RICK DAMELIAN may be just the first of the Parramatta Road car dealerships to hit the wall, with at least six major Sydney car dealerships and scores of others in rural NSW facing bankruptcy.

James McCall, the chief executive of the NSW Motor Traders Association, made the bleak prediction as Damelian customers flooded receivers Ferrier Hodgson yesterday with urgent enquiries about getting their cars serviced under manufacturers' warranties.

Driven out of business ... Rick Damelian.

Mr McCall blamed car manufacturers for squeezing dealers too hard, further jeopardising an industry struggling to claw back into the black in the wake of the global financial crisis.

He said more than 1000 jobs were at risk at prestige car yards around Sydney and hundreds more around the state.