White Family Cos., City Auto Group, Drewing Automotive Group and Toliver Auto Group were buyers in deals

Four auto dealership groups expanded their store counts by buying dealerships in Kentucky, Illinois, Missouri and Oklahoma in transactions that closed as recently as this week and as far back as September.

Here's a look at the deals involving domestic and import brands.

White Family Cos. of Dayton, Ohio, bought its first dealerships in Kentucky this week with the purchase of three dealerships that comprise the Sisk Auto Mall in Hopkinsville.

White Family Cos. Chairman Tim White Sr. said his group bought the mall on Monday, which consists of separate Sisk Chrysler-Dodge-Jeep-Ram, Sisk Honda and Sisk Nissan dealerships. The seller was Wilson Sisk of Sisk Motor Co.

White said his group is "always looking" to expand and was contacted about the opportunity by Stephens Inc., the firm which represented Sisk in the sale of the dealerships.

"We liked all the franchises, Honda, Nissan and CDJR," White told Automotive News. "Two of the facilities were brand new and had an excellent management team already in place and a group of great employees."

In 2021, the Sisk group generated nearly $100 million in sales, White said. White said the Sisk group, founded in 1931 and a third-generation business, had many similarities to the White group, now in its fourth generation. Its business began in 1914 with a Chevrolet store.

"Both companies have a long tradition of community involvement, concern for our fellow workers and providing excellent customer service," White said in a statement.

The dealerships were renamed White's Auto Mall and White's Auto Mall Honda, White's Auto Mall Nissan and White's Auto Mall Chrysler-Dodge-Jeep-Ram, according to White.

White Family of Cos. now has 26 rooftops across Ohio, Kentucky, South Dakota and Wyoming. The group's last acquisition came in early 2020, White said, with the purchase of Toyota and Honda dealerships in Lima, Ohio.

Growing City Auto Group acquired its fourth dealership when it bought a Chevrolet dealership in suburban Chicago in September.

City Auto, run by partners Anthony Scala and Shawn Kohli, bought Flag Chevrolet in Grayslake, Ill., from Frank Laskaris on Sept. 29. Grayslake is northwest of Chicago.

The dealership was renamed City Chevrolet of Grayslake. It marks the first Chevrolet dealership for the group and its fourth store overall.

City Auto, based in Chicago, owns two other dealerships in Illinois: City Volkswagen of Chicago and City Volkswagen of Evanston. It also owns City Volkswagen of Highland, which is in northwest Indiana near the Illinois border.

"It's a great, great opportunity," Scala told Automotive News, who noted that the Chevrolet dealership sits on 18 acres of land. "It's set up to be a mega store. Right now with our Volkswagen stores, they're a bit landlocked. There's not really any expansion that you can do in terms of increasing the facility.

"In Evanston and Chicago, we both have remote lots, which is sometimes a little difficult to deal with. But when you're up there in Grayslake, it's really as much [land] as you need. I mean, we have all the land in the world up there. And we believe in the Chevrolet brand as well. It was kind of a good little marriage."

Scala and Kohli bought the Chicago Volkswagen dealership in 2019. In 2020, the group bought the Evanston dealership in August and the Highland dealership in November, Scala said. The pair first met more than 20 years ago while working at the Volkswagen dealership in Evanston, according to its website.

Rusty Drewing, owner and president of the Drewing Automotive Group in December expanded the group from Columbia, Mo., by acquiring two Jefferson City, Mo., dealerships from Riley Auto Group.

Drewing Automotive on Dec. 20 bought Riley Chevrolet-Buick-GMC-Cadillac and Riley Toyota. The transaction also included a collision center.

"I love the dealerships, the way they run them, the hometown feel and we will continue to support everything locally," Rusty Drewing said in a statement. "We will be a big part of the community and plan to carry on the traditions they have established over the last 85 years."

Drewing Auto renamed the dealerships Rusty Drewing Chevrolet-Buick-GMC-Cadillac and Rusty Drewing Toyota. Jefferson City is about 30 miles south of Columbia.

Amanda Riley, marketing manager for Drewing's Jefferson City stores and whose family sold the dealerships, said Drewing approached her uncle, Kevin Riley, about buying the stores. Kevin Riley owned the group with his brothers, Mike Riley and Carey Riley, Amanda Riley's father.

"After a tornado hit the dealerships in Jefferson City in May 2019, the recovery and rebuild that lasted nearly two years would be an exhausting endeavor for someone early on in their career, much more for a group of brothers looking forward to retirement in the coming years," Amanda Riley said in an email to Automotive News. "It was their time to step away from the business."

In the powerful 2019 storm in which winds reached 160 mph, the General Motors store was largely destroyed. Amanda Riley said her family's auto group operated the GM dealership out of a temporary facility from August 2019 until May 2021, when a new store opened. The Toyota store wasn't hit as hard and reopened about six months after the tornado, she said.

Riley, who along with several other family members continue to work for Drewing Auto, said Riley Auto estimated 770 new- and used-vehicles were totaled in the tornado.

The Drewing group, including BMW of Columbia and Mercedes-Benz of Columbia in Missouri, was owned by the late Gary Drewing and his son, Rusty. Gary Drewing died on Jan. 28 at age 74.

In 2015, the Drewing family sold eight Joe Machens Dealerships of Missouri to McLarty Automotive Group, keeping just the two luxury stores in Columbia.

Toliver Auto Group of Sulphur Springs, Texas, acquired its first dealership in Oklahoma in a Dec. 20 transaction.
Brian Toliver, president of his namesake auto group, and dealer-partner sons Brent Toliver and Jonathan Toliver, bought Nix Auto Center, a Chevrolet-Buick-GMC dealership in McAlester, Okla. The seller was Johnny Nix, whom Brian Toliver said he has known for a few years.

The dealership was renamed Toliver Chevrolet-Buick-GMC.

Toliver Auto Group has five stores in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, with locations in Sulphur Springs, Quitman, Mineola and Ennis. Their brands include Ford, Lincoln, Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep and Ram. The group previously had another General Motors store in Sweetwater, Texas, but sold it in 2006.
"My father was a 50-year Chevrolet dealer, so we're getting back into Chevrolet," Brian Toliver told Automotive News.
The newly-acquired store was attractive for Toliver as it is about two hours north from Tolivers' Sulphur Springs Ford-Lincoln dealership and fits in with Oklahoma City, Tulsa, Okla., Shreveport, La., and Dallas Fort-Worth markets, Brian Toliver said.

Tony Karabon of DCG Acquisitions, a Dave Cantin Group company, brokered the transaction.