After 100 years, the Bohn family is out of the car dealership business.
Bohn Brothers Automotive Group sold its last dealership, Toyota of Slidell in Slidell, La., to Tennessee-based Carlock Automotive this week, according to Kerrigan Advisors, which represented the seller in the transaction.
The sale marked the end for Bohn Brothers, which had been selling cars in the New Orleans area since founder George Bohn opened his first Ford store on the city’s South Broad Street in 1924.
The third generation of the family expanded the group with new locations selling various brands, including Toyota, Audi, Hyundai, GM and GMC, but sold its stores — except Toyota of Slidell — in 2000. In 2009, George Bohn’s grandsons Donny, Scott and Van Bohn acquired three more dealerships in South Louisiana.
Those stores have been sold over the past few months, leaving the Slidell location as the company’s final remaining dealership.
“It is a bittersweet moment for our family as we step away from the business after more than 100 years of serving the New Orleans community,” Donny Bohn said. “Our partnership with Gulf States Toyota since 1987 has been a cornerstone of our journey, and we are profoundly grateful for the opportunity to be part of such a storied legacy.
“We also want to take a moment to express our deepest gratitude to our exceptional employees, whose hard work and loyalty have been the backbone of our success for generations. To the community that has supported us so steadfastly over the years, thank you for placing your trust in us and allowing us the privilege to serve you. It has been an honor to be a part of your lives, and we take immense pride in the legacy we leave behind.”
The acquisition gives Carlock its first dealership in Louisiana. The company now operates 17 locations in Tennessee, Mississippi, Alabama and Louisiana.
Three weeks after acquiring his first Colorado dealership, Larry Van Tuyl has doubled his holdings in the state.
The CEO of VT Companies has acquired Groove Subaru in Denver from Summit Automotive Partners, according to Pinnacle Mergers & Acquisitions, which represented the buyer in the deal.
The sale follows Van Tuyl’s acquisition of Groove Toyota in nearby Englewood, also from Summit, which now owns 13 locations in Colorado, Wyoming, Maine and Vermont.
Both dealerships will retain the Groove name.
Van Tuyl’s Visionary Automotive now operates 10 dealerships in Arizona, Texas, California and Colorado as he continues rebuilding his dealership holdings after selling the 78 stores of his original operation, Van Tuyl Group, to Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway in 2015.
Kerrigan Advisors is the leading exclusive sell-side advisor and thought partner to auto dealers nationwide. Since its founding in 2014, the firm has led the industry with the sale of over 280 auto dealerships representing $9 billion in client proceeds, including the third largest transaction in auto retail history – the sale of Jim Koons Automotive Companies to Asbury Automotive Group. Kerrigan Advisors advises the industry’s leading dealership groups, enhancing value through the lifecycle of growing, operating and, when the time is right, selling their businesses. Led by a team of veteran industry experts with backgrounds in investment banking, private equity, consulting, accounting, finance and real estate, we not take listings nor do we employ a brokerage model; rather we develop a customized sales approach for each client to achieve their personal and financial goals. In addition to the firm’s sell-side advisory services, Kerrigan Advisors also provides a suite of automobile dealership consulting and investor services including growth strategy, market valuation assessments, capital allocation, transactional due diligence, open point proposals, operational improvement and real estate due diligence.
Kerrigan Advisors monitors conditions in the buy/sell market and publishes an in-depth analysis each quarter in The Blue Sky Report®, the industry authority on dealership buy/sell market trends and valuations and includes Kerrigan Advisors’ signature blue sky charts, multiples and analysis for each franchise in the luxury and non-luxury segments. To download a preview of the report, click here. The firm also releases The Kerrigan Index™ comprised of the seven publicly traded auto retail companies with operations focused on the US market. The Kerrigan Auto Retail Index is designed to track dealership valuation trends, while also providing key insights into factors influencing auto retail. To access The Kerrigan Index™, click here. To read the 2024 Kerrigan Dealer Survey, click here. To read the 2024 Kerrigan OEM Survey, click here. Kerrigan Advisors also is the co-author of NADA’s Guide to Buying and Selling a Dealership.
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