The Challenge

A recently widowed wife of a prominent car dealer in the Minneapolis/St. Paul metro area approached the Wipfli team on her desire to keep a Mercedes Benz/Nissan dealership in the family.

The Strategy

Wipfli assured the client that they would assist her in every step of the process. Over a one-year period, Wipfli worked with her to accomplish the following:

• Negotiate a stock redemption to buy out a 50% partner
• Assist in arranging the financing of the transaction
• Assist in obtaining the client factory approval to retain the franchise
• Recommend and hire a new general manager to aid in succession for members of the family
• Became part of management team to monitor dealership performance
• Utilized ‘Top Seven’ statistics to improve operations

Wipfli is currently assisting in expansion opportunities.

The Results

The Wipfli auto dealership team of experts was able to assist the client in all stages of the acquisition of the family dealership.  Wipfli continues to assist the dealership on improving operations, performance, and growth through their Top Seven report as well as their other auto dealership comprehensive services.