month, leaving some suppliers with unpaid bills.

WASHINGTON  — Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood assured car dealers Wednesday that they will be reimbursed for the money they have fronted to customers buying cars under the "cash for clunkers" program, responding to complaints over a backlog of rebate payments.

NEW YORK -- A parade of Chrysler dealers slated to lose their franchises took the stand Thursday in the automaker's bankruptcy protection case, many of them touting their sales and service records over the years and questioning how they were chosen for termination.

TUCSON - A longtime Tucson-based auto dealership company has filed for bankruptcy protection but plans to stay in business.

An Arizona boat dealership founded in Tucson with locations in Tempe and Phoenix is in bankruptcy after losing access to financing from a financial services arm of General Electric Co.