At the height of the pandemic in 2020, CFADA spoke to its Vice-Chair, Glenn Ritchey, Jr. of Daytona Hyundai. We talked about his dealership, the auto industry in general, and the elephant in the room that was COVID-19. Before getting into the specifics of the pandemic, we wanted to know about Glenn’s educational background and his studies. “I went to a private school in Volusia County,” he began. “After high school, I attended our local community college for finance and then on to attend the NADA Dealer Candidate Academy. After graduating, I participated in various training programs offered by vehicle manufacturers regarding the automotive industry.” Since he attended the NADA Dealer Candidate Academy, it sounded to us that perhaps he had always wanted to be part of the auto industry. We asked him and wondered as well how he came to be a dealer. “My father got in the business around 50 years ago, and I followed in his footsteps. He started me off at the bottom, and I worked my way through different departments in our dealerships. He then gave me an opportunity and suggested I move out to another part of the country to work for a few of his dealer friends to make sure I wanted to be in the business and experience it from a different perspective than our own. This total experience confirmed for me that I wanted to continue and make the automobile business my career.” We moved our discussion to what had been on everyone’s mind since the early part of 2020: the pandemic. With these unprecedented times in mind, we asked what he was doing, as a small business, to weather this particular storm. “We are looking at opportunities within our processes to strengthen our financial position in the current market,” he said. “With the shortage of new vehicles being delivered to dealerships right now, we are looking at the used car market and making sure we have the right preowned inventory on hand to supplement due to the shortage of new inventory.” And we wondered about his employees and what he, as a dealer, was doing to support them. Like most dealers, he was happy to discuss those who worked for him. “First,” he said, “we sent out the message that we are open for business and offering a clean and safe environment for visits and demonstration drives. Another is we did not furlough or lay off any of our employees, and we are continually improving training for everyone as needed. We also adjusted pay plans to help employees maintain their livelihood. Our dealerships participated in the Payroll Protection Program to assist us in keeping our employees working so they can support their families.” In reference to community outreach – supporting essential workers like those in health care and first response – we were curious about what he and his dealerships were doing in that regard. He told us, “The way we are helping in our community is by continuing our financial support to programs we have supported over the years. We respect and appreciate our essential workers and first responders. We offer additional savings on all new and preowned vehicles. Also, we provide service specials and discounts as needed.” Past experience is always helpful in navigating new situations, and we wanted to know how his knowledge This article was originally published in 2019-2020 Issue 3. SITTING DOWN WITH GLENN RITCHEY, JR. CFADA Vice-Chair 16 Pub Yr 2 | Issue 4
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