Van Tuyl on the hunt ‘in 13 states' for dealerships

Dealer Larry Van Tuyl, who through his Visionary Automotive Group has eight dealerships in three states, remains on the hunt for more stores and is searching in some of the areas his former large group operated in.

Van Tuyl, speaking Thursday at the Automotive News Retail Forum: NADA, pointed to the footprint of his former company Van Tuyl Group, which he sold to Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway in 2015, as to where he's looking.

"We were in 13 states," said Van Tuyl, former chairman of Berkshire Hathaway Automotive. "So I'm familiar with those 13 states. That's probably about where I'll stay as opportunities arise."

Van Tuyl pointed to Florida, Georgia and the Carolinas as places of interest.

Last year, Van Tuyl bought two California Toyota stores and a pair of Ferrari dealerships in Texas. Van Tuyl, who started buying stores again in 2020, also has dealerships in Arizona.

"We look at it as partnerships with the manufacturers," Van Tuyl said. "We want to know what their views are, what their plans are, what their products are [and] more importantly, what their people are."

Van Tuyl said he has no acquisitions pending, but added "we're always looking."

Just how large could his group grow? Van Tuyl said he does not have a set number of dealerships in mind.

"I've done 100 [dealerships] and I'm comfortable with 100," Van Tuyl said. "But I think I'm gonna buy whatever it is I feel comfortable about. What's the location? What's the franchise? And then, most importantly, who are the people that we have to be able to go do that with?"

Van Tuyl said prices for dealerships are "still a little high." He pinned high dealership prices as the reason Berkshire Hathaway Automotive did not acquire more dealerships after buying his group, despite the expectation that it would.

"The prices just flat got away," Van Tuyl said. "The return on investment ... which at the end of the day, that's what an investor looks for is a return on investment. So it was challenging. That's primarily it. I suspect that will change for Berkshire and others in spite of rising interest rates and things like that."