Audi, Porsche, Mercedes-Benz and Chevy dealerships sell in 4 states

Partners sold two luxury dealerships after one decided to retire, a Washington group made its first acquisition since 2020, a Chevrolet dealership changed hands after nearly 50 years under family ownership, and another auto retailer expanded its luxury portfolio in transactions that took place throughout 2022.

Here’s a look at the deals involving domestic and luxury brand dealerships in Michigan, California, Washington and Illinois. One of the transactions involved a retailer ranked on Automotive News’ top 150 dealership groups list.

Longtime Michigan Chevy dealership trades hands

A dealership in Saline, Mich., changed hands April 20, when Bill Crispin and Debbie Crispin sold Bill Crispin Chevrolet to Monte Perkins, Timothy Jones and Timothy Rinke, according to a Michigan Secretary of State spokeswoman.

The store was renamed Saline Chevrolet.

“Today we sold Bill Crispin Chevrolet after 46 years of being the heartbeat of America,” said a Facebook post that day from the Crispin family, shared on the dealership’s page. “We want to thank our loyal employees, customers, friends and the community we served nationwide for your support over the years.”

The post gave well wishes to Perkins. He also owns All American Chevrolet-Cadillac in Muncie, Ind.

The son of dealer Bill Perkins, Monte Perkins participated in the National Association of Minority Automobile Dealers’ NextGen program. The program helps train rising dealers and children of NAMAD members who want to succeed their parent as a dealership owner.

Bill Crispin opened his dealership in Detroit in 1975 before relocating to the Saline-Ann Arbor, Mich., area in 1978, according to the company’s LinkedIn page. Bill Crispin’s daughter, Debbie Crispin, became a partner in 1992, according to the page.

Fletcher Jones Automotive adds two luxury dealerships in California

Fletcher Jones Automotive Group of Las Vegas added two luxury dealerships to its portfolio on Dec. 5 when it purchased Circle Audi and Circle Porsche in Long Beach, Calif., from Circle Automotive Group, according to Mike Ernst, COO of Circle Automotive.

The dealerships were renamed Audi Long Beach and Porsche Long Beach.

“Timing was right” to sell, Ernst told Automotive News in an email.

Circle Automotive still owns a Volvo store in Santa Ana, Calif., and a Volkswagen store in Garden Grove, Calif., with no transactions planned, Ernst said. Fletcher Jones Automotive owns luxury dealerships in Nevada, California, Hawaii and Illinois. The group ranks No. 48 on Automotive News’ most recent list of the top 150 dealership groups based in the U.S., retailing 19,756 new vehicles in 2021.

Dinsmore Auto Group expands in Washington state

Dinsmore Auto Group of Puyallup, Wash., expanded its presence in Washington state with the third-quarter purchase of a Chevrolet store.

Dinsmore Auto bought Jet Chevrolet in Federal Way on Sept. 12 from brothers Dan Johnson and Jim Johnson. It was the brothers’ only dealership, according to Mark Topping, a vice president with MD Johnson Inc., an Enumclaw, Wash., buy-sell firm. Topping, along with Mark Johnson, president of the firm, represented the sellers in the transaction.

The dealership’s name remains, according to Ken Dinsmore, owner of Dinsmore Auto. Federal Way is south of Seattle and northeast of Tacoma.

“I felt like it really fit into my group based on the brand and location,” Ken Dinsmore told Automotive News.

Dinsmore Auto now has two Chevrolet stores and three Mazda dealerships, he said. The group also has two used-vehicle stores.

The Jet Chevrolet acquisition was the group’s first since it bought a Mazda dealership in Olympia, the state’s capital, in 2020, Ken Dinsmore said.

Partners sell two Mercedes-Benz stores in Illinois

A pair of friends and business associates in the fourth quarter sold two Mercedes-Benz dealerships that they co-owned in Illinois.

Daniel Sunderland and David Nocera in separate transactions sold Mercedes-Benz of Orland Park and Mercedes-Benz of Bourbonnais to Fields Auto Group of Glencoe, Ill., Sunderland confirmed. The Orland Park deal closed Oct. 17, and the Bourbonnais transaction closed Nov. 21.

Sunderland said he and his father opened the Orland Park store in 1994, the same year Nocera started working at the dealership.

When Sunderland’s father, Klare Sunderland, died in 2013, he said he tapped Nocera as a partner because he wanted someone he could trust “100 percent.”

“David was running the dealership and [was] kind of like a brother to me,” Sunderland told Automotive News.

They formed a company to purchase the dealership from Sunderland’s father’s estate that year, Sunderland said.

In March 2021, the duo, through another company, purchased the Bourbonnais store from Bill Napleton and Paul Napleton of Napleton Automotive Group.

Nocera and Sunderland had been approved by Mercedes-Benz to move the Bourbonnais store to Romeoville, closer to their Orland Park store. Both Orland Park and Romeoville are southwest of Chicago. The Bourbonnais transaction also included land in Romeoville for the new dealership that could be completed by early 2024, Sunderland said.

After purchasing the Bourbonnais store, Nocera opted to retire, so they decided to sell the dealerships.

Nocera “was just ready to spend more time with his family, and I didn’t want to run it without him, to be honest,” Sunderland said.

Sunderland, who lives in Pennsylvania, also is president of Sun Motor Cars of Mechanicsburg, Pa., which includes three luxury dealerships.

Sunderland said that while Fields already owns Mercedes-Benz stores, none was in their “home base” of Illinois before the acquisitions. Fields Auto owns luxury, domestic and import dealerships in Florida, North Carolina, Wisconsin and Illinois. In 2021, Fields Auto divested two Florida stores to Lithia Motors Inc.

Kerrigan Advisors, a sell-side firm in Incline Village, Nev., represented Nocera and Sunderland in the transactions.