Larry Van Tuyl back in dealership game

Larry Van Tuyl, who six years ago sold his portfolio of 81 dealerships to Warren Buffett-led Berkshire Hathaway Inc. in the industry's largest buy-sell transaction, is once again a dealership owner.

Van Tuyl, 71, told Automotive News last week that he now owns four stores, including three dealerships in a Phoenix suburb. He closed on the purchase of a Honda store in Houston on May 3.

And Van Tuyl is on the hunt for more dealerships.

He expects to close on additional acquisitions this year, he said.

"I don't know if that'll be 10 deals or 50 deals," Van Tuyl said. "We'll just see what the opportunities are."

After the March 2015 sale of Van Tuyl Group of Phoenix, then the largest privately held dealership group in the U.S., to Berkshire Hathaway, Van Tuyl said he spent five years as chairman of Berkshire Hathaway Automotive.

He told Automotive News that he had agreed to stay on as chairman for that time period. And once a noncompete agreement with Berkshire ended, Van Tuyl said, he bought a BMW store late last year in Glendale, Ariz. He said he also owns a Volvo store, which he acquired from Berkshire Hathaway Automotive, and a new Jaguar-Land Rover dealership, also in Glendale.

Van Tuyl said he just didn't want to stay out of automotive retailing.

"We just wanted to get back into it because we love the business and all the people associated with it," he said. "And so we're excited."

He called Berkshire Hathaway "fantastic" and said it would "continue to be fantastic."

Van Tuyl's most recent acquisition came when he bought Team Gillman Honda West last week from Chris Gillman. The store has been renamed Easy Honda.

Bill Scrivner, CEO of Pinnacle Mergers & Acquisitions in Frisco, Texas, said he represented Van Tuyl in that transaction. And he said he is working with Van Tuyl to help him find more acquisition targets. The two have known each other for nearly three decades, Scrivner said, and have done "probably 50 deals" together.

Scrivner, who described Van Tuyl as a friend, said he got a call from him this year indicating he wanted to get back into the business and wondered what stores were available.
Scrivner's firm had just represented Penske Automotive Group Inc. in the sale of two Texas Honda dealerships to Gillman in December. His firm reached out to Gillman to ask whether he'd consider selling one of them.

"Larry and Chris Gillman and I got together and had lunch in Houston and talked about a deal, and we were able to reach an agreement very quickly that I feel like they're both very happy with," Scrivner said.
Van Tuyl is close to signing contracts on several other acquisitions, Scrivner said.

"He loves to be in Texas and Arizona, obviously," he said. "He's got a home in Arizona. He has a home in Texas. He likes both states and wants to be able to buy dealerships in both states."

In 2014, Van Tuyl Group was the fourth-largest U.S. dealership group as ranked by Automotive News, with stores in the Sunbelt and Midwest.

That year, it had retail sales of 139,538 new vehicles and reported nearly $9 billion in annual revenue.

The group represented nearly 30 brands. Larry Van Tuyl said he is open to all brands this time around and to different geographic regions — but noted he is most familiar with Arizona, Texas and Florida.

Van Tuyl, who hasn't put his new stores under a shared name, said he didn't plan for Van Tuyl Group to get as large as it did, "but we were having fun, and it just kind of happened. So that's what we're going to do now is just kind of have fun and try to gather as many good people as we can and see where the opportunities are."

Van Tuyl Group dated to the 1940s, when founder Cecil Van Tuyl, Larry's father, started selling used cars in Kansas City, Mo. Cecil bought his first new-car dealership in 1955. He died in 2012.

Even after the sale to Berkshire Hathaway, Larry Van Tuyl continued to be involved in his family's business empire, which includes commercial real estate holdings and other companies such as candle businesses.

As he did before, Van Tuyl said he is offering equity in his dealerships, allowing an operating partner to have a minority stake in the business. He called it a "win-win" strategy that automakers like.

"You got somebody that is there every day with skin in the game," Van Tuyl said.

Brijen Dave, who was honored by Automotive News' 40 Under 40 program in 2015, is Van Tuyl's operating partner in the Honda store, and Brandon Bingham is his partner in the Glendale stores, serving as general manager, Van Tuyl said.

"I like the team-building, and I like the business, all of it — service, parts, body, new and used cars, dealing with the manufacturers," Van Tuyl said. "I think it's a great business and will continue to be for a long period of time."