LAS VEGAS — Executives representing various floor planners and financial institutions gathered on Wednesday to talk about how the industry is faring. Just what did they say?

Taking the stage at the National Alliance of Buy-Here, Pay-Here Dealers conference was Scott Drehs, of AFC; Carol Ritter, of Carbiz; Marty McFarland, of Dealer Services Corp. (of Indiana); Kathy Decker, of MAFS; and David Fricke, of Texas Capital Bank.

One of the executives pointed out was that dealers are coming under even closer scrutiny by their floor planners, which has "changed the ton of the industry." He sees the end result as a much healthier industry.

Decker highlighted the fact that, "Capital is precious to all of us. We're making sure everyone is in compliance with the rules. (For dealers) having complete transparency for us is very important."

She went on to say that MAFS has been helping its dealer customers right-size their portfolios.

The consensus appeared to be that the toughest time for floor planners came during November, December and January. They indicated that during this period a lot of dealers were simply handing over the keys for inventory as they could not longer stay in business. At least one of the floor planners; however, was not able to find vehicles for defaulted lines.

Just to give an example of how the industry has changed, Decker said MAFS had 21,000 active dealers last year. This year, active dealers with the company now stand at 14,000.

Looking at AFC, its dealer numbers this year are down by about 3,000, Drehs indicated.

"Dealers tried to hang on as long as they could," one of the executives stressed. He went on to say, "I feel bad for those who won't be with us in the long run."

However, 2009 has proved to be a brighter year, Decker told attendees.

In fact, she characterized the floor planning sector as "less bad this year."

Overall, Decker said, "This is probably the new norm for us all."