Juan Burgos Law

Orlando bankruptcy attorney Juan C. Burgos has watched floor-plan financing keep small dealerships running for years. Now he’s watching that same paperwork put owners’ houses and savings on the line — and he says most of them don’t see it coming until the letter shows up.

ORLANDO, Fla. — If you own a small car lot, you already know what floor-plan financing is: the credit line that lets you keep inventory on the ground instead of paying cash for every car up front. What a lot of dealers don’t think about until it’s too late is that almost every one of those lines is backed by a personal guarantee. And right now, those lines are getting pulled.

Nationally, 90-day auto loan delinquencies hit 5.60% in the first quarter of 2026 — the highest rate on record since 2020, according to Federal Reserve Bank of New York data. The buy-here-pay-here sector, which leans hard on floor-plan credit to stay stocked, has already seen at least two major players go down in the last year, including one operator’s Chapter 7 filing tied to fraud allegations that reportedly cost its bank lenders around $200 million.

“I’ve had dealers sit across from me and say, ‘But I closed the business, why am I still getting calls?'” said Juan C. Burgos, Esq., founder of Juan Burgos Law and a Florida Bar-licensed bankruptcy attorney (Florida Bar No. 84056) in Orlando. “Closing the LLC doesn’t close the guarantee. If you signed your name on that floor-plan line, the lender can still come after you personally, and that surprises people every single time.”

The good news, Burgos says, is that bankruptcy law has more than one tool for this — the trick is figuring out which one actually fits. A dealer who’s done and wants out can often wipe the guaranteed debt clean under Chapter 7. One who wants to keep the lot open has options too: Subchapter V, a faster and cheaper version of Chapter 11 built specifically for small businesses, lets an owner restructure and keep operating without a creditors’ committee looking over their shoulder. And for the bigger operations, or owners whose personal exposure is too large for Chapter 13 to handle, traditional Chapter 11 is still on the table.

Burgos, who was born in Venezuela, also points out something the bankruptcy conversation in this industry rarely mentions: a lot of Central Florida’s dealership owners are Hispanic, and Florida has the highest share of Hispanic-owned small businesses of any state in the country. His firm handles cases in English, Spanish, and Portuguese.

“Nobody should be putting off a decision this big because they’re worried about explaining their finances in their second language,” Burgos said. “I built this practice so people can walk in, talk to me directly — no interpreter, no runaround — and actually understand what I’m telling them.”

Juan Burgos Law represents auto dealers and other small business owners in Chapter 7, Chapter 11, Chapter 13, and Subchapter V bankruptcy in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Middle District of Florida. More information for auto dealers specifically is available at juanburgoslaw.com/small-business-bankruptcy/auto-dealers. Free consultations can be scheduled at juanburgoslaw.com/contact or by calling (407) 505-4190.

About Juan Burgos Law
Juan Burgos Law is a bankruptcy and personal injury law firm based in Orlando, Florida, led by attorney Juan C. Burgos (Florida Bar No. 84056). The firm represents individuals and small businesses throughout Central Florida in Chapter 7, Chapter 11, Chapter 13, and Subchapter V bankruptcy proceedings in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Middle District of Florida, with services available in English, Spanish, and Portuguese.

Media Contact:
Juan Burgos Law
1339 Arlington St, Orlando, FL 32805
(407) 505-4190
info@juanburgoslaw.com

This press release is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. Hiring an attorney is an important decision that should not be based solely on advertising. Past results do not guarantee future outcomes.

Date Posted: July 13, 2026