Trevor and Matt Gile, Motorcars Toyota and Honda

Trevor and Matt Gile,
Motorcars Toyota and Honda
For over 20-years, the Gile family has owned and operated
Motorcars Toyota and Honda in Cleveland, Ohio. Their
business also includes Motorcars Mobility, where they sell
wheelchair-accessible vehicles, two car washes, a downtown
service center, and a body shop. Their dealerships are
located in the heart of the Cleveland Heights neighborhood –
not right off a highway – yet they sell approximately 450 cars
a month and service another several thousand. Here, we
talk with brothers Matt and Trevor Gile, General Managers of
Motorcars Toyota and Motorcars Honda respectively, about
how they capitalize on their unique location, what they do to
cultivate loyal customers, and how a stay at Ritz Carlton may
be just what you need to improve your business.
Dealertrack DMS: Your stores are in the middle of Cleveland
Heights. How do you achieve a robust sales and service
business without all the new traffic a nearby highway would
bring?
Trevor Gile: We have great customers right here, and we take
care of them. We have to make sure every customer leaves
satisfied, because we can’t afford to lose one!
DT DMS: Currently you’re undertaking a $3.5 million expansion
of your Honda store. Will that help with customer service?
TG: Most of the expansion is about delivering an even
higher level of great service. We’re building a new lounge
for our Platinum Rewards customers with an elevator to an
outside seating area, and a huge playroom for customers’
kids with rubber floors and toys and iPads with learning
apps. We both have young kids, so we know how hard it is
to keep them entertained while you’re waiting for a service.
We’re also adding a quick-service assembly line which will
be only the second one in the country. Our dealership is on
2.25 acres, so without the new assembly line, we’d have to
find a bigger space to service all the cars we need to meet
Honda requirements. The line will have five stations, and
each station will be the equivalent of 3.5 service bays, so
customers can get through in less than 25 minutes. It will
bicycles as rental “cars.” We’re also putting solar panels over
the entire Honda lot. The panels will cover 70 percent of our
energy costs, and also protect cars from the snow and rain.
We also changed all of our lights to LED, which is drastically
reducing lighting costs. Our Rainforest Car Wash uses a water
reclamation system that recycles the wash water for the highpressure wash cycles.
help our business, and make the customers happy.
DT DMS: VroomGirls and The Plain Dealer recognized your
dealership as one that successfully caters to women. What do
you do to attract more female customers?
TG: First of all, a lot of women work here. There are 17 different
job categories, and 14 out of the 17 positions have women
in them. This includes 8 product specialists, the CFO, and a
service advisor who has been with us for over two decades.
We also do a lot of research to find the lowest price that is still
competitive, and post those prices for everyone to see. It’s an
honest and friendly approach that we think really appeals to
women.
DT DMS: You’ve also opened Motorcars Mobility in a former
Pontiac dealership on Mayfield Road. Why did you decide to
venture into mobility vehicles?
MG: Before we opened, there wasn’t a mobility dealer in the
Cleveland area. People would have to travel to Mentor or
Akron, but we’ve got the VA Hospital, the Cleveland Clinic,
and University Hospital right in our background. It made
so much sense for us to open here. We’ve partnered with
a mobility company that has Honda’s approval to convert
Honda Pilots. It’s only the third mobility company ever
DT DMS: It sounds like you work hard to engage your
employees in the business. Do you do other things as well?
approved by Honda, so we’re very excited to be a part of
that.
DT DMS: It’s obvious that you’re committed to investing in your
business and Cleveland Heights. Why is this so important to
you?
TG: This is our home, and we enjoy being part of the
community and all it has to offer. We do things like sponsoring
the outdoor amphitheater and raising money for local charitable
causes because we love where we live and we want to support
the people here.
DT DMS: You’re also invested in being more sustainable. What
kind of practices have you put in place?
TG: Our city is very green, and a lot of our staff is focused
on helping the environment. They bring great ideas to our
attention. For example, in the spring we’re planning to offer
MG: We just gave everybody Fitbits to see who can walk the
most steps. We also encourage our employees to have fitness
goals, and we bring in a health coach once a month to meet
with everyone. If employees meet their goals in 6 months, we
pay them $250. We also do things like a Halloween party where
people come to work in costume and we cook up a bunch of
food. We try to make it fun to come to work.
DT DMS: What advice would you give to dealers who are
looking to emulate your success?
TG: Be willing to look outside the car business. We take
inspiration from companies like Disney and Ritz Carlton that
excel at servicing customers so they always want to come
back. Keeping people coming back is the key. We always
tell our employees that you can tie 36 sales over a lifetime to
one individual and their family. That equates to $1.5 million in
sales. You have to treat every customer as if they’re worth $1.5
million, because they are.
11
7th Issue
dealertrack.com/dmsnewsletter
[email protected]
© 2014 Dealertrack, Inc. All rights reserved.