The first salesperson took the customers order, sent it off to the automaker, and then waited for the car to come in. Now, as hundreds of thousands of cars were rolling off the lot, big automakers were setting up networks of franchised dealers, and shipping directly to them. The cars went to customers, if they would been ordered beforehand, or to dealers inventories, if they were not. This caused problems with many dealers, who did not have cash on hand to pay for them.