No more wacky ads: New family to carry on dealer’s legacy

Sooner or later, the head of every family-owned car dealership has to make the decision.

Do I sell? Do I keep it in the family? Do I find someone else to run it?

Dick Shuman made the call some 23 years ago. He had two kids: a schoolteacher daughter who lived out of town and had no interest in the business, and a son in his mid-30s who had just become a partner in a law firm.

Father said to son: If you're interested, now's the time, because I'm getting ready to sell.

So Bob Shuman switched careers, and the dealership most recently known as Shuman Chrysler-Dodge-Jeep-Ram, in the northwest Detroit suburb of Walled Lake, was passed to a third generation.

There it stayed until this year, when Shuman decided it was time to check out. And now, after 65 years, the Shuman family car business belongs to another family enterprise — 19 Michigan stores and counting — called LaFontaine Automotive Group.

Great memories. No regrets. And at 59 and healthy, Bob Shuman is ready for the next phase of his life.

It doesn't always go this way. Dan Schneider has seen his share of messy dealership transitions. He's a partner at Rawls Group, an Orlando, Fla., company that helps businesses with succession planning.

If there's no interest — or the right skills — among family members, and if the owner is not inclined to bring in professional managers, a decision to sell can be cast as a big win.

He says he tells his clients: "It's a good way to pass on to children the message that the business is the goose that fueled the family legacy."

And if the dealership plays a big part in giving back to the community — as many do — then there's added satisfaction in knowing that there was a greater purpose to the blood, sweat and tears than peddling cars.

Shuman sounded as relaxed as a soul could be when he reflected on the move last week. But his demeanor belied the wild ride Fiat Chrysler dealers have been on over the years.

Chrysler was a U.S. company in early 1997, when he bought an assemble-it-yourself desk and set it up next to his dad's. A year later, Chrysler was a German company. Then came private equity ownership. And bankruptcy. And a rescue by Italy's Fiat. And, soon, a merger with France's PSA Group.

"I don't know how many more shocks to the system I can take," Shuman said.

The marketing game has also changed.

His father banked on newspaper promotions for attention. For him, it was wacky radio ads. He crammed more words than humanly possible into his signature 15-, 30- and 60-second spots with a tongue-in-cheek kicker touting "the biggest Chrysler-Dodge-Jeep-Ram dealer in Walled Lake."

His metro Detroit audience knows it's a postage stamp of a community, population 7,000. He was the only franchised dealer of any brand in town.

Yet it worked. His low-overhead shtick was this: Sure, we could impress you with granite countertops and a cappuccino lounge. But we'll spare the spending on fancy stuff ("We have free coffee — not good, but free") and leave some money in your pocket instead.

The folksy approach may not work much longer. The heart of advertising is now digital, and that's better suited for bigger operations such as LaFontaine's that can pack some economies of scale.

"It's difficult for a one-franchise operator to play in the digital space while you're worrying about the dumpster," Shuman says.

As for his own kids? His son has parlayed a childhood hanging around Dad's dealership into a career as an engineer, with Toyota. His daughter is in medical school. Shuman is not going to stick around to see whether either of them has a 30-something change of heart, as he did.

So instead of children, it will be a dealer friend — second-generation dealer Ryan LaFontaine — who carries on the Shuman family legacy.

Shuman says he asked two big questions during the negotiations:

Will you keep my people? The answer was yes. Are you going to move? The answer was no.

Sold.

The Shuman name didn't survive the transition. But the name of the community, where six acres of farmland were cleared long ago to make way for grandfather Thurlow Shuman's car dealership, did.

On Oct. 1, the store became LaFontaine Chrysler-Dodge-Jeep-Ram of Walled Lake.