Auto dealers will gather in San Francisco this weekend, surviving 2008 will be the main topic. The discussion will be about a shaky economy, dropping stock market and the credit crunch, 2008 could be the worst sales year in more than a decade.Chrysler may thin its dealership ranks by as much as a third and the other two U.S.-based automakers are making similar plans.Fewer dealers may mean a better deal for the consumer but many dealers who are not profitable will not be able to compete. If they are money making dealership they are able to make the sale and loose the margin but a business that is in trouble may not be able to offer discounts. Again this year we may see zero percent loans through their finance groups. 2008 is not going to be an easy year for dealers who sell cars and trucks made by the big three, they all saw sales declines last year and are in the process of making corporate changesThe used car business should be fairly strong, but to keep the pipeline full of used vehicles there has to be strong new vehicle sales.Chrysler LLC said that it might align Chrysler, Jeep and Dodge under one roof. And General Motors Corp. also is planning to combine Pontiac, Buick and GMC dealerships into one channel. Ford Motor Co. also has to many dealers competing for too few customers, but as of yet they have made no moves to consolidate.GM is going to start selling their Certified Used Vehicles on Ebay at no cost. That will put more pressure on sales to keep up with the demand. But used prices have dropped recently even for the smaller higher gas mileage vehicles and this will affect trade in values.