Digital Dealer - April 2018 - 32

C O V E R S TO RY

Continued from pg. 31

utors to Pine Cove's effort to build a
new summer camp for high school
students. We are active and feel a
serious responsibility to give back to
the communities we serve.
Another way we give back in an
unconventional way is that we are
about halfway through ten different major facility remodels or new
construction. We don't typically
think about this as giving back, but
when we have had Grand Openings,
and I listen to the feedback of how
proud the community is to have a
nice building out on the highway, I
realize that this is also a big part of
being a part of the community.

WHAT SEPARATES YOUR
DEALERSHIP GROUP FROM
OTHER DEALERSHIPS IN THE
REGION AND THE COUNTRY?

These days, being a privately-held
group seems to separate us more
and more. But even among privately
held groups, one thing that separates us is that we sell partnerships
to our operators. I think this is
extremely important for us and it is
a competitive advantage, for sure.
It is a mindset and a commitment.
It also enables us to attract great
people from groups that don't offer
this opportunity. I own 80% of all
my stores and I have partners in
every store. This gives everyone at
the store a different feeling about
the way we operate. It truly becomes
"their" business.
Additionally, about seven years
ago we got to the size where getting
into the insurance business made
sense. It was very difficult to get it
up and going, but now this gives us
a serious competitive advantage.
We are in the insurance business
bigtime. Not just underwriting to
an offshore account, but actually a
domestic insurance company. This
helps us make sense of many deals
that other dealers can't.

WHAT DO YOU LIKE MOST
ABOUT WORKING IN RETAIL
AUTOMOTIVE?

I like to win. I like to compete. I
have found a lot of success in the

APRIL 2018

retail car business, and that is fun. I
have also had a huge number of failures, which has given me wisdom
that I enjoy sharing with others. I
love it when my partners come to
me with a problem, and I have a
confident answer about a solution
because I've been there before. This
business offers unlimited opportunities and it changes all the time.
There is always plenty to learn and
plenty to achieve. That quest for
growth keeps it interesting and fun
over the long haul. Do what you love
and love what you do.

IF YOU COULD DESCRIBE
YOUR BUSINESS PHILOSOPHY
IN ONE WORD OR PHRASE,
WHAT WOULD IT BE?

Ambition. There's nothing that
describes our approach to business,
or our approach to buying more
dealerships, or selling more cars or
having better CSI. Why is owning 17
dealerships better than owning 15?
The only answer I can give is I enjoy
buying dealerships. I enjoy putting
deals together, solving problems,
creating success. Growing is almost
like an addiction for me, because it's
fun and I enjoy it. When I think of
all that in one word, the word that
comes to mind is ambition. That's
probably a pretty good answer in
life, as well.

WHERE DO YOU WANT
YOUR BUSINESS TO BE IN
THE NEXT FIVE TO 10 YEARS?

Ten years is a really long time. My
dad used to say that long-term in
the car business is 90 days. I have
learned through the years that this
is a moving target for me. Traditionally, I have opened a new store every year in the Fall. Then for about
six months after, I say I don't want
to purchase anything else. Somewhere in the middle of the summer,
a great opportunity comes up, and I
end up adding another store. This is
how it has been for 15 years. Having
said that, I bought three stores at
the end of 2016 and none in 2017. I
know enough to never say never. I
would expect that we will continue

D I G I TA L D E A L E R . C O M

to grow. But I will also say that we
have enough stores now that we
always have a handful of them that
aren't performing well. And, I have
a hard time aggressively looking for
a new opportunity when we have a
store that is not performing. It is all
about people. If we have the people
who are ready to make the jump
to GM and enough players to fill a
team at a new store, then great. If
not, then that's okay too.
I do feel like our industry is in
somewhat of a renaissance period.
Everyone seems to have a different
opinion on the subject, but I am
very excited about what the future
holds. I believe there is a healthy,
long-term viability for the retail
auto dealer and the manufacturers. I don't put much credibility on
the political speeches given by the
CEOs from the public car companies
who need to say what Wall Street
wants to hear. It is different in the
extremely densely populated cities,
but in Texas, we are a long way from
having an autonomous vehicle delivering a bale of hay to the pasture.
I have a love affair with cars, and I
know that I am not alone. Whether
on the race track, or through the
mud, or cruising down the boulevard, people will want to experience
their cars and express themselves in
this way. The future is bright.
ANY FINAL COMMENTS?

What I care about is the end
result. I'm an avid Dealer Magazine
reader. I know these interviews and
read them all the time. Once you get
beyond the surface stuff, every dealer out there knows their business.
Other dealers probably don't care
about my racing program, because
it's about me. They're reading the
interview because they want to get
something out of it. I hope I gave
enough tidbits about the way we
do things or our philosophy or our
processes that will make it interesting and useful for them. I'm very
much an open book and I don't have
a problem sharing. ■

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Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Digital Dealer - April 2018