Chuck Kramer, former COO of Foundation Automotive Corp., and Kimberly Eakin, general manager of Dennis Eakin Kia in Killeen, Texas, partnered in February to purchase three franchised dealerships and a used-car lot in rural Texas. The dealerships, located in Livingston, Lufkin, and Porter, north of Houston, were sold by Karl Williams of Elm Creek Auto Group. The Livingston dealerships have been renamed Kramer Autoplex and include Kramer Chevrolet-GMC and Kramer Chrysler-Dodge-Jeep-Ram, while the Lufkin store was renamed Kimberly Eakin Kia. The partners accepted a buyout from General Motors for the Buick franchise a week after the transaction closed. Buick is offering buyouts to U.S. dealers who don’t want to make investments as the brand transitions to electric vehicles. The partners have budgeted $1 million to renovate the Livingston stores and build an eight-bay diesel repair shop. The Kia store recently underwent renovation. Sales have risen sharply in the first two months of ownership, and the partners may acquire additional stores, as Eakin is in talks on a couple of opportunities in Texas.
Chuck Kramer and Kimberly Eakin purchased three franchised dealerships and a used-car lot in rural Texas in February. The dealerships were sold by Karl Williams of Elm Creek Auto Group and are located in Livingston, Lufkin, and Porter, north of Houston. The Livingston dealerships have been renamed Kramer Autoplex and include Kramer Chevrolet-GMC and Kramer Chrysler-Dodge-Jeep-Ram, while the Lufkin store was renamed Kimberly Eakin Kia. The partners accepted a buyout from General Motors for the Buick franchise a week after the transaction closed. Buick is offering buyouts to U.S. dealers who don’t want to make investments as the brand transitions to electric vehicles.
The partners have budgeted $1 million to renovate the Livingston stores and build an eight-bay diesel repair shop. The Kia store recently underwent renovation. Sales have risen sharply in the first two months of ownership, and the partners may acquire additional stores, as Eakin is in talks on a couple of opportunities in Texas.
The partners have hired an additional 20 staffers for the stores and plan to hire 10 to 15 more employees this summer. Kramer and Eakin said they also are launching a profit-sharing plan for employees. In the first two months of ownership, sales have risen sharply at the Kia store, and the partners say they may acquire additional stores. “Kimberly is in talks on a couple of opportunities in Texas,” Kramer told Automotive News. “We would like to add two or three more Kimberly Eakin stores for sure.”
After selling its stores in Texas, Elm Creek Auto still owns a Volvo dealership in Overland Park, Kan. It will focus primarily on its thriving business selling dirt bikes and jet skis, said Brian Evans, principal of Ozog Consulting Group, a buy-sell firm in Scottsdale, Ariz., which brokered the deal for the seller. “They are very successful in the power sports arena,” Evans said. “They decided to stick with their core business, so they took some chips off the table.”
