Dinsmore Auto Group expands in Washington state

Dinsmore Auto Group of Puyallup, Wash., expanded its presence in Washington state with the third-quarter buy of a Chevrolet retailer.

Dinsmore Auto purchased Jet Chevrolet in Federal Approach on Sept. 12 from brothers Dan Johnson and Jim Johnson. It was the brothers’ solely dealership, based on Mark Topping, a vp with MD Johnson Inc., an Enumclaw, Wash., buy-sell agency. Topping, together with Mark Johnson, president of the agency, represented the sellers within the transaction.

The dealership’s identify stays, based on Ken Dinsmore, proprietor of Dinsmore Auto. Federal Approach is south of Seattle and northeast of Tacoma.

“I felt prefer it actually match into my group primarily based on the model and placement,” Ken Dinsmore informed Automotive Information.

Dinsmore Auto now has two Chevrolet shops and three Mazda dealerships, he stated. The group additionally has two used-vehicle shops.

The Jet Chevrolet acquisition was the group’s first because it purchased a Mazda dealership in Olympia, the state’s capital, in 2020, Ken Dinsmore stated.

Companions promote two Mercedes-Benz shops in Illinois

A pair of buddies and enterprise associates within the fourth quarter offered two Mercedes-Benz dealerships that they co-owned in Illinois.

Daniel Sunderland and David Nocera in separate transactions offered Mercedes-Benz of Orland Park and Mercedes-Benz of Bourbonnais to Fields Auto Group of Glencoe, Ailing., Sunderland confirmed. The Orland Park deal closed Oct. 17, and the Bourbonnais transaction closed Nov. 21.

Sunderland stated he and his father opened the Orland Park retailer in 1994, the identical yr Nocera began working on the dealership.

When Sunderland’s father, Klare Sunderland, died in 2013, he stated he tapped Nocera as a accomplice as a result of he needed somebody he may belief “one hundred pc.”

“David was working the dealership and [was] sort of like a brother to me,” Sunderland informed Automotive Information.

They shaped an organization to buy the dealership from Sunderland’s father’s property that yr, Sunderland stated.

In March 2021, the duo, by one other firm, bought the Bourbonnais retailer from Invoice Napleton and Paul Napleton of Napleton Automotive Group.

Nocera and Sunderland had been permitted by Mercedes-Benz to maneuver the Bourbonnais retailer to Romeoville, nearer to their Orland Park retailer. Each Orland Park and Romeoville are southwest of Chicago. The Bourbonnais transaction additionally included land in Romeoville for the brand new dealership that could possibly be accomplished by early 2024, Sunderland stated.

After buying the Bourbonnais retailer, Nocera opted to retire, in order that they determined to promote the dealerships.

Nocera “was simply able to spend extra time together with his household, and I did not wish to run it with out him, to be trustworthy,” Sunderland stated.

Sunderland, who lives in Pennsylvania, is also president of Solar Motor Automobiles of Mechanicsburg, Pa., which incorporates three luxurious dealerships.

Sunderland stated that whereas Fields already owns Mercedes-Benz shops, none was of their “residence base” of Illinois earlier than the acquisitions. Fields Auto owns luxurious, home and import dealerships in Florida, North Carolina, Wisconsin and Illinois. In 2021, Fields Auto divested two Florida shops to Lithia Motors Inc.

Kerrigan Advisors, a sell-side agency in Incline Village, Nev., represented Nocera and Sunderland within the transactions.