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“Burn The Ships!” – Scott Simons’ Tactics for Fixing a Dealership From the Ground Up | Scott Simons, Dealer Principle of Simons Chevrolet GMC
“Burn The Ships!” – Scott Simons’ Tactics for Fixing a Dealership From the Ground Up | Scott Simons, Dealer Principle of Simons Chevrolet GMC
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About this episode
Scott Simons shares his inspiring journey from CEO to dealership owner of Simons Chevrolet GMC, detailing the challenges and triumphs of acquiring his first store. He discusses the importance of networking, financial planning, and the emotional weight of fulfilling a lifelong dream. Scott emphasizes the need for resilience and hard work, recounting the fast-paced process of securing financing and navigating OEM approvals. With a focus on building a strong team and fostering a positive culture, he reflects on the lessons learned and the commitment required to succeed in the automotive industry.
Topics:
dealership acquisition
financial planning
OEM approval
networking
team building
personal branding
operational challenges
resilience
emotional journey
career transitions
Cars:
Chevrolet Corvette
Today I’m joined by Scott Simons, Dealer Principle of Simons Chevrolet GMC.
Scott breaks down the leap from corporate leadership to dealership ownership — the money discipline, personal brand, and network it actually takes.
He lays out the unexpected challenges of buying his first store, how he navigated a sub-$10M investment, and why adaptability became his biggest edge. Dealers will walk away with clear, tactical insights on evaluating opportunities, managing risk, and jump-starting early growth.
This episode is brought to you by:
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3. Nomad Content Studio - Most dealers still fumble social—posting dry inventory pics or handing it off without a plan. Meanwhile, the store down the street is racking up millions of views and selling / buying cars using video. That’s where Nomad Content Studio comes in. We train your own videographer, direct what to shoot, and handle strategy, to posting, to feedback. Want in with the team behind George Saliba, EV Auto, and top auto groups? Book a call @ http://www.trynomad.co
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Topics:
03:10 Key to acquiring the dealership?
06:24 How does family drive your motivation?
11:42 Biggest operational challenge and strategy?
14:13 Most crucial vendor relationship lesson?
24:59 Securing OEM approval: hardest part?
28:42 How to build a strong team?
29:52 How does networking drive career growth?
49:27 What is your ultimate legacy goal?
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"[1312.0s] I'm a big Corvette guy. [1313.0s] I love the product."
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The Chevrolet Corvette is a high‑performance sports car produced by General Motors. It’s known for its sleek design, powerful V8 engines, and track‑ready handling.
Key to acquiring the dealership?
How does family drive your motivation?
Biggest operational challenge and strategy?
Most crucial vendor relationship lesson?
Securing OEM approval: hardest part?
How to build a strong team?
How does networking drive career growth?
What is your ultimate legacy goal?
Select text to request an explanation
My dream and my goal for 30 years was always to buy my own. And, you know, I wanted my dad and mom to sacrifice so much for me to see our family name on a beauty. You know, that was the whole goal. Hey everybody, I'm Sam Darken. Today I'm joined by Scott Simon's dealer principle of Simon's Chevrolet GMC. The path from CEO to dealer owner is steep and scap race down exactly what it takes. From targeting a sub 10 million dollar acquisition to navigating the curve balls that almost derailed the deal. After only six weeks in, he explains how any
dealer can work their way into ownership and the massive pitfalls to avoid. A big thanks to our sponsors for making this episode possible, the auto, lot links and nomad content studio. And now let's get into the show.
All right. Scott Simon's I've been looking forward to this conversation for a couple of reasons. Number one in the notes I got. I got this line. Tell me your take on this. Scott Simon's owns Simon Chevrolet, Buick GMC inspired by a daily dealer live episode. He heard featuring Jerry Raymond. Tell us about that. Yeah, that's that's true. It's saying, first of all, thank you so much for having me on. I've been keeping up with this podcast.
And yeah, I was driving about six months ago, I was the CEO of Wimer Auto Group. And it Wimer is located about 50, 55 miles from my house. And on that drive, there's parts of the area where I don't have self-unreception.
And about six months previous that I left as a managing partner of Carter Meyers Auto Movie Group after 14 years.
And during that time, I couldn't call anybody. So I would download podcasts. So you can imagine, you know, an hour or one wave. You don't have a can't call anybody. So one of the podcasts I downloaded was it would be cardio ship guy. And there's a couple others that I would download.
Well, on this particular day in July, Sam, I heard Jerry Raymond on there. And I heard his story of how he was a finance manager and then went to work at dealerships in West Virginia.
And how he went bought his first dealership and he went through, you know, the whole story. And I'm driving over and I was real happy, you know, working with Wimer. They're great people, you know, they have six stores in West Virginia and Maryland. Awesome people.
But it just kind of lit it lit up lit a match in me. Now I was like, well, I was a manager partner. Now I'm a CEO. But my whole goal all the time was was to be a dealer principal. Yeah.
So I kind of listened to that. Sam and and I got to the dealership and I listened to it again. And then I listened to it again. And in there, you know, Jerry mentioned the group, you know, that he had used, you know, that kind of that kind of helped him.
You know, with that acquisition. And so I contacted the group, you know, we always thought, yeah, it's a built more group. Okay. Yeah, built more group. And they have great people.
If anybody's looking to purchase their first automobile dealership, first of all, very questions reach out to me. I learned a lot.
And I'm on across all social media. I'm the guy that will answer the phone. And I will give you my honest opinion. I'm an OBS straight forward type of guy.
And and they were wonderful to deal with. Wonderful.
Because when you go to purchase your first dealership, you're calling brokers and et cetera. I was a partner. But if you've never been a dealer, lot of them won't call you back or they just have such a long list of people they could call like your grill.
Yeah. That can just, you know, write a check for order or close real fast. Yeah.
So I contacted the built more group. And in that process, you send over your resume, your bio, and you send over your financials.
And like two weeks later, same I got on the phone with them. And they're like Scott, like with your resume and your financials, like, where would you want to buy dealership?
And I'm like, Oh, really? He's like, OK, well, warmer weather than, than Virginia.
Franchises, of course, everybody liked would went to go to Honda, to go to Honda, Subaru, Kia, Chevrolet GMC, maybe Hyundai is number five, according to whoever you research.
So I said, this is where I would like to live. It was South Carolina, North Carolina, and Virginia, Eastern part of Virginia. And they sent me a list.
