TIME and Ally Financial have honored Charles (Chuck) Notbohm as MTADA’s nominee for the 2024 TIME Dealer of the Year. This award recognizes new-car dealers in America who exhibit exceptional performance in their dealerships as well as distinguished community service. Recently, MTADA had a chance to talk with Chuck about this recognition. We would like to thank him for his time and hope you enjoy getting to know more about him as much as we did. The following are excerpts from our conversation. What does receiving the TIME Dealer of the Year nomination mean to you? It is very humbling to be chosen for this honor by my peers. It's something that I didn't expect and something that is greatly appreciated. How did you become a car dealer? Did you always aspire to be part of the automotive industry? I began my automotive career after 14 years in public school education at a small rural farming community in north central North Dakota with a population of 1,000 people. We began our dealership with seven employees, selling about 15 vehicles a month. The teaching experience was a great start as it taught me how to guide, motivate and encourage individuals to obtain goals and ambitions they did not realize they could do. This did not change within the automotive industry. The location in North Dakota was a single Chevrolet franchise. Two years later, I purchased the Oldsmobile dealership, moving the operation to the Chevrolet store. In the early 1990s, I began looking for more opportunities for growth. Visiting with my zone manager, he mentioned several options in the Midwest, one being Miles City, Montana. In 1995, I purchased the General Motors store in Miles City and moved Chevrolet to that point, which offered Buick, Pontiac and GMC. We began with 11 full-time employees. The facility was aged and did not provide enough space to grow the business. In 1998, I started building a new facility in a higher-traffic area in Miles City. Construction was completed in 1999, allowing for a better display area for new and used vehicles and a larger service department to address the sales, service and parts needs of our customers. Three years later, we realized growing pains in the service department and added six more service bays. As we CHUCK NOTBOHM: TIME DEALER OF THE YEAR NOMINEE 12
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