With the government deadline just a week away, the clock is ticking for Chrysler, and you better believe local dealers are watching this news with a close eye.

"I watch constantly from 5 am until I go to sleep at night," Leo Jerome said.

Jerome is the owner and president of Story Chrysler Jeep in Lansing. He calls this period of uncertainty, uncharted territory.

"I don't think anyone knows exactly what's going on because there are so many different parties and so many issues," he said.

Chrysler has less than seven days to negotiate concessions with the union, work out a deal with Fiat, and hope their lenders agree to trade their debt for company stock, all before the government's April 30th deadline.

But should just one piece of the puzzle fall through -- bankruptcy could be in the future. So where then, does that leave local dealers?

"We don't know that, no one does," Jerome said. "The government talks about covering warranties. We as a family, as a business would maintain our position. We're not going anywhere, our business will be here."

Jerome said he fully expects his dealership to remain even through a possible bankruptcy, and he hopes his customers will too.

"Our cars are good," he said. The issue of can I get service on it, I think those things will be around. It isn't the first time people have stopped making cars. I don't think there's real cause for concern here."

After all, he said, there will probably be some pretty good deals out there.

President Obama's Auto Task Force is considering expanding the Small Business Administration loan requirements so dealers have an easier path to borrow money to acquire cars.

But Jerome said, while a good idea, he thinks the government needs to find a way to get banks to loan money to regular consumers, so they can start buying these cars.