2026 TIME Dealer of the Year Nominee Wade Rehbein is the owner and dealer principal at Rehbein Ford. He has owned the store since 2008 and is proud to carry on the Ford tradition that has been a part of the Plains, Montana, community since 1924. As a long-time member of MTADA, Wade served as the association’s president and has held several other positions. We recently had the opportunity to speak with Wade about his life, career and TIME Dealer of the Year nomination. The following are excerpts from our conversation. How long have you been working in the industry, and what has been the most rewarding part of your career? My background has always been in the service business. I studied diesel technology at college, and then I went into road construction. At the same time, I’ve always been into cars, from repairing them to fixing them up and selling them. It’s always been a hobby I enjoy. I quit working in the construction industry and took a job with the county for a year. I continued to repair cars in the evenings, at first by myself and then with a friend when it got busy. Eventually, I opened an independent used car dealership and began selling pre-owned vehicles. In 2006, the Ford garage was in need of a manager, and the then-owner was interested in selling the dealership. I shut down my independent store, and I managed the dealership until Ford approved our franchise purchase. Having the chance to purchase a Ford store was great because, in small towns, you don’t have many opportunities like that. Where else, but in a small town, can you buy a dealership when you don’t have a background in the industry? I completed everything and had the dealership in my name by October 2008. It was both good timing and bad timing. I owned my own store, but the nation’s financial crisis hit hard in 2009, and it was the worst time to own anything, especially since we had just built a new building. Two months after we opened our doors, we couldn’t even sell one car. But looking back, I don’t know if Ford would’ve ever let me buy the store if I had waited or tried to buy it later, so it worked out. You learn a great deal when you go through really difficult times. This can be a challenging business, but it’s very rewarding as well. Did you have any mentors along the way, and what did they teach you? When I came to work at the dealership, an older gentleman named Clyde Terrell was working there. We already knew each other, having both grown up in Plains, Montana. When I bought the dealership, he became a mentor to me and taught me a lot about running a dealership. Coming from an independent dealership, working at a new car dealership was a whole different ball game. I had a decent handle on customer service and treating people well, but Clyde knew Wade Rehbein 17 MONTANA AUTO DEALER
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