And they said, here's eight dealerships that were confident based on the amount of money you want to spend, which my goal Sam was 10 million and less for a first store. That's real estate and everything.
And I picked a Chevrolet GMC dealership in Whiteville, North Carolina, the dealer that had it, they helped him buy it like four years ago.
I knew him from the Honda world. So I was a, you know, general manager of Honda store for a lot of years, a managing partner of a Honda Nissan Subaru Volkswagen Chrysler Dodge Jeep Ram.
And Sam, next thing I know, they helped me put my dealer packet together in three days. Wow.
Well, I know with your position, you've been involved in biceps. I have.
They're complex three days as a quick turn, right? Unless you have a big group with a ton of resources to be able to put something like that together. Yeah.
So Sam, it was three days. I had three people helping me. Next thing I know, they're like, we're going to submit it to GM.
And then they take 30 days. They 30 days give you a decision. GM financial approve me within a day.
I'll come, Erica approved me. And, and the truest said they would look at it. But my deal was a little too small for them. But they would, they would look at it if I wanted them to.
And then I got, you know, the term sheet within a day.
Next thing I know I'm heading straight to my dealership and I had to explain to my wife that's in Virginia. Hey, this is moving a lot of dealership. Yeah.
Yeah. Like, Sam, this is moving really fast. Then I had to go tell the whimmers.
I love my job as CEO. I love them. But like, this is my dream. And Tyler whimer looked at me, goes, Scott, like, congratulations.
Like, you're like, this happened really fast. I said, brother, you don't know. I had no idea.
Like, I had no, I didn't, Sam, I just didn't know what I didn't know. Yeah.
And, um, and so yeah, here I am sitting in the dealership today.
So you were CEO of a group. Why didn't you go through the group? Say, hey, you know what? I want to buy a store. I'll partner with you guys.
Yeah. You're financing. Use your industry connections and your OEM credentials.
Um, I really didn't need them. Yeah, I don't know if that makes sense or not.
So I didn't, they'd want a, they'd want a percent, right? You wanted the whole thing. Yeah.
The whole point is I have no partners. I have no investors. Um, I did in my 30 year career, saved my money.
I learned that from my dad. Um, my dad, Sam worked five jobs. He never made more than 32,000 a year of one job, but he worked five.
My mom was a lab supervisor. Um, they saved everything. I mean, Sam, they were some of the most, they, they're still alive.
My dad's 87, my mom's 85. They're some of the most frugal people in the world.
And, uh, they told us, you know, save our money, pay our self first. And you and I both know there's general managers out there that make a lot of money.
And they just take their lifestyle up to whatever they're making. Yeah.
And one thing that the built more group told me and Sam, this will kind of surprise you, uh, did me.
Um, they said, well, we need you to send us over a $7,500 retainer. And I said, okay, where do I wire the money to?
And that was like, I wired the money as soon as I hung up as a retainer.
And they said, Scott, you would be surprised how many people do not have $7,500. Yeah.
And I said, Sam, then they have no business, not a cardio ship, you know, they can't be a good steward of their own money.
If I bring a partner and you can't manage your own money, I most definitely don't want to be a partner with you.
And that's not true for all of them. My dream and my goal for 30 years was always to buy my own.
And, uh, you know, I wanted my dad and mom to sacrifice so much for me to see our family name on a building.
You know, um, that, that was the whole goal.
So I want to unpack that. I want to back up a little bit and there's so many different ways we can go in this conversation that you'd actually make up good two, three episodes.
But we're going to, we're going to have this one here today. And I think we're going to focus on this acquisition.
Because I think what a great story for anyone listening who may be inspired as you were listening to that episode.
Then what does it mean to you to put that family name on the dealership?
And, and how do you think about what it means to your parents? You talk about them.
My dad was supposed to write down with me and it's a five hour drive and he's 87 my mom's 85 and I wanted them to come to see the building with their name on it.
And my dad unfortunately had a food like symptoms and he didn't so I hope to find out they have not seen it yet.
Sam, it is so weird.
I can't describe you to the feeling of hearing your name being your family name being said when someone enters a phone.
When I look down and see my name on there, our family name, when I look out there and see it on the sign.
When I see it on even on my temporary sign.
When I interviewed with my first position 30 years ago, I told Johnny Kates with Honey Hammond and Richmond, Virginia, Saturn, or Richmond when I first started.
Then my goal was to own a cardio ship.
And they kind of chuckled because they said, well, does your parents own a cardio ship? I'm like, no, I'd be probably with them, right?
And they said, well, does your parents have a lot of money? And I'm like, no.
And they said, well, how do you get there? So if you give me a chance, I'll show you. And at that point, I had a master's degree. I finished with my master's degree in four years and I work full time.
And I started selling Saturn's and then went into finance, finance. I was a general manager by 28, partner by 36.
And then finally made it to where I was able to purchase my own. But saying, my wife and I, she came to visit, she surprised me because I'm away from them right now.
And it's hard, you know, to see all my family behind me from my pets and everything.
I brought three guys down with me. We're living in a condo together. So we were together all the time.
But the blood sweat and the tears and times when the stress was so much that I didn't make the best decisions, you know, at one point in my career,
you know, I probably drank too much.
At one point in my career, I didn't really care about any other people. I just cared about, you know, achieving my goal.
And I learned a lot through that journey.
Luckily, I was surrounded with really good people.
And I had always tried to do right by other people. And I think what you put out there and ended up paying big dividends for me. And I've trust me ever my career. I've made plenty of mistakes.
I'm not a, I'm not a perfect individual, but he stretch of the imagination.
But I've always poured into my people and always that they knew they needed something for me. I would be there for them. And no one, no one will ever question that about me.
I'm saying when you push people and expect, you see more out of them, they see themselves.
Yeah.
And you push them because you see that sometimes that, you know, it may not work out exactly how you wanted it to work out.
Because not everybody can, you know, can put in the time and the effort and what it takes really to become the best versions of them possible.
So same, it's been a crazy journey over my career. And I just, I can't tell you, I've shed quite a few tears.
My wife came and we, you know, saw her name on the sign, which I met my wife when I was 17. She was 15 and I'm 53.
And I told her when I met her that I was going to be a cardinal one day.
And she would never have to balance a checkbook and she would never have a financial worry in her life.
Because truly, now your name's on the building, the dream is realized, but it's only the beginning.
