Reno car dealer tests Valley market

Last week, about 120 new and used cars were dropped off at a vacant car lot along Highway 395 where the towns of Gardnerville and Minden converge.

Balloons went up for a four-day liquidation sale that continued through the weekend.

"We're seeing how the market is down here," Patrick Allison, owner of Allison Automotive in South Reno, said on Friday. "We might be interested in opening up a dealership."

Auto dealers across the country are trying to find ways to sell stacked-up inventories of unsold cars in an economic climate of stunted consumer confidence.

Allison said his Saab and Mitsubishi dealership might host more liquidation sales in the Valley this spring.

"We're getting rid of these cars and helping the community," he said. "Instead of having customers drive up to us, we're bringing (the cars) to the community."

Allison said customers were responding, if slowly, to the liquidation sale.