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Family Auto Dealership Is Confident In Its Strengths

Hoehn Motors:

Number of new and used vehicles sold in 2016

Nearly 90 years, four generations and more than a dozen car makes later, the Hoehn family is showing no signs of slowing down its automobile dealership business.

“It can be challenging to have multiple family members involved in one business, but luckily we have a lot of locations for everyone to spread out,” joked General Manager Ted Hoehn, adding on a more serious note, autonomy is in fact a valuable factor in the family’s multigenerational business model.

Hoehn Motors began in 1928 with Hoehn’s great-grandfather, also named Theodore Hoehn, in Memphis, Tenn. Ten years later, Hoehn’s grandfather, Theodore “Bill” Hoehn, was given the business to run. In 1975, the family business was moved to Carlsbad with the opening of Hoehn Mercedes-Benz, Hoehn Honda and the now closed, Hoehn Oldsmobile.

The Dealerships

Over the years, the family expanded and today owns and operates 11 dealerships in Carlsbad Car Country and one in Temecula. They employ more than 500 people. Ted Hoehn’s father, Bill Hoehn, and uncle, Bob Hoehn, are both dealer principals.

“(Growth) has not been strategic, really,” Hoehn said. “I think it had to do with great opportunities and seizing them at the right times.”

In addition to Mercedes-Benz and Honda, Hoehn Motors represents Acura, Audi, Buick, Cadillac, GMC, Jaguar, Land Rover, Porsche and Sprinter.

Nimble Operations

“We’re very nimble. Decisions can be made in minutes … at the drop of a hat, really, if needed,” said Hoehn, referring to the company’s command hierarchy.

Joining the family business that his great-grandfather began was a no-brainer for Hoehn, who began with summer jobs while in high school. From his days in high school through his college years, Hoehn worked jobs from greeter to car salesmen.

“I always knew I wanted to go into the business but it was still very much a choice,” Hoehn said. “There was no pressure on me to do it.”

After college, Hoehn said he was instructed by his father to go work awhile for someone else, in order to get out from under the family’s name. Hoehn said he sold cars for a dealership in Seattle, and that the experience was invaluable.

Currently, Hoehn is in the midst of rebuilding several of the family’s stores from the ground up.

In addition to Hoehn, six other family members are involved in the day-to-day operations of the family business. They include Hoehn’s father, uncle, three cousins and a brother-in-law.

“It’s been a really wonderful opportunity for our family and it really encouraged us to live locally in the city where we grew up,” he said.

Business Model Works

Though family owned car dealerships are on the decline — while larger corporate companies are increasing their market share — Hoehn isn’t worried.

According to Hoehn, certain rules and regulations with dealer agreements are such that they help, not hurt “mom and pops.”

“Where the mom and pop hardware stores went against Home Depot, for instance, we are a little more protected from that sort of corporate competition,” Hoehn said.

One example of that is a rule that no dealership can open a store within 10 miles of another dealership of the same manufacturer, said Hoehn.

Some obstacles that all dealerships have to address, however, involve keeping up with ever-changing technologies that affect customer service.

Hoehn said though it is true and challenging, the good news is that the bread and butter of customer service, the human interaction part of it, never changes.

“Our customers know us and trust us,” he said.

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