Simply weeks after promoting his final dealership, Bernie Moreno — who three years in the past had a bitter outlook on the way forward for the dealership enterprise — says he misses auto retail and desires a component within the subsequent chapter.
Moreno, a former U.S. Senate candidate for Ohio, on Aug. 16, with a accomplice, bought his final dealership, an Infiniti retailer in Coral Gables, Fla., to Dennis & Co. Auto Group.
At one level within the mid-2010s, Moreno, 55, owned 15 dealerships. By the top of the last decade, he had bought most of them to concentrate on the tech business.
In April 2021, he introduced a bid to run for the U.S. Senate in Ohio. In February, he stepped down from a crowded main race after speaking with former President Donald Trump.
Now Moreno, of Westlake, Ohio, tells Automotive Information that he is trying to purchase dealerships once more.
“I am in search of alternatives to get again into the enterprise,” Moreno says. “I miss my purchasers, I miss my workforce.”
With a CEO working his tech firm CHAMPtitles, Moreno says this now provides him the bandwidth to concentrate on working a dealership once more.
He says he desires to review business developments and ensure he finds a fantastic match. For now, he says he plans on simply shopping for one retailer and isn’t targeted on any particular model.
“I need to create one dealership that will be the epitome of finest practices in each regard,” Moreno says. “So, it would be one dealership that I’d do with my son after which what he desires to do from there may be as much as him.”
Moreno’s youngest son, Kevin Moreno, 24, already works together with his father in Drive Choices, a car subscription service in northeast Ohio.
“He actually loves the auto enterprise, so the chance to do one thing with one among my children is nice,” Moreno says. “I’ve 4 children. The opposite three have zero curiosity in vehicles, however he does.”
Moreno credit the success of his prior dealerships to a powerful concentrate on the client expertise. He believes there’s nonetheless a spot for dealerships within the business.
“I need to actually reimagine the enterprise, as an alternative of simply shopping for a dealership and saying, ‘I am simply going to make use of the identical mannequin that has existed,'” Moreno says.
What do clients need? Do they need all on-line service? Some in-person? What is the appropriate stability? Moreno desires to search out out.
He says the space from Ohio factored into him promoting the Coral Gables retailer, and he is aware of that any acquisition doubtless will not occur too removed from his dwelling state.
“Ohio’s dwelling,” Moreno says. “I am not leaving Ohio. I like residing right here.”