Survival mode
Pennsylvania deemed auto repair an essential business, which allowed Tom Bemiller, the chief
executive of The Aureus Group, to keep open his three repair shops in the Philadelphia area.
Revenue is down 35% this month, he said.
“Customer after customer is telling us I am not going to get my car fixed until this blows over,”
said Mr. Bemiller.
Mr. Bemiller said his priority is to pay his 25 employees and his suppliers. His bank is working
to determine whether it can retool the terms of his company’s $450,000 loan to allow for
interest-only payments and has increased its credit line by $50,000, enough to cover two weeks
of payroll. Pennsylvania is letting him delay certain sales tax payments; American Express Co.
has agreed to waive fees and interest if he delays his $270,000 corporate credit card bill for one
month.
“Right now everything is on the table because we are in survival mode,” Mr. Bemiller said. “We
are reaching out to all vendors and creditors and asking for help and trying to delay payments
as much as possible.”
Mr. Bemiller has reduced his own salary. He hopes to defer payments on his mortgage, student
loans, credit card bills and other expenses, but hasn’t had time to work on that yet because he’s
been singularly focused on the business, which provides all of his family’s income.
This article originally appeared in the Wall Street Journal.
