UPDATE: In addition to ordering New Jersey residents to stay at home except for essential travel, Gov. Phil Murphy on Saturday ordered the closing of all non-essential retail establishments by 9 p.m., though he exempted auto repair businesses. The president of the New Jersey Coalition of Automobile Retailers, Jim Appleton, said it was clear from the order that showrooms must close, though service departments can remain open.

New Jersey’s new-car dealers think they’re essential.

But will the governor agree? Or, like countless other businesses across the state, will the dealerships be shut them down under additional restrictions that Gov. Phil Murphy vowed to impose to curb the still-spreading COVID-19 virus?

As of Friday, officials said New Jersey’s totals had risen to 890 confirmed coronavirus cases and 11 deaths.

Despite what the head of the state’s main industry group called “plummeting” auto sales this week, all 510 dealerships have remained open amid the coronavirus outbreak, in part to serve doctors, first responders and others who need to drive, and also because most are contractually bound to stay open under agreements with their manufacturers.

“I don’t think any dealers are out there looking to run coronovirus sales,” said Jim Appleton, president of the New Jersey Coalition of Automobile Retailers, NJ CAR. “But they are looking to stay operational to serve the personal transportation needs of people here in the State of New Jersey, and it should be clear that vehicle maintenance is an essential service.”

Appleton’s group has called on Gov. Phil Murphy to designate dealerships as essential businesses and thus exempt them from the kind of closures that have already been imposed on specific industries in New Jersey and other states.

For example, Murphy has already ordered restaurants to supply takeout or deliveries only, and closed casinos, theaters, gyms, barber shops and other businesses entirely. In Pennsylvania, Gov. Tom Wolf issued a broad business closure order that allows only the service departments of dealerships to remain open.

But even if Murphy deems dealers’ service departments essential, Appleton said shutting down sales would be harmful because some key motorists, even those crucial to the fight against the virus, may need to renew or enter into new car leases, or purchase a new car.

New Jersey dealerships are not alone. The National Automobile Dealers Association sent a letter asking President Trump to declare dealerships an essential business nationwide.

“Vehicle service is extremely important; Sales isn’t as obvious," sai Jared Allen, a spokesman for the association. "We understand that it’s not business as usual. We’re not asking for business as usual.”

Allen said 1.8 million vehicle leases were due to expire nationwide between March and July, when those customers will then have to extend the lease, buy the car, or find a replacement — steps that can only be taken with sales and financing offices open.

“Service and repair cannot handle every scenario," Allen said. "You may have a medical professional who is using his personal transportation and gets in an accident and totals the vehicle. How is that individual going to obtain a replacement vehicle?”

A list of essential services or industries issued Thursday by the Department of Homeland Security intended to provide guidance for state and local officials specifies, “automotive repair and maintenance facilities,” though not car sales.

As things stood in New Jersey this week, Appleton said car dealers had been abiding by the same limits on hours of operation (between 5 a.m. and 8 p.m.) and staffing levels (up to 50 employees at once) that have been imposed on other retail businesses in the state.

Appleton said the limit on open hours hasn’t been a problem, with sales and service down. But the employee maximum has been, he said, at least for the state’s largest car dealers, which employ up to 800 workers each, forcing some dealers to cut back employees’ hours, order others to work from home or create shifts.

In all, New Jersey’s new-car dealerships employ 39,000 people full-time, said Stapleton, adding that auto sales are New Jersey’s number one source of sales tax revenue.

One reason even hard-hit dealerships have not been closing, Appleton said, is that many are contractually obligated to stay open under clauses in their franchise agreements or supply deals with automobile manufacturers. And while some dealers have been assured by carmakers that they will not be penalized if local, state or federal officials force them to close, others are uncertain, he said.

Dealers in Bergen County were briefly faced with a mandatory closing ordered by County Executive James Tedesco that was scheduled to take effective Sunday. However, the dealers’ coalition mobilized its members to oppose the order, flooding county in-boxes with some 400 emails and the order was rescinded on Thursday.

Appleton said this week’s downturn in sales and service was in contrast to an uptick some dealers had reported the week before, which they attributed to motorists wanting to make sure they had reliable transportation during the virus outbreak.

“Last week, much like the supermarkets saw a surge, we saw — not everywhere with every brand — but we dd see an uptick with a number of brands,” he said. “Some saw an uptick of 10-15%.”

Even the closing of New Jersey Motor Vehicle Commission offices has had little impact on new car sales so far, Appleton added, because a central MVC service remains in effect allowing dealers to register new cars electronically, slap on temporary plates, and let buyers drive off the lot in their new set of wheels. “The MVC, believe it or not, has a very efficient online system,” he said of the unpopular agency.

But since last week, the continuing spread of the virus, along with falling stocks and rising unemployment, have changed the new-car climate.

And amid that climate, not everyone in the industry wants dealerships to stay open.

An employee of one New Jersey dealership who contacted NJ Advance Media this week said she was concerned that would-be car buyers browsing showrooms and inhaling that new car smell could be exhaling the coronavirus, or leaving traces of it on steering wheels, door handles, service counters or sales desks.

The employee, who asked that her name and her dealership’s not be used for fear of retaliation, praised her employer’s efforts to disinfect workplace surfaces, and she said she could use her paid time off to stay home and avoid the chance of contracting the virus at work. But she also said it was unfair to have to expend her PTO simply to avoid getting sick, a very real possibility in her line of work.

“We come in contact with the public all day long,” she said.

Sign up for text message alerts from NJ.com on coronavirus in New Jersey:





Steve Strunsky may be reached at sstrunsky@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @SteveStrunsky. Find NJ.com on Facebook. Have a tip? Tell us. nj.com/tips