It's the first few steps. There's a lot of obligation that goes along behind it.
And certainly a lot of uncertainty and await.
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So let's back up to that moment. You heard the podcast the seed was planted or you were reminded the seed was there.
You took action on it. You started to get interest and locked into a dealership.
Was it a feeling of nervousness and excitement as you started to walk down that road or were you certain because this was your vision and it has been for a long time.
What was racing through your mind in those first days as you were starting to have those conversations?
Well, Sam, like we talked about earlier, I've always saved my money and I've invested in multiple things.
I have an S corporation called Simon's Interprises Inc. that owns 28 different entities.
And it was all based on the car industry that didn't provide cash flow.
So when I exited and left CMA, I never had to work another day in my life.
And I took about three months or so and I did some consulting and traveled the country.
But my mission wasn't accomplished.
Why not? Why not cash out? I mean, CMA, great organization. You had a big impact there.
We talked in the green room. You brought them in many ways. They would credit you for their forward facing social media presence.
Why not say, hey, enough is enough. Now I'm going to go live on a beach in Florida and just enjoy life. Scott.
Sam, I'm not, I'm not wired that way. When I left CMA, you know, it was a decision by them, you know, to go a different direction.
And, and I didn't, I didn't want to, I didn't want to go out like that.
And in my, my, my story was it's not being, it's not done.
And I credit, I'm telling you, it sounds crazy. But for some reason that day, that podcast just love it.
It's a smack me. And, and it said, what are you doing? Like you're not, I was having a blast at Wimer.
I mean, we were up substantially in a short amount of time. They're great people.
But I wasn't, I wasn't fulfilled. And retirement was not a option for me.
So you wired the, yeah, so you wired the 17,000, you began the conversation.
It was actually the same as 7,500 or 7,500. Sorry.
Yeah. Yeah. So 70, it was 7,500, which was the deposit, like your initial money.
It's really improved within you got 7,500.
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. They want to know that it's real.
You targeted 10 million as your, was this the total asset purchase price?
But the blue sky is different. What, what did the blue sky end up looking like? What did the cash in look like?
Yeah. I don't see. I had no problem telling you.
Uh, you know, whenever you buy dealership for anybody that's looking real estate to the real estate.
I mean, pretty much you're going to pay what it's appraised for. You'll get a couple different appraisals.
And then, then you look at the blue sky and then you have to look in the addbacks.
Like, what are they paying themselves a salary? Is there, is there a wife on the, on the statement?
Are the kids on the statement? Is there babysitter on the statement? Is the housekeeper on statement?
Hey, is there girlfriend on the statement? Whatever. You know, I'm just joking.
But who was on the, I mean, who was on the statement, right? Yeah.
And then, like, how much are they marking up the rent? You know, how much is coming back in the warranty?
There's all sorts of things you've got to look in the build more group, help me analyze all that.
Because what the statement says is not necessarily what you should pay on blue sky.
And even if it shows a loss as a tax strategy, you know, you're still going to pay based on what the store could do.
So like, for this example, this store, I paid two and a half million blue and then I paid 3.9 for the real estate.
Now, I didn't go through SBA, which if I would have had, they would have attached all my assets.
I started state and I have the S corporation same. So I didn't want them to attach all my real stuff and everything that I'm involved in.
So that was an option for me.
I don't qualify for minority program, which is another way that people can get in with, you know, there's fantastic programs for that.
So out of pocket, what I did do was I do have assets.
I leverage my own assets to put the money down that I needed to put down, which I put down by 2.8 million.
And I leveraged.
And so I'm paying myself back the money that I put down.
My goal is is to make this money back, take care of my team, build culture, make the money back.
And then I'm going to start looking for the second store.
Love it.
So the start point 8 million, you paid cash basically for the entire blue sky plus provided some cash into operating capital.
Good question.
And I have no problem explaining this.
They'll do 80% on the real estate.
And then they did X amount of the blue sky.
So if the real estate was 4 million, you had to put 800,000 on that the rest of it went toward the blue sky.
Then of course, you know, we need operating capital, which same when I worked for CMA and other stores, cash was never a problem.
This is a large group.
You're cash flush, but then around for 100 years, they're well capitalized.
Great.
You know, I really appreciate the opportunity they gave me.
I look at my this bank account.
I look at contracts and transit.
I look at, you know, I look at it two or three times a day.
And I sit there and I'm like, can I operate with this low cash?
And they're like, you're fine.
You're fine.
I'm like, so I have a separate account that I could sweep money into private funds just in case because Sam, it keeps me up at night.
I pop up at 2 a.m., thinking, we're like a cash flow goes up and down.
What's our own cash gap?
Yeah.
So, so 2.8 million cash from you.
Yeah.
That went into the 20% of real estate.
Yep.
I went into financing part of the blue sky.
Right.
And the rest into operating capital for those, for those like looking to do similar.
What's the dollar requirements on the operating capital side that you need to have sitting in there to feel comfortable?
You're comfortable.
Yeah.
That's 600,000.
Yeah.
And how many employees do you have?
I had 22 when I got here.
Okay.
Everybody was offered an opportunity.
Every store I was able to purchase five was CMA.
And I kind of took out a page other playbook, which I agree with.
I believe everybody deserves an opportunity.
Yeah.
Now, I did bring three guys down with me, which you can imagine.
It was already losing money.
I didn't like anybody off.
I guarantee.
I guarantee their pay for 60 days because the store wasn't performing.
So what's going to happen is in 60 days, they know we're going to adjust their pay plans based on the performance that they need to perform for the dealership not only to break even, but to make money.
But they all deserve that opportunity because after the processes, I had to hire technicians.
I've had to hire salespeople plus I brought the people with me.
This is went up to the point where right now I'm not paying myself anything.
My real estate company's not making any money.
So, you know, your real estate company, I could add $5,000 a month to the rent to the rent they'll pay myself.
I'm not doing anything like I'm not even paying myself right now because I need to get this operationally profitable.
So let's talk about that.
You took over what day?
What was day one for them?
November the four.
So you've had one full month and you're in your second full month.
What was the net result of that first month lost in breaking?
So you don't have to do a statement, although we're doing one in the first month because it wasn't a full month.
Partial.
Yeah.
So then I can do one in December, but we're doing one.
And I've got the bill more groups coming in and we're going to make sure everything's set up properly.
Because my controller, she does a great job.
