I was employed at 3 different dealerships owned by AutoNation group as a service manager and service advisor. AN entered the Dallas market opening the used car super centers. Nationally AN decided they should be in the new car dealership business and closed all opf the used car operations. They bought a large number of dealerships including many in the Dallas market. In time they wound up closing many of the domestic dealerships. I was employed at one particular dealership when AN purchased it and later when they sold it. The dealership was both 1# in their market brand and award winning under recent private ownership. The employees had worked long and hard to get it that way and were proud of it. Many employees were long term. AN quickly set about changing everything. Soon enough they proved they did not know what they were doing and contiued to prove it until they sold the dealership. The changed pay plans, processes and turned over the entire sales force, finance dept, aftermarket sales, every sales manager and general manager as well as many parts and service employees. Many departing employees headed directly for our nearest same brand competitor taking their large customer base with them and our competetor became #1 . The dealerships performance was simply embarrassing and dismal during AN ownership. Those employees that were still there, some of them had been in that store up to 20 years were asrrogantly referred to as" long term entrenched employees". After about a decade AN sold it and the new ownership returned it to its #1 status in about a years time. AN now believes that they should shift focus to high end import dealerships. With ANs track record of turning Dealerships into real estate only time will tell.
