Buckalew Chevrolet in Conroe, Texas, is the 5th highest volume Chevrolet dealership in the Houston, Texas market. The Buckalew family owned the dealership since 1965, with second-generation brothers Donnie and Denny Buckalew leading operations until 2024. In November 2024, the family sold the highly valuable dealership to Texas-based Keating Auto Group, ranked 20th on the Automotive News list of Top 150 Dealership Groups for 2025.
Denny Buckalew: Our dad, Don Buckalew, started as a car salesman at Robbins Chevrolet in Humble, Texas. He got to know the Weisinger family, who owned a Chevrolet dealership in Conroe since the 1940s. In 1965, Dad purchased a 50-percent stake in Weisinger Chevrolet and when Mr. Weisinger passed in 1973, he purchased the store outright. Our dad built Buckalew Chevrolet into a pillar of the community – Conroe even named an elementary school after him.
Donnie Buckalew: Historically, it’s interesting that Mr. Weisinger’s only surviving heirs were his wife and daughter. And at the time, General Motors would not allow a woman to own any interest in a dealership. How times have changed!
Donnie: I recall an important conversation I had with my dad in 2020 as his health was declining. He asked me, “What are you going to do when I am gone?” We had no other family members in the business, just Dad, Denny and me, so we looked into the tax implications of selling in 2020. After we met with our accountants, we understood it made better financial sense to sell the dealership after he passed. I got his blessing to move forward with a sale after he passed, which happened in 2023. That was really important to me because he built the business to what it is today. It was getting more and more difficult to work with the OEM and since Denny and I are both in our late 60s, we agreed the time was right to sell and enjoy the rest of our lives.
Denny: We were raised to be hands-on operators of our family’s business; we were running things at the dealership every day. We were ready to pass the reins on to a new owner so that we could spend more time with our families while we were still healthy enough to do so. Without a succession plan and with Dad’s blessing, a sale made a lot of sense for both of us.
Donnie: As a single-point dealer, it can be difficult to keep up with capital improvements. Take the requirements for electric vehicles (EVs); like it or not, we always wanted to be able to sell the full Chevrolet lineup. We spent close to $300,000 getting ready for EVs, everything from installing chargers and transformers to employee training to meeting forklift requirements. After all that investment, we only sold one EV in the first six months. EVs make sense for some places, like highly populated metropolitan areas, but not in places where there’s no infrastructure. As a single-point, family-run dealership, it is harder to absorb these big investments if they don’t provide a return.
Denny: In one aspect, competing with the big metro dealers helped us because people liked the way we did business. Our customers weren’t just a number like at the big groups. We knew their names and their kids’ names and we were very involved in the community. On the other hand, it’s hard for a family-owned dealer these days to compete with the metro dealers on things such as insurance and advertising costs and employee compensation–especially with just one store. We just don’t have the scale advantage that they do.
"It was getting more and more difficult to work with the original equipment manufacturer (OEM) and since Denny and I are both in our late 60’s, we agreed the time was right to sell and enjoy the rest of our lives." — Donnie Buckalew
Donnie: I think the workforce and employee turnover have changed. We were very fortunate to have a lot of really great employees. When we sold, we had two people with more than 40 years of tenure and 15 to 20 employees who had been with us for more than 25 years! Employee retention has become much harder with the younger generations compared to when I first got started in the car business in the 1970s.
Denny: A big challenge we faced was training our staff to handle all the technology changes, let alone the cost to do so. Additionally, consumers can now shop from 10 different dealers from the comfort of their own home or office. This competition diminished dealer margins. Also, the way you order and earn cars has changed drastically. We used to be able to order cars that fit our customer base and now it is a turn-and-earn model. This caused a lot of delays and frustrations for our customers and made it harder to do business the way we always had.
Donnie: I think a lot of dealers that are looking to expand are looking for dealerships in Texas because the state is so business friendly. That’s also why Texas dealership valuations are so strong.
Denny: Texas has some of the toughest franchise laws in the country, which protect the dealers. And our state and local leaders, including the Texas Auto Dealers Association and the Houston Automobile Dealers Association, all work very well with our state legislators and senators. Plus, everybody is moving to Texas! Dealers in other states see Texas as a huge investment opportunity for their business and their future.
