General Motors hasn’t responded to personal pleas or a 5,200-signature community petition. Official inquiries from Capitol Hill haven’t borne fruit either. Now, a national dealership group is negotiating on their behalf.

“You ever feel like you’re being held hostage?” said David Boyles, who with his father, Bud, owns Boyles Motors Inc., in Maryville, Mo.

The small Boyles dealership is slated to close in a year. It is one of 2,400 “under-performing, low-volume dealerships” that GM did not renew its franchise agreements with as the automaker restructures following bankruptcy.

Now, the effort to avoid closure has hit Washington.

Democrats on Capitol Hill have brokered talks between GM and Chrysler, auto dealers and the National Automobile Dealers Association.

Dealers have argued that job losses from closed dealerships will especially hurt in the economic downturn. They also accuse the automakers of targeting smaller dealerships that were performing relatively well. Boyles Motors counts itself among those dealerships.

The Boyles dealership is in a college town of just more than 10,000 residents. Its revenues last year were all in the red. It sold just more than 100 vehicles. David Boyles acknowledges some of his dealerships’ difficulties.

But he wants a clear-cut explanation on what the basis was to keep some dealers open and cut others. He also hopes to be a part of any financial assistance from GM to dealerships that will close.

Since his efforts to clarify or fight the closure have gone unsuccessful, he’s relying on the National Automobile Dealers Association.

“For now, it’s back in the hands of negotiations, and we’re just here alive and well and waiting,” David Boyles said.

Ahmad Safi can be reached at ahmadsafi@npgco.com. The Associated Press contributed to this story.