David Harris owns a J.D. Byrider automotive dealership franchise in Houma, 40 miles west of New
Orleans, a town that took hits from both Katrina and Rita. Its residents rely
heavily on the devastated oil and tourism industries for jobs. As a result,
many of Harris's 650 customers can't make their car payments, putting their
credit and his business in jeopardy.

"These storms put about six out of 10 of our customers under water.
Without J.D. Byrider -- without the franchise system -- we wouldn't have made
it," said Harris, a Byrider franchisee since 1995. "Financial help from the
corporate office has allowed us to offer customers who are in need extensions
on their car payments. That way they can continue building good credit while
they recover, and we can pay our own vendors."

"This is the first time we've had a franchise hit by two hurricanes in a
row, and we realized that we had to act quickly to help him," said James F.
DeVoe, founder of J.D. Byrider. "We wanted to make sure that both David and
his customers got the help they needed to survive this double disaster."

DeVoe transferred $50,000 to the Houma dealer, waived Harris's royalties
for six months, and postponed his pending franchise contract re-negotiations.
And Harris said DeVoe wasn't the only one offering assistance. Individual
Byrider franchises began calling him to see how they could help before
Katrina even made landfall.

A third-generation new car dealer, Harris made the switch to J.D. Byrider
because it's in the top 10 percent of U.S. franchises, and is the nation's
oldest and largest used car franchise. Byrider is unique because it provides
franchise owners the capability to offer credit on-site through their own
financing company. That way the dealer can work one-on-one with customers to
create financing that best fits each individual's special needs.

Headquartered in Carmel, outside Indianapolis, J.D. Byrider was founded in
1989.  Its mission is to serve customers with special financing needs who are
routinely ignored by other dealers, and to ensure that they receive the same
quality service in every J.D. Byrider dealership. Sixteen years and some
550,000 vehicles later, daily customer-satisfaction monitoring by each
dealership shows an average 95 percent satisfaction rating.  There are 124
franchisee- and company-owned J.D. Byrider dealerships in 28 states.  More
than 5,000 people-many of them repeat customers or referrals-trust Byrider
with their business every month.

Souerce: J.D. Byrider