Larry Van Tuyl back in dealership game as he buys 4 dealerships plans to buy more next year
Six years ago, Larry Van Tuyl sold his portfolio of 81 dealerships to Warren Buffett-led Berkshire Hathaway Inc., the largest buy-sell transaction in the industry, and now once again owns a dealership.
Last week, Van Tuyl, 71, told Automotive News that he now owns four stores, including three dealers in a suburb of Phoenix. He closed a deal on May 3 to purchase a Honda store in Houston and Van Tuyl is looking for more dealers.
He expects to complete even more acquisitions this year, he said.
“I don’t know if that’s going to be 10 deals or 50 deals,” Van Tuyl said. “We’ll see what the odds are.”
Following the sale of Van Tuyl Group of Phoenix, then the largest private dealer group in the U.S., to Berkshire Hathaway in March 2015, Van Tuyl said he worked for five years as chairman of Berkshire Hathaway Automotive.
He told Automotive News that he had agreed to remain chairman for that time. And when a non-competing agreement with Berkshire ended, Van Tuyl said, he bought a BMW store in Glendale, Arizona, late last year. He said he also owns a Volvo store, which he acquired from Berkshire Hathaway Automotive, and a new Jaguar Land Rover dealership in Glendale.
Van Tuyl said he didn’t want to stay out of car retail.
“We just wanted to get back in because we love the company and all the people who are associated with it,” he said. “And so we are excited.”
He called Berkshire Hathaway “fantastic” and said it would “remain fantastic.”
Van Tuyl’s latest acquisition came when he bought Chris Gillman’s Gillman Honda West team last week. The store was renamed, Easy Honda.
Bill Scrivner, CEO of Pinnacle Mergers & Acquisitions in Frisco, Texas, said he represented Van Tuyl in this transaction. And he said he was working with Van Tuyl to help him find more acquisition targets. The two have known each other for nearly three decades, Scrivner said, and have made “probably 50 deals” together.
Scrivner, who described Van Tuyl as a friend, said he received a call from him this year that he wanted to get back into the business and wondered what stores were available.
Scrivner’s company had just represented Penske Automotive Group Inc. in selling two Texas Honda dealerships to Gillman in December. His company contacted Gillman to ask if he would consider selling one of them.
“Larry and Chris Gillman and I met and had lunch in Houston and talked about a deal, and we were able to reach an agreement very quickly that I think they’re both very happy about,” Scrivner said.
Van Tuyl is on the verge of signing contracts for several other acquisitions, Scrivner said.
“He loves being in Texas and Arizona, of course,” he said. “He has a house in Arizona. He has a house in Texas. He loves both states and wants to be able to buy dealers in both states.”
In 2014, Van Tuyl Group was the fourth largest U.S. dealer group, as ranked by Automotive News, with stores in the Sunbelt and Midwest.
It had retail sales of 139,538 new vehicles and reported annual sales of nearly $9 billion.
The group represented almost 30 brands. Larry Van Tuyl said he’s open to all brands and different geographic regions this time — but noted that he’s best acquainted with Arizona, Texas, and Florida.
Van Tuyl, who hasn’t put his new businesses under a common name, said he didn’t plan for the Van Tuyl Group to become so big, “but we had fun, and it just happened. That’s what we’re going to do now, just have fun and try to gather as many good people as possible and see where the opportunities lie.”
The Van Tuyl Group dates back to the 1940s, when founder Cecil Van Tuyl, Larry’s father, began selling used cars in Kansas City, Mo. Cecil bought his first new dealership in 1955. He died in 2012.
Even after the sale to Berkshire Hathaway, Larry Van Tuyl remained involved in his family’s business empire, including owning commercial real estate and other businesses such as candle companies.
As before, Van Tuyl said it offers shares of its traders so that an operating partner can hold a minority stake in the company. He called it a “win-win” strategy that automakers like.
“You have someone who is in the game with skin every day,” Van Tuyl said.
Brijen Dave, who was honored by Automotive News’ 40 Under 40 program in 2015, is Van Tuyl’s operational partner in the Honda business, and Brandon Bingham is his partner in the Glendale stores, as general manager, Van Tuyl said.
“I love team building, and I love the company, everything – service, parts, body, new and used cars, dealing with the manufacturers,” Van Tuyl said. “I think it’s a great company and will remain so for a long time to come.”
