Behind the scenes: A dealership transaction in New Jersey

LITTLE SILVER, N.J. — Offline printers. A last-minute manufacturer issue. Coffee runs. A lunch break.

Aside from those typical closing day delays, the deal to buy a New Jersey dealership, which started with an agreement the day after Christmas, went smoothly.

Until the final week, in fact, much of McGovern Automotive's partnership to acquire the Mercedes-Benz dealership in Little Silver, N.J., took place remotely.

Growing McGovern Automotive, of Newton, Mass., purchased Contemporary Motor Cars Mercedes-Benz on Aug. 15 from longtime owners Allan Sockol, 95, and nephew Scott Coleman, 72. Sockol and Coleman retained minority stakes.

The parties involved allowed Automotive News to witness slices of the final two closing days.

Matt McGovern, an automotive retail veteran whose stops include time at Group 1 Automotive Inc. and who is now CEO of his namesake group, said he has been through deals to acquire close to 70 dealerships. The ability to sign documents electronically allows much of the work to take place from afar, and McGovern said there's often not much haggling.

"I mean, it's not a lot of arm wrestling," McGovern said. "The terms are well laid out in an asset purchase agreement, and you just want to go by the rules and sift through the numbers. It's straightforward."

Some parts of the closing still happen in person and for that McGovern sticks to a routine.

For each deal, his information technology team arrives to start installing McGovern Automotive's network systems and computers. Contemporary Motor Cars used Reynolds and Reynolds' dealership management system, while McGovern uses Advent Resources for its sales system, and CDK Global for its service system.

"Given today's cyber stuff, you want a clean slate when you start," McGovern said.

The installation of the group's computers, about 50, McGovern said, plus the networks and systems, cost about $115,000.

Meanwhile, his financial team assembles inventory numbers for all new, used and loaner vehicles, service and parts, customer deposits, etc., usually two to three days before the closing, McGovern said.

His group presents the final numbers in a summary file shared with the sellers the night before the closing. McGovern estimates his group acquired about $40 million in new-vehicle inventory, $5 million in used-vehicle inventory and $6 million in loaner inventory.

Final documents related to those findings, and any other lingering paperwork — which could include licensing, manufacturers' agreements and more — are signed by both parties on closing day. Wire transfers to pay for it all are then sent.

"And then also that day, we'll have a big company meeting,"McGovern said. At that time, the sellers often thank their employees, and the staff at McGovern introduce themselves and explain employment opportunities and benefits that exist at the group.

Because the sellers were confident in the deal and partnership, the introduction between McGovern Automotive and the Mercedes-Benz employees, led by Coleman and McGovern, was Aug. 13, before Automotive News arrived.

Nearly 20 McGovern Automotive staffers — including from accounting, marketing and sales — touched down in New Jersey on Aug. 12. One, Chris Benvie, is director of marketing and preowned operations.

"For me, the preowned side is appraising inventory, making sure the cars are here, verifying condition and coming up with a dollar amount, because we essentially have to make an offer to buy the inventory," said Benvie, who appraised more than 100 used cars at the dealership and other buildings.

Sockol and Coleman purchased the store, renamed Mercedes-Benz of Little Silver, in 1978, and over time added five nearby buildings handling service, storage and detailing.

Benvie, driving a 2025 Mercedes E-Class demo from the store, zipped around to each of the buildings, finishing final appraisals. At the main store, which stayed open for business throughout the process, Benvie stopped to chat with Joe Rigoloni, Contemporary Motors' preowned sales manager, before hustling off to find one last used vehicle to appraise, a 2016 S-Class.

Benvie said he physically puts a hand on each vehicle he appraises and uses Cox Automotive's vAuto app on his cellphone to help gauge its worth.

At each site, Benvie pointed out McGovern staff, including Rich Picone, director of information technology for McGovern, who was wiring all the buildings for the new computer system. At another, parts and service representatives from McGovern met with their new counterparts.

All the while, McGovern's human resources team, which arrived Aug. 13, helped Contemporary Motors' approximately 118 workers to switch over benefits and sign employment paperwork.

Around 10:30 a.m., McGovern and members of his team — including Benvie and Todd Grieco, a regional vice president and former longtime Mercedes-Benz USA executive who helped connect the parties — were gathered in the Sprinter van service center where the closing took place.

A call for coffee for the group went out, so McGovern, waving off offers from others to get it, left for Rook Coffee, which doubles as the town's train station.

About 11 a.m., Sockol and Coleman arrived. Sockol wore a double-breasted suit and cool-blue sunglasses, while Coleman was also dressed snappily in a sport coat and tie.

What happened from about 11:15 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. will mostly stay between the parties. They and several others who spoke with Automotive News said dealers prefer this portion of the process to stay private. Most described it as working through "bureaucratic" wrinkles that pop up at every transaction, including things such as incorrect wording on a document or one last agreement with the manufacturer, etc.

Benvie related a classic snafu: printer problems. They weren't recognizing the McGovern network, so tinkering there caused a lull. Final business with the manufacturer created a slight speed bump, he said. Finalizing numbers on vehicle inventories also took additional time.

The closing process also started later than expected for a smattering of reasons, including a flight delay for one key party. But all the hiccups were relatively minor.

"This closing was as straightforward as they come," Benvie said.

Sandwiches and soda arrived around 2:30 p.m., thanks to Sharon Coleman, Scott's wife.

By about 3:30 p.m., discussions were complete, documents signed and wires in process to finish payment.

The remaining people around the table included McGovern, Grieco, Sockol and Coleman, as well as Victor Giamanco, the general manager of the Mercedes-Benz store, who retained his position, Michael Green, CFO at Contemporary Motor Cars, and Joseph Aboyoun, a lawyer with Fox Rothschild representing the sellers.

Coleman said he and "Uncle," as everyone referred to Sockol, felt comfortable enough with the sale that they had shared the news with employees weeks before.

"We gathered all the employees together, because they're all nervous," Coleman said. "Everybody's nervous. And I said to everybody, 'I'm 72, Uncle's 95, you know. How many more years do we have? Fifteen? Twenty?' I was teasing them."

He told employees that partnering with McGovern Automotive, with a similar culture, allowed Sockol and Coleman to take care of them one more time.

"That's why we chose to do this, and it was the people that we chose to do it with," Coleman said.