She has never been to a buy sale for.
So one thing about Bill Moore, they don't just stick in here and say, good luck.
You know, they do help me get everything set up.
So right now we are showing a profit.
We sold almost as many cars in a week without hardly any banks and without any leads.
We almost sold as many cars as a week than the previous deal or didn't a month.
Wow.
Yes, awesome.
And Sam, we'd be honest with you.
We didn't even know what we were doing, but I'm new to GM.
And if anybody buys a GM store, if you've got them, I love GM.
And I'm so thankful for the opportunity.
I'm a big Corvette guy.
I love the product.
I'm a guy.
I chose this store.
But everything you got to go through is a new dealer saying they don't make anything easy.
No.
By the way, nobody makes anything easy if you're an established dealer.
So as part of my role as CEO of the company, we, we, you know, Aaron goes out and buys the store,
works with the CFO to finalize everything.
And then I'll come in with vendors and people and work at transitioning everything in.
And it's tough as a large established group.
I can only imagine, you know, as a single point emerging.
Like, what were some of the biggest challenges as you came in there on November 4th?
Yeah.
I'll tell you.
And I'm going to, I'm a very blunt person, and I don't pull any punches.
So this will probably give me some trouble.
But like I'll give you an example.
The dealer, I wanted to try to keep all the systems the current dealer had.
Okay.
Everything that I could because hard, it's hard enough coming in as a new dealer.
Yeah.
And I've been through these before.
And I didn't want to change CRMs and DMSs.
I want to try to keep it.
He was through GM financial, I'm with the GM financial.
And I do believe it's in dealers best interest to go through the captive if possible.
Yeah.
I agree.
Comerica gave me a little bit better of a deal.
But I just, I went everything through GM financial because I do believe having a finance background, which is what I love.
Yeah.
They'll buy more deals for me.
I agree.
So I paid a little bit higher to go through them.
But with my dividends and et cetera, which is means how much I support them.
I should be able to make that back.
Yeah.
So I contacted Slayer.
And of course, the previous dealers at Scott, they just said you could take over my contract.
So I looked at his contracts.
I did a demo through Automate.
I've been through CDK for a very long time with CMA and the previous group was a CDK.
And then the tech stacks been pretty much CDK.
Been solutions.
And then the rest of Cox products, a vauto dealer track and, and, and, and so on.
And I reached out to Slayer and I said, I would prefer to stay with you.
Yeah.
I've seen contracts.
I've helped negotiate contracts.
I just don't want to be jerked around.
Like, I want to do business that you say, let's just make this real simple, right?
Yeah.
Yeah.
The first bill I got from them, the first quote I got, they hit me with a $15,000 integration fee.
Huh.
And I sit back and I said, apparently, you know, I'm a new dealer.
But come on out.
I've been doing this 30 years.
I'm not dumb.
I mean, let's go.
I mean, what are we doing here?
You're flipping.
You're exporting their information down.
I'm going to take the same system.
You're going to just put it into my system.
And I'll take away his contract for the next year.
Because it'll give me a year to check everything out and decide what I want to do.
And it was.
It was painful.
I ended up staying with Automate.
But I did end up going with the solutions as a CRM.
And I went the auto.
I am looking at VNQ, but I did go the auto.
I did go dealer track.
My podium is doing my chat and doing my AI with my follow up.
And they're doing my reputation management.
So that's pretty much my tech stack right now.
Yeah.
But Sam, it was.
I can't just can't believe when you tell somebody, hey, I want to do business with you.
Just make this easy on me.
And it was.
I did not go to dealer socket.
They had me dealing with somebody out of Canada.
And I got passed around so much.
And I think it got so late that I just had no choice but to stick with them.
Because again, this deal happens so fast.
You know, and I'm not sure it's an automate thing or any.
Like I think it's just in the vendor world and automotive, the larger you are,
the bigger attention and the faster you get to the top.
And I think the smaller you you've seen this, right?
You go from a CMA to single point.
And the, the, the approach is just so different.
And I think with AI and technology, it's going to change that a lot.
You know, I'm good friends with the CEO of, of, uh,
Solera.
We do a lot with them here at Ziegler on, on low jack.
And I would imagine if, you know, as soon as he hears this show,
he'll pop out and be like, hey, we should have been, you know,
our most aggressive right up front.
I think with some of the vendors in those space,
like they sell us like we used to sell cars.
But it's not the way we sell it today.
Like you, you can't get away with that today.
Like you can't hide pencil.
You've got to evolve.
I felt like I was getting, um, four squared on the back of a white piece of paper
with a green sharpie.
That's exactly what I felt like I was.
Yeah.
Yeah.
So for a lot of people, the acquisition part, the OEM, uh, approval,
it ends up being the toughest.
Any words to those looking to do somewhere to what you've done about that OEM
approval or because of your financial balance,
see sheet and your experience was a pretty easy Scott.
It, you know, it was, we'd won the president's award 24 years in a row.
Our net to sales at Honda was, uh,
eight, six to eight percent,
but Subaru was eight percent.
Our net to sales was always a way above average.
And I did that at most of the stores that I went to.
I'm known to be terribly efficient at operations,
keeping our expenses low.
Uh, and, uh, being just terribly efficient.
Um, I've always tried to promote from within.
Um, so there's all sorts of things that I've learned throughout my career.
Uh, and, and that financial performance was not a problem,
but this is what they look for.
One, and I learned this early in my career when I told people I wanted to be a
cardier, so I got with reps.
I said, okay, if I ever wanted to be a cardier,
I'm dreaming to be in one.
What do I do?
Yeah.
And you better have very high market penetration.
You better sell way more than what they expect you to sell.
So get your state average.
Find out where you're supposed to be.
And that, that number better be way north of a hundred percent sales effective.
If you're not sales effective, good luck to you better have very high CSI.
And we, those are two things that we train on.
We, we track every single day.
And that's how we want presents for 24 years in the road.
So did they look at just your time as CEO of the company you left,
or at CMA or both mostly CMA because I wasn't at that other company very long.
And luckily, I kept all my market penetrations.
I mean, at some point with Honda, we were 260 Subaru 270 percent market penetration.
Because of that,
the, that previous company earned open Honda point, open Subaru point.
And we got to open Christchurch brand point.
Yeah.
Well, you know how hard those are to get, how hard is it to get a Subaru point?
Yeah.
I answered, damn near impossible.
