After prolonged careers as dealership managers, two Canadian companions have acquired their first retailer: Coachella Valley Volkswagen in Southern California.
PATH Auto Group — a partnership shaped this 12 months by Phil Alalouf and Todd Hewitt — bought the shop in Indio on April 19 from the rising Nouri/Shaver Automotive Group.
The brand new house owners saved the title of the shop, which offered 244 new autos and 480 used autos final 12 months.
The duo observe a number of different Canadians who’ve purchased dealerships within the U.S. up to now a number of years.
Hewitt — an skilled used-car supervisor — is specializing in the shop’s gross sales division, whereas Alalouf oversees mounted operations, accounting and finance.
The companions every have three many years of automotive managerial expertise. They met 25 years in the past at what was then Cowell Auto Group close to Vancouver, British Columbia, then later labored for Canada’s Basis Automotive Corp. within the U.S.
After they determined final 12 months to launch their very own enterprise, Alalouf and Hewitt offered their Vancouver properties to lift money. They stated they selected a U.S. location as a result of Canadian dealerships had been both too costly or too distant.
If all goes properly with Coachella Valley Volkswagen, Alalouf stated they could develop.
“We’re not going to purchase 35 shops and grow to be a monster group, however we might wish to have three to 5 shops within the subsequent 5 years,” he stated. “We’ll hold it native with shops inside an hour’s drive and simply develop from there.”
The transaction made sense for each purchaser and vendor, stated Jason Stopnitzky, co-founder of Irvine, Calif., buy-sell agency Efficiency Brokerage Companies, which brokered the deal.
PATH Auto purchased an inexpensive retailer, whereas Nouri/Shaver exited a dealership that was a bit small by its requirements, Stopnitzky stated.
The Nouri/Shaver group has made a number of acquisitions up to now 12 months, together with Cal Worthington’s iconic Ford dealership in Lengthy Seashore, Calif., in February.
Nouri/Shaver is “in hyper progress mode,” Stopnitzky stated. Coachella Valley Volkswagen “is a small retailer in comparison with … different acquisitions. This one retailer did not match.”