Dealership Newsmaker Q&A: Mark Murray

Jan. 1, 2020
Mark Murray is the owner of Murray Motors, a family-owned dealership that has been in business since 1934.

Mark Murray is the owner of Murray Motors, a family-owned dealership that has been in business since 1934. Last year, Murray lost its longtime Chrysler franchise as part of the OEM's dealership reduction program. Murray kept the dealership open as a used car location, and recently became a CARQUEST auto parts franchise.

Once you received word from Chrysler that you would lose your franchise, what sort of options did you consider for the business?

First, I was extremely disappointed in Chrysler and the way they handled the whole thing. After being a loyal dealer for 75 years, they dropped us with no compensation. They didn't buy back anything. They gave me three weeks and two days to unwind. It was extremely stressful for me and I had 25 new cars in stock. It was up to me to get rid of them. They promised to give me some help to find another dealer to buy them from me if I still had them after June 9 of last year, but I wasn't going to put any faith in them to help me with anything after the way the whole thing went down.

It cost me a lot of money to get out of the new car business. I looked at a lot of different things in terms of trying to supplement my service department and used car sales. We finally decided on CARQUEST, which is a quality outfit, in my opinion.

Why did you go with CARQUEST?

They presented a package to me that I felt was attractive and that I could handle.
They've been great in helping us get off the ground with this thing. They sent a team of 16 people. They got here on a Monday morning, unloaded three, 50-foot semi trailers full of parts, and were done by noon on Friday. It went really smoothly.

How will your parts operation be different under CARQUEST versus how things worked with Chrysler?

I have to carry a lot more inventory with CARQUEST than I did when I was new car dealer. It's probably four to five times more, dollar-wise. If there's anything I don't have, I can get it overnight. They're competitive in their pricing structure, and they worked with me to set up a pricing structure with customers that is competitive for the market.

They set me up with an inventory that they felt was conducive to my area, as far as what I should need. I'm sure as time goes on we will take a look at things and adjust that in certain areas.

How has your service operation changed now that you are an independent?

I'm running with three mechanics, and all of them have been with me for a long time. They're pretty much up to snuff on all the different cars without any further training.

We had ongoing training with Chrysler, stuff that we had to do in order to do warranty work.

The biggest thing was all the special tools that I had to buy for Chrysler. Probably over half of them we never opened, but we had to have them here because according to the franchise agreement, I had to have those tools on hand to stay in business with them.

Have you updated your DMS system?

I kept the software system I had when I was with Chrysler, because I'm still selling used cars and doing service through that system. CARQUEST has its own system. I'm going to test the waters and see if I need my own system; see how badly I need it in comparison to what I'm paying for it. It's one of those things where you can't come to a decision until you know what's going to work or not.

Do you plan to keep selling used cars?

I will keep my license to sell used cars. Most of my financial assets are tied up in the parts end of this thing right now. I'm not putting a lot of effort or advertising into it until my CARQUEST venture gets off the ground. Then I can put some of that money into my used car business.

As far as keeping the doors open, I thought a long time about just closing the place, but I'm still employing 11 people, and those people have been like family to me. They've been in my employ for a long time. I treat my people well and I don't have the turnover that a lot of places have. I have very loyal, faithful employees, and I'd like to think they would help me do whatever it takes to make sure this place keeps going.

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