Yeah.
And we got three.
So I knew the plan.
I knew what to roll.
I just never got the opportunity.
And looking back on it, I'm thankful for everything that happened.
But I wish I'd went out on my own ten years ago.
I just said, we just don't know what we don't know.
And then the third thing the manufacturers look at is profitability.
So I had that information.
GM did take the full amount of time to bet me.
And I, you know, I'm just really thankful they gave me the opportunity.
It's been hard.
You know, I don't want to downplay.
Leaving your family, you know, and I'm not leaving my family pain, you know, but.
Geographically, you're in a different place, which is.
Same.
I was there for 25 years.
Like now.
I was in a chair and the chair of Sennheather cell phone.
And I knew everybody in town.
And I was all over the TV commercials.
I was known as the owner of the Valley dealerships, which was part of there.
I gave to the community.
Next thing.
Next thing, I know I'm gone.
The guys that I live with, that left their families.
We get up at 4, 30 in the morning, Sam, we eat breakfast together.
We work all day.
We go home.
Cool.
Someone eats dead.
You know, who's fixed the dinner?
Who's getting who up at 4, 30 am?
What is this thing going on?
I get up a 430 and have for years and years.
I try to emulate the sun.
So I try to get up before the sun comes up
and I try to go to bed shortly after it goes down.
So the leadership team you brought down,
you're of one mind enough that you've both committed
all committed to this.
Have you gotten any outliers or slow walkers on the 430 AM train?
Yeah. Well, we do have two shifts that drive into work
and we live 45 minutes away because we live in this
high bedroom Airbnb.
So we have a 630 shift that leaves and then a 730.
So two cars come.
If you miss the 630, you got to do the 730.
Typically on the 630 shift.
I'm one of the first people to get here.
I open up the door and then Sam every night,
every day, I'm the one that locks the door.
And I will say probably with CMA got a little bit comfortable.
And so I'm really excited to see how hard this is going to push me.
When I get pushed, I respond really well to being pushed.
I've went into this deal as though I'm risking my family's
everything on this deal.
Am I, did I know?
But am I thinking that way?
Oh, yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
The ships, right?
That's the old origin of burn the ships take the island.
I've never, I've never failed.
And I don't plan on doing that now.
So I have my back against the wall mentality.
And so do the people that came with me.
And I'm just so fortunate.
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So let's talk about the people who came with you.
But before we do that, another thing that's in the back of my mind
is as you went through that factory approval which was so important
to getting the dealership.
The OEM would go back through your history.
They looked at your CSI, they looked at your net profit,
all the things.
To the GM that's thinking about becoming a dealer,
how much weight is given to the dealer interview
who you used to work for?
What if the person you used to work for says,
I don't want this guy to be a dealer.
Now listen, I know Liza and I'm sure there was none of that.
They're great.
It's an incredible organization.
But at its core, if you've worked for them in the past,
they know all your strengths and all your weaknesses.
And sometimes those can be magnified, let's say,
in the pursuit of maybe not helping.
Yeah.
What would you say to that?
Yeah, luckily, luckily, you know,
and I think the world of Carter and Liza,
they're fantastic people.
I'm so thankful they gave me an opportunity and say,
I wouldn't be here today if it wasn't for them.
I know that, they know that.
They're wonderful people.
Nothing but respect for Carter Meyers Automotive Group.
Luckily, I knew, I always have used networking
and I've always built a personal brand on social media.
And that's kind of what the presentation I gave
was CMA years ago.
So from the first day I met anybody,
I would go to the dealer meetings.
Most times when I worked for even a general manager
of Harrison, Berkhanda before I went to CMA,
I ran a Honda store in Harrisonburg,
took it over and it was one of the worst in the country.
Built a team and we started beating everybody,
including CMA stores and Richmond.
That's how they came and met me.
When they bought the store, a mutual friend reached out
and said, they're looking for a partner,
do you want a partner?
When I left Harrisonburg Sam, I had 103 employees.
I took 47 with me, 30 miles down the road.
And then built that store up,
and then bought a second store, a third store,
a fourth store, a fifth store.
My goal was to buy every dealership in town.
That's just kind of how I've always operated it is.
I'm super aggressive.
And I just always think, okay, what's next?
Like right now, there's only a CDGR store in this town.
The fourth store went under.
I want to blow this up and go to Ford and say,
hey, we're kicking your rear end.
You want to buy a fourth store in here.
I'm your guy.
Open point.
Yeah.
But I've got to have market penetration, high CSI,
and I better be very profitable for that to happen.
But I'm hoping to make such a splash.
You'll say, what happened?
Why is there so many Chevrolet GMC's being sold there?
So I'm already thinking, what can else I can buy or open up in this town?
So prior to dealer opinion on the OEM approval,
not a factor, right?
I mean, you've kept great relationships through the whole process.
You weren't too worried about somebody trying to sabotage you in that process.
No, no, because like I networked out.
So 80 culture is Mohawk Chevy.
He's hit the dealer council.
He's a good friend of mine.
Firm and Chevy is a good friend of mine.
Capital Chevy is a good friend of mine.
I've got the relationships.
I've got the relationship and already made phone calls.
Hey, who can you call on my behalf?
I knew I had the resume and I knew that I had the previous success.
And so, and GM was great.
That process, Sam, they were, like I said,
I'm forever thankful that they gave me an opportunity.
Yeah.
So thinking about it, you've got the approval.
You've put the money in.
You're on it.
And take over day November 4th comes.
And you've got to form a team.
You've worked your entire life to do this, Scott.
And you chose to bring several key people.
Who were you looking for in that moment?
And who did you end up bringing?
Okay.
So I brought two down with me fairly quickly.
And then I had one just recently joined.
This Sam, each person that I brought wants to be a general manager
and would like to be a partner.
And in Simon's outer group, because I'm manifesting it,
you know, really, it's just two stories right now,
but you'll see Simon's outer group, right?
Because I do believe what you manifest in what you think
does happen if you put the hard work behind it.
So I'm already thinking very much like Jerry,
you're like, okay, this is just the beginning.
But the people that came down with me,
they all want to be GM's.
And they all want to be partners.
So, um, Scott, he and I have worked together off and on for about 25 years.
He's my general sales manager.
He wants to be GM right now on GM.
So I'm the dear principal and I'm general manager.
I'm here every day.
Um, my office one thing that I did different than the previous dealer.