Donnie: The most challenging is the people part. Interacting with all our employees and customers is what I miss the most. I don’t miss the headaches from the OEMs.
Denny: The most surprising part was how smooth and quick the process went. The hardest part of selling was not seeing employees and customers each day. I am also surprised with how my relationship with my brother has benefited. We spend more quality time together now than we did when we owned the dealership together.
Donnie: We wanted someone to take care of the employees and our customer base. We knew there were going to be some changes made– that is always inevitable. We felt Ben Keating and his group were good people and felt comfortable they were going to do right by our employees and customers.
Denny: I liked that all of Keating’s dealerships were in Texas. We did not want to bring in a complete outsider. We liked that they already had a presence here.
Donnie: It’s like everything in the car business – it’s going to continue to be a challenge. Dealers are a unique breed – they have always been able to adapt and be successful. It doesn’t matter who is in office or what laws they come up with and change. As car dealers, we always adapt and have done very well. I do think the industry will be more and more challenging, particularly with EVs because the infrastructure hasn’t quite been figured out yet. But while I think it is going to be challenging, I have all the confidence in the world that dealers will be successful.
Denny: Dealers and consumers have already adapted - Americans have done it for 250 years. Auto sales will continue to thrive. Consumers still will continue to need cars to go to work, school, church or wherever. I think retail sales will still be strong in Texas. Ultimately, tariffs are going to bring more industry to the United States. The long-term benefits will be better for our country.
Donnie: It’s like everything in the car business – it’s going to continue to be a challenge. Dealers are a unique breed – they have always been able to adapt and be successful. It doesn’t matter who is in office or what laws they come up with and change. As car dealers, we always adapt and have done very well. I do think the industry will be more and more challenging, particularly with EVs because the infrastructure hasn’t quite been figured out yet. But while I think it is going to be challenging, I have all the confidence in the world that dealers will be successful.
Denny: Dealers and consumers have already adapted - Americans have done it for 250 years. Auto sales will continue to thrive. Consumers still will continue to need cars to go to work, school, church or wherever. I think retail sales will still be strong in Texas. Ultimately, tariffs are going to bring more industry to the United States. The long-term benefits will be better for our country.
Donnie: It is easy and simple: Dad told us to use Kerrigan Advisors. He knew several dealers who had worked with Kerrigan and were very happy with the process. He felt that Kerrigan would do a good job for us and maximize the return on our family’s investment. He told me, “When you get ready to sell, call Kerrigan.” We were very happy with that decision.
Denny: Is there anyone else? We had read the Kerrigan Advisors Blue Sky Report® for a long time and a lot of dealers in our local dealers association said that the expertise and professionalism that Kerrigan Advisors brings to the table for sellers is just amazing – and it was! Working with Kerrigan was so smooth and easy. The sale could not have gone any better.
Kerrigan Advisors is the leading sell-side advisor and thought partner to auto dealers nationwide. Since its founding in 2014, the firm has led the industry with the sale of more than 295 dealerships generating more than $9 billion in client proceeds, including two of the largest transactions in auto retail history – the sale of Jim Koons Automotive Companies to Asbury Automotive Group and Leith Automotive to Holman. The firm advises the industry’s leading dealership groups, enhancing value through the lifecycle of growing, operating and, when the time is right, selling their businesses. Led by a team of veteran industry experts with backgrounds in investment banking, private equity, accounting, finance and real estate. Kerrigan Advisors is the only firm in auto retail exclusively dedicated to sell-side advisory, providing its clients the assurance of a conflict-free approach.
Kerrigan Advisors monitors conditions in the buy/sell market and publishes an in-depth analysis each quarter in The Blue Sky Report®, the industry authority on dealership buy/sell market trends and valuations and includes Kerrigan Advisors’ signature blue sky charts, multiples and analysis for each franchise in the luxury and non-luxury segments. To download a preview of the report, click here. The firm also releases The Kerrigan Index™ comprised of the seven publicly traded auto retail companies with operations focused on the US market. The Kerrigan Auto Retail Index is designed to track dealership valuation trends, while also providing key insights into factors influencing auto retail. To access The Kerrigan Index™, click here. To read the 2024 Kerrigan Dealer Survey, click here. To read the 2025 Kerrigan OEM Survey, click here. Kerrigan Advisors also is the co-author of NADA’s Guide to Buying and Selling a Dealership.
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