DETROIT - AT 789 CHRYSLER lots across America sit 44,000 potential bargains, cars and trucks that are stuck between shellshocked dealers and a troubled company that no longer wants their services.

The dealers have just a few weeks to sell the Chryslers, Dodges and Jeeps or risk losing thousands of dollars on them, giving people who want a car on the cheap a serious chance for a deal.

On Thursday, Chrysler LLC asked a New York bankruptcy court to end its franchise agreements with the dealers, casting them aside so the automaker can move forward as a new company with a leaner network of about 2,400 showrooms.

General Motors Corp took a similar step on Friday, giving notices to 1,100 dealers that it no longer wants them. On their lots sit 65,000 Chevrolets, Buicks, GMCs, Pontiacs and Cadillacs, but at GM, the dealers' situation isn't as dire.

Both automakers say they have too many dealers for too few sales. For years they have wanted to get rid of underperforming showrooms to expand the market area of healthier dealers. The moves would give the stronger dealers higher profits and more money to spend on marketing, facilities and personnel, making them more competitive with Japanese automakers.

But inside the 789 Chrysler showrooms to be cast aside, fear is starting to set in as dealers try to figure out what to do with expensive inventories that weren't selling well even before the Auburn Hills, Michigan, automaker entered bankruptcy protection last month.

Dealers borrow money to buy their inventories, then repay the loans and make a profit when the vehicles are sold. But Chrysler sales were down 46 per cent the first four months of the year, so many dealers have been paying interest for months. Even if the vehicles are sold at cost, dealers still lose thousands in interest payments.

Chrysler doesn't have the money to buy back the vehicles, said company spokeswoman Kathy Graham, but it also doesn't want to leave dealers in a bind or see the inventory flood the market at bargain prices.

So it has signed a deal with GMAC Financial Services, Chrysler's new finance company, to float loans to dealers that Chrysler plans to keep can take on the 789 dealers' unsold inventory. The deal, though, doesn't include about 4,000 2008 models still on the lots.

Remaining dealers likely will need to take the cars and trucks because all of Chrysler's manufacturing plants have been shut down since it entered bankruptcy on April 30, Ms Graham said. Sales in May have been stronger than anticipated, so dealers will need to replenish inventories, she said. -- AP