Greenville Reporter

The coronavirus pandemic has hit the car dealership business during its busiest time of the year, but many operations continue to allow customers to test drive a vehicle before making a purchase. 

But Greenville Motor Company in Greenville is taking necessary precautions before letting a customer drive a vehicle, WNCT reported on April 6. 

"We try to get everyone to wash their hands and wear gloves if they can," Tim Stox, general manager, told WNCT. 

Dealerships are encouraging hand-washing and wearing gloves. If a customer shows signs of an illness, the dealership asks the customer to come back another day, WNCT reported. 

After a person test drives a car, Stox told WNCT that the dealership will clean the car if the individual doesn't end up buying it.

“If someone does test drive it and doesn’t end up buying it, then we’re going to kind of do a quick once back over to be sure everything is cleaning back up,” Stox told WNCT. 

He told WNCT that the number of people coming to the car lot has decreased by half and tax season is the dealership's busiest time of the year. But if people are in the market for a new vehicle, they are still going to buy a car, according to WNCT. 

"We're probably selling half as many cars as normal," Stox told WNCT. "It's going to hurt business tremendously over the next year."

Currently, selling cars isn't considered a money-maker for dealerships, especially with the number of car options at auctions decreasing significantly, Stox told WNCT. Services such as detailing and repairs are bringing in most of the money Greenville Motor Company is making, according to WNCT. 

“People anticipating more money that they think they’re going to get from the government and stimulus money," Stox told WNCT. "They’re planning on using that for some needed repairs they might have been overlooking."