Once Bo graduated high school, he headed off to the University of Georgia. “College just wasn’t for me, so I joined the Marine Corps,” said Bo. After serving four years with the Marines, in 1990, Charlie asked Bo to come home and help with the store. “My dad put me through the ‘School of Hard Knocks,’” Bo recalled. “He had me work in every department — everything from porter, new car make-ready and parts driver to sales, used car sales manager, F&I manager, general sales manager and executive manager. I pretty much have done everything in a dealership except for collision.” The lessons he learned served him well, and today, Bo is a second-generation dealer at Regal Nissan (formerly Regal Datsun). Bo’s son, Holden, joined the family business as well and serves as the executive manager. “That has freed me up to pursue being more involved with GADA and NADA as well as pursuing new opportunities with Regal Ineos Grenadier, our new dealership, and serving on their dealer council” said Bo. On July 1, 2024, Bo started his term as GADA chairman. We recently had a chance to talk with Bo and learn more about his thoughts on the industry and his goals as chairman. The following are excerpts of our conversation. What are the biggest issues facing the auto industry? I think a couple of the biggest issues are the threats from direct sales that we see in a lot of states from new manufacturers. I think that’s something we need to be cognizant of and stay on the alert for. Legacy OEMs may be tempted to follow this pattern of direct sales. A lot of times, people don’t know the value of having a new car or a new vehicle representative in SPOTLIGHT ON Bo Scott was born in Orlando, Florida. At the time, Orlando was a small community surrounded by orange groves, swamps and farms where beef cattle were raised. The small community was shocked when a large, unnamed corporation started buying up millions of dollars of farmland in the Orlando area. Speculation grew as to who needed so much land and what they might do with it. Then, on Nov. 15, 1965, Walt Disney himself arrived in town and announced his plans to build the world’s most magnificent theme park. Soon after, Charlie Scott, Bo's dad, sought out a new opportunity selling cars with Key Buick in Jacksonville. Charlie was good at his job, and the company moved him to a number of locations and states over the years. By the time Bo was 15, the family had moved 13 times. Through all of the moving and change, Charlie made sure that Bo understood the value of family and a hard day’s work. “I recently found a copy of the first paycheck I earned. I picked up cigarette butts all day from the car lot with a 5-gallon bucket. That was quite a job, and I earned $3.00, which was a lot of money for a kid in the 70s,” said Bo. Then in 1980, Charlie had the opportunity to open a Datsun store in Roswell, Georgia. Bo helped out by putting tags on cars as they rolled off the back of the truck, pulling weeds and anything else that needed to be done around the dealership. 2024‑2025 GADA Chairman Bo Scott THE GENERATOR 6
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MTg3NDExNQ==