He had his back to the dealership to the showroom.
I flipped my office and said, well, I'm as my back to the people.
I want to see some will come in the door.
I want to jump up.
I want to get out there.
Like I just took a turn over right before I got on here with you.
I have met every customer that comes in here.
Shoot their hand, welcome minutes that thank you.
I've met every service customer.
And that wasn't the, that, that wasn't the culture before.
But Scott ordered to my general sales manager,
which means he runs, you know, new car use car,
uh, internet department.
He's everything variable operations.
I brought a Donnie Pack is a gentleman that I grew up with.
He is my use car director.
He ran Carolina auto direct.
He heard I was buying it through a mutual friend.
Call me.
What Donnie would like to own his own store.
Donnie, um, he's been successful.
But he has not ran a new car store in years, years and years and years.
Well, if he wants to go through and get a store,
he's got to use somebody's CS items.
You don't have.
Yeah.
So I talked to him and I said, Hey,
you come around my use car department.
Help me put this place on the map.
I have no problem backing you or Scott or this other gentleman will bring up.
Yeah.
Also, you can be general managers as we expand.
But let me tell you what you need to do.
You need to perform here first.
Yeah.
And then.
And then just just like just a day or two ago,
um, a guy named Mitch Wood runs my parts of service.
Guess what Mitch Wood wants to be?
Sam, he wants to be a general manager.
Yeah.
But this is my message to all of them.
And I love each one of them.
I would.
I would do anything for these guys and any people that work here now.
They're family to me.
Whether they I hired him originally not.
They're my team.
And I take full responsibility for their success.
Um, but I told each one of my guys that came with me loyalty.
Got you here.
Your performance will get you there.
Yeah.
Your loyalty alone is not going to make you a general manager for me.
I have very high expectations.
And I expect.
I expect more to them than anybody.
And trust me.
There's been times we said at the dinner table.
No one much said.
Um, you know, it's a strain when you see them all day long.
And I'm sure there's times they're like,
this guy's driving me nuts.
Um, but.
They knew what they signed up for.
I've known a lot of them for years.
And, uh, it's.
I mean, it could have been a hell of a reality show.
I should have did it.
At 50 something.
Scott.
A lot of people don't have the temperament, the desire,
the interest to do that.
Like you're, you're going back to school in so many ways.
You're living in a college dorm.
Yeah.
You're, uh, taking ups on a showroom floor, right?
X's and O's.
What would you say to the GM that says, Hey, you know,
I want to become a dealer.
But I actually don't want to do all that stuff that I had to do 20 years ago,
when I first got into the business.
Say him.
More than a couple of times over this last month.
I've said, what in the hill was I thinking?
What was I thinking?
What am I doing?
You know, I, I, I, I, I could be sitting on the floor.
What was I thinking?
What am I doing?
You know, I could be sitting on a beach right now.
I have that.
I'm not only said that.
A friend of mine was joking around Tyler Weimer at Weimer Auto Group.
He had lost some people years ago.
And his, he went in his office, shut the door, gotten the fetal position
underneath his desk, dealing with some pretty big issues, right?
And he texted me and he said,
if you've been in the fetal position, earned it to your desk yet.
And I said, no, because it's glass.
Everybody would see me.
But I thought about saying, I have questioned my sanity over the last six weeks.
It has, it, it's not for everyone.
And, you know, the people that are general managers of a Honda or Toyota store
that have always wanted theirs.
Really think it through.
Really think, listen, go back and listen to this podcast.
Waking up at two o'clock in the morning.
Why do we cannot be able to go back to bed?
Because I looked at my bank account and got down to 300,000, you know,
because we had some contracts we were waiting on.
Thinking that I'm responsible for these 25 people.
Thinking that my wife's back home.
Thinking that my, my, my sons at VMI haven't seen him but a couple of times.
He called me earlier and I thought like I got, like I stopped where I was doing.
I said, my son's calling right now like I'm going to talk to my son that said VMI.
My daughter just went to Liberty.
This isn't for everyone.
And the guys are coming with me.
I share my financials with everybody.
I don't hide it.
Neither did CMA.
They're seeing the, the, the attorneys expenses.
The startup costs, the IT costs.
I just got my IT bill.
The, the, they're, I'm like guys.
You know, you're going to get to see what I'm going through.
And this isn't for everyone.
I mean, I'm telling you right now.
Think it really hard.
And if you're thinking about it, give me a call.
So we, so we talked about all the positives.
And we talked about how you did it, the path in.
Let's talk about it.
You listed some of the challenges.
What, what are the things as a former executive of a large group and the CEO of a group?
What shocked you about this ownership gig?
I was told that I had five technicians and Sam, really I had one.
I was told I had five salespeople.
I really had one.
The other four was like a week or two old in the business brand new.
When I actually got here, I only had three techs and really, you know,
unfortunately, I've got one a tech.
I just, you're told all the, all the really good things.
I was told I could, I could, you know, take over the automate contract.
That wasn't true.
Yeah.
I was told that, you know, certain things and come to find out.
That's, that wasn't the case.
And what you do is is, luckily, I saved my money.
And I can weather a storm.
Not everybody's in the position.
I mean, through SBA, there, there's some dealers and they're buying dealerships
literally with hardly any money down.
And that scares me.
Yeah.
Because if they hit turbulence and these dealerships, as you know,
have been in anybody, they eat cash.
They cash.
Yeah.
You have a big weekend.
Yeah.
You have to pay those trades off.
You've got to pay off what you sold.
And then you've got to wait for a plan.
I mean, you get the title.
I mean, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it abs and flows.
And that would scare me if I went into this fully leveraged,
borrowing 100% through SBA and didn't have the experience.
Luckily, I ran dealerships in small towns.
So it's different.
It, it, it, it, it is not for everyone.
But I love the challenge every single day.
You know, I, it's reinvigorated me in ways that I didn't think was possible.
But if it, if it could go wrong over the last six weeks and we're wrong with,
we didn't have banks.
I didn't, I didn't even have a dealer license.
I couldn't sell a car for two days.
Yeah.
I couldn't stay in spec vehicles for two weeks.
Yeah.
And going into it, I thought I had everything covered, Sam.
And you don't.
You've been through it.
Yeah.
And the reason you, you don't have everything covered,
isn't necessarily anyone's fault.
It's bureaucracy.
It's process.
It's timing.
