High Velocity: Black Enterprise’s African American Auto Dealer of the Year

Sharing how he differs from his partner, March jests, “I’ve sold only 10 cars in my career. With my engineering background, my talents are in systems and processes. When I think of a dealership, I don’t just think of selling cars–services and parts are an integral part of all successful dealers. At the Academy I learned from the bad dealerships how disorganized they were, how their service and parts departments were lacking in customer satisfaction.”

March Hodge follows a playbook that stresses 100% customer satisfaction and emphasizes a team of dealer co-owners that has driven March Hodge Automotive to victory. “From day one, we would not start a dealership unless we had a president who could walk in with a percentage of ownership in the form of a check,” says March. “We didn’t want to have 100% of ownership and just hire an employee to run the dealerships.”

Although co-ownership with its dealers has meant less equity for March and Hodge, the practice has accelerated the number of dealerships and level of success through the ability to recruit top talent. By 2003, the auto group had earned the distinction of being the No. 1 megadealer on the be auto dealers list with 21 outlets and $427.6 million in revenues.

“A dealer is more committed to that store if he or she has a financial stake in it,” says Hodge, who still fully owns the Cadillac store, two Volkswagen dealerships, and a Mitsubishi dealership all under the holding company, while the other dealerships he co-owns with March. “They aren’t going to just up and leave the dealership in search of a new job if they are a co-owner,” March notes. “In 15 years, we have lost only one general manager or president.”

Phil Morelli, principal of Honda of Bowie and the recently opened Nissan of Bowie, has been with the auto group 11 years and has a 15% equity stake in each of his two dealerships. Originally, he was looking to purchase a smaller dealership in a smaller town. But his partnership with March and Hodge enabled him to open a store on a larger scale in an affluent area. “We were somewhat insulated during the downturn because our customers are generally employed by the government or a company that works for the government,” Morelli says.

Damon Lester, president of the National Association of Minority Automobile Dealers, has always been impressed by March Hodge’s process-driven, detail-oriented approach. “They have their own internal consulting group in that each president of their dealerships meets at least once a year to discuss best practices–what works and what doesn’t work for their stores,” he says.

“Ernie and I are coaches on the sidelines but our presidents are quarterbacks on the field every day, throwing the passes and getting knocked down when that linesman comes through. Who gets the credit for winning the game? The quarterback,” says March. “Our presidents are some of the best quarterbacks in the car business.”

(Continued on next page)