NEW YORK — While fears abounded about dealers' ability to pay floor planning, especially at General Motors and Chrysler, with sales being down so much historically, the early payment analysis is in. And largely, it is positive.

According to DBRS, the performance of dealer floor plan asset-backed securities has proved resilient through the recession and "near catastrophic" effect on U.S. domestic automakers.

"The pressure weighing against transaction performance came to its apex immediately following the bankruptcy filings of Chrysler and GM in April and June, respectively, the company pointed out.

"The immediate expectation from many market participants was for auto dealers to be decimated by the potential disruption in new-vehicle production and consumer aversion to purchasing vehicles from bankrupt manufacturers and for these circumstances to cause a dramatic slowing of payment rates on floor plan ABS collateral and spur rating downgrades," officials explained.

"Thus far, this situation has not materialized, in part due to the robustness of dealer floor plan transaction structures that seek to protect investors through the rapid amortization of the ABS notes," executives continued.

For instance, at the time of the GM filing, DBRS said it placed the outstanding ratings of Superior Wholesale Inventory Financing Trust XI "Under Review with Developing Implications." This was primarily due to the rapid amortization triggered by the bankruptcy filing and the potential negative impact on the performance of the collateral backing the floor plan transaction, the company pointed out.

"At the time of the rating action, although cautious about the ability of the dealership network to survive the bankruptcy, DBRS believed the filing would not cause the trust's payment rate to slow at a speed and to a degree to result in a ratings downgrade," officials highlighted.

In fact, DBRS indicated it believed that that in the transaction, which is similar to many others, the rapid amortization due to the filing, along with the historically consistent payment rate on the wholesale loans, would lead to a pay down of the transaction notes before "credit enhancement would be extinguished."

This transaction was paid down in full on Sept. 14, which was nearly 2.5 years ahead of schedule.

Offering another example, the company looked to DaimlerChrysler Master Owner Trust 2006-1, in which the Class A notes were paid down in full on their most recent distribution date, or five months after Chrysler's bankruptcy triggered early amortization. This was two months before the anticipated maturity.

"Although not initially factored into our analysis for the bankruptcy of GM and Chrysler, through July and August, the Cash for Clunkers program has provided even more support for the historical strength of payment rates in dealer floor plan trusts by causing extraordinarily high dealer sales volumes and payment rates," officials described.

"Despite the program being discontinued, its benefits to the dealer floor plan sector have been evident. Not only have payment rates increased, but the levels of previously financed inventory remaining on dealer lots are at all-time lows," executives concluded.