Like it is ironic.
You know, you can't sign up your lenders until you have that dealer license
until you have, like, I would love to write a book after having done so many acquisitions
at, like, if that, then that, that, like, it's, it, it, you can't have this
without that.
You can't have that without the other thing.
Like, you can't realistically say November,
four to eight a.m.
I'm fully open for business ready to go.
It's probably, it's probably a 45 day process to get everything fully integrated
up.
Total.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Well, same.
Okay.
So you're exactly right.
So I needed a sales license, right?
Yeah.
But that doesn't happen until the paperwork closing day started at like nine.
It didn't finish to four.
Yeah.
So four.
Then I had the next day run everything over to, to Raleigh.
Which is not here.
And then the state inspection came later.
And then the banks couldn't come aboard until I had a deal of license.
Say I was.
Yeah.
And then those, those take time.
Um, it, it, it, I mean, you're at least two or three, four days before you can even sell
a car.
And please, if someone says they put them on the show, they figured it out because I think
we could all learn from it.
I love it.
Yeah.
I mean, we'll sell cars day one, but you're doing it on a crutch.
Right.
And, and, and it's like the CDK outage last summer, you're having to get creative about how
you do it because you can't do it with all the boxes checked realistically.
And you know, you talked about 600,000 in operating capital out the door during that transition
time.
If you go negative, that's additional capital.
You're bringing back in Scott, right?
Because you have to maintain the capital record.
You have to have that working capital, you know, that's in there.
And, um, it's, it, like I told you, I'm looking at this blanket.
I've got to sit on my phone.
And then I had to set up a personal account that if I get low, my controller, and I know,
just swap it over.
And then I've got to get the, the, the dealership.
I mean, I had a bunch of startup calls saying that when I came in, the dealership has to pay me back.
Yeah.
You know, attorneys, fees, appraisals, uh, surveys, uh, uh, really check those soil samples, you know, uh,
yeah, EPA tests and all that.
EPA tests.
I mean, yeah, inspections, um, deposits, uh, I mean, on and on and on.
Um, you know, but I did, I've got to answer question.
I did over the last, uh, 45 days or whatever it's been.
Think multiple times.
What was I thinking?
This is painful.
And I know that it's going to get better and better and better and every day gets better and better and better.
And like I said, we still have more cars in the week than the previous dealer did in the month.
Um, then we ran out of cars, new cars and I was like, okay, now what are we going to do?
Um, and the manufacturers are going to help you.
I did do some Facebook posts of our social media.
I did do some Facebook posts and some dealers did help me through just LinkedIn.
I did a post and new dealer who would help me.
And then, uh, GM gave me help and GMC, but they're, you know, when they help you, you know, those are 45 to 60 days out.
Yeah.
And it's really complicated to order cars.
So I have a company that's helping me order cars.
They did it for 90 days.
I have a lot of people saying, let me help you.
You've been good to the industry.
And then we're going to, if you sign up with us, it's month to month and we'll give you the first 90 days for free.
So I have leveraged my network like Ed Roberts is a good friend of mine.
I called him and picked his brain.
Like I'll give you a different, same listen to this.
So I'm always respectful guy.
I never will call into other dealerships and post people ever.
But I have Blacks tire service here.
They're training headquarters is across the street for me and Whiteville, North Carolina.
They have 70 different locations, independent service centers.
And their training location is a conglomerate right across the street for me.
So let me ask you a question.
When I start calling tech schools around here.
And I said, hey, I like to come talk to your team.
I need text because I could, I could hired six techs day one.
I hired six.
One didn't show one last of 15 minutes, one last of three hours.
And I got three and a finally stick.
Okay.
Three.
I got three and they're all brand new that they came from Blacks tire.
Let me explain.
So I called these service schools and I'm like, hey, are these technical schools?
I said, I want to come meet you.
One guy says, well, what would you want to say?
I want to meet your students.
I want to come speak.
I want to help like you need cars to work on.
And they're like, well, all of our students.
One guy said all of our students are already, are already spoken for.
Well, send this is November.
They don't graduate till what may.
Wow.
And I said, okay, placed.
I said, hold on.
I said, I can't come talk to them.
Yeah.
So I put ads out everywhere.
And I geo-targeted some of the Blacks tire and send ads to their social media.
Well, when your man reached out to me and I interviewed him, stayed late.
You know, came in on Sunday to interview one, whatever it takes.
And I said, let me just ask you, how did you end up there?
And they said, well, that's pretty much where we're told to go.
And I hired him.
He since has referred me.
Previous, I would say put in your notice.
And I did that for a couple of people.
And I'll see in two weeks.
Do the right thing.
Almost every single one of them got talked into staying.
So I talked to it and it was like Scott and a heck note.
Put me in nice.
Did you not rob them?
Yeah.
I'll throw them a bonus if they cash bonus.
If they start like the next day and reduce the bonus.
So I did that thanks to Ed.
He's Ed Roberts is the man when it comes to.
Yeah.
And he is offered to come travel to the store for free and help me.
Very cool.
So Sam, I can't tell you enough about personal branding,
being a good human, given back to the industry.
Like if people reach out to me and they want my vice, I promise you,
I will take that phone call.
And I know because you already have such a big podcast.
I'm going to get blown up on this.
So I'll take advantage of this offer for free.
I will get back to you.
Give me a little bit of time because I know how many people watch your podcast.
But I promise you I'm type of going to help you.
And man, if I didn't have a huge network to help me and the team that come with me,
I couldn't even made it this far to be honest with you.
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Well, Scott Simons, you've given us today just a masterclass of imagining it, dreaming it,
getting inspired in a moment when you heard a podcast to actually take action after all these years.
But it does strike me. It's interesting because you've planned your life for this.
This is not an unintentional journey. It's a very intentional journey that's now becoming real.
But it's not a path of leisure and luxury.
Like it is, it is a scrappy path.
And we want to come back at some point when we're six months, 12 months down the road
and get the old NPR, the rest of the story.
Because I think what you're doing right now, you're writing it.
You know, one of the first questions I would ask and maybe you can address this now is,
when does the college dormant, when does the VRVO and then well,
you know, I think that's got to be an advantage to you right now in terms of keeping the team all focused.
But at some point, you've got to go, you got to bring everybody else back.
Yeah, we got to bring our families down here.
Yeah. Yeah.
Yeah.
Our loved ones down here.
Yeah.
