Napleton’s Jupiter Dodge Mazda dealership closes its doors
October 1st, 2009 by TCPalm.comNapleton’s Jupiter Dodge Mazda officially closed its doors on Saturday after the dealership lost its lease with Chrysler Real Estate and Chrysler lost its lease with the owners of the property, the Miller family.
According the Ed Napleton, head of the Chicago-based corporation with dealerships in several locations, including 572 Northlake Boulevard in Palm Beach Gardens, “we were at the end of our lease, with no options left. When Chrysler went bankrupt, the owners had the right to reject the lease with the company, and since we didn’t have a valid lease with the Millers, we couldn’t continue at this location.”
Approximately 25 people lost their jobs when the dealership closed, although some employees were moved to the Northlake Boulevard location.
The Palm Beach County Appraisers office shows that Kenneth Miller of Vestal, N. Y. is the owner of the 2.6 acre property that has an appraised value of $2.6 million, including the land and the buildings.
Napleton said he believed that the Millers have the property under contract with another dealership, possibly Braham Motors.
There was more bad news once Napleton vacated the Indiantown Road location.
“We wanted to put Mazda at our location on Northlake Boulevard, but Mazda rejected the application for relocation,” Napleton said. “It’s been a hard week.”
He added that although he no longer sells Mazdas, the Palm Beach Gardens location does sell Chrysler vehicles, including Jeep and Dodge, as well as Lincoln Mercury, Hyundai and Suzuki cars, SUVs and trucks.
The property in Jupiter was grandfathered in as an automobile dealership by the Town of Jupiter, which cut off any other dealerships from locating on Indiantown Road, when the Indiantown Road Overlay was approved about 20 years ago.
Kit Bradshaw
Tags: cars, Chrysler, dealership, dodge, hyundai, jobs, jupiter, lincoln mercury, Napleton, suvs, suzuki, trucks
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October 1st, 2009 at 12:14 pm
I can honestly say ever since it became Ed Napleton Dodge it has gone down hill especially in their service dept. I would not buy from Ed Napleton if he was the last dealership in Florida. I have had many a horrible experience myself with the Jupiter location, and when you complain to Chrysler they state they do not even recommend him as a Chrysler/Dodoge dealership even before chrysler went bankrupt. If Chrysler cannot recommend him how can anyone? My father bought a Mazda from the Jupiter location and he also has had nothing but bad things to say about their service dept, I also have a friend who bought a Mazda from Jupiter and she has nothing but trouble with the service dept. As fas as I am concerned no one should waste their time or money with any of the Ed Napleton locations. Happy to see Ed Napleton leave Jupiter !!!!
October 1st, 2009 at 12:31 pm
I second what “fed up” said. Outragous pricing for simple repairs. They repaired something on my vehicle when it was suppose to be repaired on a different owners truck. The repair would have been needed eventually, but I had not approved the repair. I said they should just charge me for parts but they refused. I own a business and comein contact with tons of people …. told them the bad mouthing I will do about their service will shut them down eventually!
October 1st, 2009 at 12:38 pm
Car salesmen are down there with scum of the barrel, Lawyers.
Glad to see them lose their jobs.
That dealership was spiralling downward for a long time and the service section was terrible.
I glad to see it close!! Good riddance!!
October 1st, 2009 at 12:56 pm
My wife once went to the Jupiter Dodge location to ask whether the dealership would be willing to participate in a community event. The manager told the receptionist that he would meet with my wife in 10 minutes. After a half-hour my wife asked whether she should schedule an appointment, but was the manager said that she should continue to wait. After about an hour and a half the receptionist finally let my wife know that the manager was probably just “playing a joke”. Yeah, playing a joke on someone volunteering to help kids with cancer! Real nice.
Needless to say, we let dozens of people in Jupiter and Tequesta know about the treatment that she received. I can only HOPE that we had something to do with Jupiter Dodge closing and hope that whoever buys the space will be a little more ethical than the previous management.
October 1st, 2009 at 4:38 pm
I can say nothing but good things about salesman Mike Fresoli. One of the most honest persons I’ve met in the 40 years that I’ve been buying cars in Plam Beach County. Good luck Mikey!
October 1st, 2009 at 8:07 pm
I agree with many of your comments. Ever since Ed Napleton purchased that dealership it went into death spiral. First off he brings in his big shots from Chicago who think they are gonna turn things around and make things happen……. WRONG. Then he gives his daughter the Nissan/Kia store which now resides on Blue Heron Blvd and makes her the General Manager, woooohooo another big mistake. She thinks because she is Napleton’s daughter her $hit dont stink and she can do just whatever the heck she wants to whomever she wants. I can honestly say I have been on both sides of the fence when dealing with napleton dealerships, as a consumer and as a vendor, and in all circumstances they try to rip you off. You have an owners daughter being the general manager of a store who thinks she can pick and chose which vendor she is going to pay or not pay her debts too…….because I am Mr. Napletons daughter. All the way to taking my vehicle into one of there dealerships for warranty work and having them do service work I did not approve or sign off on and refusing to give me my keys unless I pay there bill. Lets not mention how there employee turn over rate at all there fine Napleton dealerships is more often than summer thunderstorms in south florida. Try buying a car from them and going back the next month to ask your salesperson a question…….it aint gonna happpen. In closing I would like to say the town of Jupiter is much better off without con artists like the Napleton Group in Jupiter, and I can only hope there remaining Florida stores follow the same path as Jupiter did……BEING SHUT DOWN!
November 30th, 2009 at 3:13 pm
I worked for Jupiter Dodge in 2008 and can say that I had a blast. All the beautiful customers from Jupiter were a pleasure to deal with and the employees gave it there all!! We had a great crew with Big Al, Jennifer, Steve, Nick, Nate, Denny and the rest of the sales team. I wish everybody good luck, it seems that the good employees always pay for the mistakes of bad management!!
January 18th, 2010 at 7:51 pm
I have had my mazda serviced here for two years, and I always received exceptional service. The prices were fair, and I never had to wait long for my car to be serviced or repaired. I’m very unhappy to find out that they are gone, because they were the only ones I trusted in the industry. I wish them all well. Thanks for the outstanding service!