Castrucci said he wanted to construct a new facility because the existing one is only somewhere between 15,000 and 20,000 square feet, including shared parts spaces, customer lounges, finance departments and numerous shared bays for service.
“It’s not even half (of the size of the new facility),” he said.
The new building, he said, is “an effort to get up with the times” and modernize and enlarge the business, which was constructed in the 1970s, Castrucci said.
“It’s out of date, everything needs refreshed, so these facilities projects from manufacturers is what they offer and they provide some small incentives to do these,” he said. “The way I looked at it is, you’re going to build one time and I’ve heard a lot stories about dealerships that build at half or close to the (specifications) required by the manufacturer and they feel like the day they open they wish they would have done a little more.”
Selling vehicles runs in Matt Castrucci’s family. His father, Al, became a dealer in the 1950s, first working as a Lincoln-Mercury dealer on Colerain Avenue in Cincinnati. He bought the Miamisburg dealership from Dick Osmond in 1988 and Castrucci first started working there as a salesperson in 1993, then went full-time in 1995 after graduating from Xavier University.
He purchased the dealership from his father in 1998.
The new Honda dealership location at Matt Castrucci’s Auto of Mall of Dayton is expected to wrap up construction efforts in February and open in March, Castrucci said. Construction costs alone amount to approximately $8 million. Add equipment and property costs and the overall investment is estimated at somewhere between $10 million and $12 million, he said.
“The expectations are to totally change the customer service experience, have no waiting ever for service appointments and twice as much inventory as I’ve had in the past in selection for the customers,” he said. The new, state-of-the-art facility will be clean, totally updated and “much more comfortable” for customers, with larger lounges, a business center, refreshment stands and more.
Because of its enormous size, it will eliminate the capacity issues the dealership has experienced for years while carrying out recall work, factory campaigns and normal maintenance, Castrucci said.
“Putting all that together in my current facility is cramped for all three franchises,” he said. “When Honda moves and this facility that I have three franchises in becomes only two, Nissan and Kia, everything opens up and the service to the customer can increase substantially.
“I’m not the only one with a wait. It’s common in the industry, but I’m out to eliminate that.”
Also set to increase is hiring, as staffing will go from 125 to about 150 across all three franchises.
While there’s not yet a firm plan on when the Nissan and Kia dealerships will be upgraded, Castrucci said he intends to “totally retrofit” some of the remaining buildings and modernize and redo the entire side of the street where Honda currently is with only those two brands on that side.
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