I mean, I like the guys, but I do miss my.
Yeah.
Yeah.
You know, what I did was I had to find a place big enough to house five or six people because I'm talking to other salespeople
without the country and one of the hardest things to get someone to come work for you is where they're going to live.
Yeah.
I try to take that out and I'll probably keep something similar to this.
Now, I got a Airbnb off market.
So I am about 10 minutes from the beach, you know, down to Wilmington.
And I didn't negotiate a really good deal because it's off market.
But I have it for six months.
So we're what month and a half into it.
And then I'm going to probably try to find something in here that I can either dealership a sponsor that as I recruit people because I have been fortunate when I worked at CMA.
I had people relocate from all over the country to come work for us because of the power of social media.
Sam, you've got a personal brand.
Yes, he's got a personal brand.
All you all have a personal brand.
You've got to put yourself out on social media and be real and raw.
Like everything I told you, I've mentioned things and went over things.
A lot of people would not have went over.
Yeah.
And thank you for sure.
And that's the way I've always been because I feel like giving back.
And nobody likes somebody that's full of it.
And just, you know, I'll tell you the real and raw, everything.
Like I didn't leave anything out from my exit to CMA to where I'm at today.
From, you know, battling the ups and downs.
I've been to the top of the pinnacle and I had my legs completely knocked out from underneath of me.
Yeah.
Everything I did, I hope that I came out a better person.
But I'll tell everybody this, if I can do it, you can do it.
Each one of y'all out there, if you want it bad enough and you just refuse to quit when everybody else quits.
If I can become a car dealer, anybody listen to this.
If you want it bad enough, you could do it.
And I hope you do because we need more.
And I think based on your podcast, you know, I hear more and more people buying their first store.
And I would not be sitting here today if it wasn't for the CDG podcast.
And that's why I signed up for circles.
That's why I said I would be, you know, a moderator.
And that's why when they said, hey, would you like to go on and tell your story.
I was not going to, I was going to come out and say everything that I've learned.
And hoping it would help somebody else.
And you know, I think one of the things that's neat in our world today is this is a community of dealers even single points.
You know, there was there was this move to consolidation where dealerships were becoming large groups.
And now with certain OEMs, there's this move to a little bit of single points.
I mean, we're seeing a resurgence of it in some GM, some Nissan infinity, some of the other brands.
And it is, it's got to give single points piece of mind knowing that you've got a community.
You've got people who are transparent such as yourselves wanting to help each other.
And then another thing I'd point out as we wrap.
One of the questions I asked you in the beginning is, why didn't you take this journey with the dealer you worked for or with.
And I think it's interesting. I think a lot of groups miss the opportunity to help people in that path and assist them as they go through that journey.
And one thing I'd reflect on is you've got those on your team around you that you've brought up Scott, your GSM, Donnie, your used car manager, Mitch, your parts and service director.
And you're offering them the path that you for so long wanted to take.
And I guess as we wrap 30 seconds or however here, what does it mean to you to not only be able to give them that path.
But then concluding where we began, that broader your family, your parents, and ultimately your legacy.
And how many stories you plan on ending it?
Three, yeah.
Well, I do believe that in my model that works really well with CMA that as I grow, I'm going to need really good people.
So if you have experience with Chrysodod G brand because as a newer dealer, that's what you could buy.
If you're young and you're a GSM and you're one of GM opportunity or GM and a partner opportunity and you're willing to roll up your sleeves and get after contact me.
If you have forward experience, Nissan experience, Volkswagen experience, those are the dealerships that were offered to me the franchises.
I pick Chevrolet GMC because I had experience with them and they typically financially outperform and I do like the GM product.
I think they're fifth overall when you rank the non luxury.
But in my model, I do plan on having partners and it's a real partnership.
Sam, it's not just the franchise.
It's real estate.
It's the war to company and it's the franchise.
Yeah.
And if I've been blessed enough to get that opportunity, why not get back?
Plus, people that want that opportunity, they will work so hard.
Oh, yeah.
I was willing six days a week, seven days a week, 12, 13 hours a day.
I missed a lot of stuff from my kids that I'll never be able to get back.
I don't regret any of it.
I get sad sometimes thinking about some of the stuff that I missed.
But that was my choice.
You know, that's what I chose to do.
How many stores do you end up with?
You know, saying my goal is to buy one a year.
That's my goal.
But I don't want to rush and do bad things.
I wanted this opportunity.
If I had been more patient, I probably could have got it for less.
I'm confident in my team.
I'm confident in me.
So I did overpay for my first store.
A lot of people would sit and say you overpaid.
But you know, I don't think I did.
I think I hit a little honey hole here.
I think the community's been really excited about our.
We've already sold multiple people cars.
I think I think the franchise is in the location.
I think we're going to do really well.
I think it's going a lot of growth is coming.
But my goal is saying to answer your question directly is one a year.
But I don't want to be pinned into there and make mistakes.
It's just by stores just to brag.
Oh, here I go.
I got another store.
I want to make sure I find a good operator.
And hopefully it's one of my three guys that are here, right?
I hope that's it's one of them.
Well, I'm at a bet on this 4 30 AM wake up call.
The fact you're so tightly knit with this group.
That is awesome.
I think that's got to be a key to success.
I'm one lucky.
I wish.
I wish you all the luck over the coming months and years as you realize this goal.
And we need to have you on the daily deal of libel.
I would like to go back and look over the next few weeks to report out on your success.
I'm in debt in man.
And I tell you you as a host in the interviewer, you do an excellent job, but under your busy man,
you got a, you know, you're going to be company.
And on behalf of everybody to listen to this podcast, you give up a lot of your time.
And we, we, we appreciate you a lot.
I love it.
Watch the show.
And we, we, we thank you a lot.
I appreciate that thanks for that and I you know what it's interesting is with so many things in life
I get more than I give with this deal because I learn so much from people like yourself and everyone else out there
And I love how raw you were with us today
We appreciate it how vulnerable and transparent you were because even as you're following your dream and you're walking down that road
It is a tough road and we wish you all the success in it as you move forward. So Scott Simon's Simon's auto group
Yes, thanks for being on the card dealership guide podcast. Thank you. Thanks for being here. Here's our
All right, hope you enjoyed that episode
Please give the podcast a rating consider subscribing to the show and check the show notes for links to what we talked about
Thanks for tuning in. I'll see you guys next time
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