Members of the Weimer family — Dave, Kristen, Austen, Tyler and Brady — know what they expect from a car-buying experience.
And that’s what they strive to provide — and more — when selling a car from any of their seven stores in West Virginia and Maryland.
Natives of Frostburg, Md., the Weimers recently purchased their second dealership in Morgantown. They now have Weimer Hyundai-Volkswagen at University Town Centre.
Their other dealerships are in Moorefield, Keyser and Cumberland, Md. They sell Chevy, Buick, GMC, Dodge, Crysler, Jeep, Ram, Ford, and now the Hyundai and Volkswagen models.
On a recent snowy day, Austen Weimer made it over the mountain from Frostburg to the dealership on Mary Jane Wood Circle in Granville, to talk about his family’s businesses.
He was still a baby when his parents — Dave and Kristen — started Braddock Construction 27 years ago in the Cumberland-LaVale, Md., area. They do heavy excavation work, site work, etc.
A little later, they added Potomac Valley Industrial Supply — supplying construction materials to builders. Then, they bought Cumberland Concrete.
Austen explained those businesses all complemented one another and it made sense to have them all.
What might not have made sense to some is when, in 2010, the Weimers started looking to buy their first car dealership.
“I don’t think anyone plans to be in the car business,” Austen said. “But we absolutely love it. I can’t imagine doing anything else.”
The Weimers learned of a car dealer in Moorefield who was going through a difficult time and looking to sell. It wasn’t a good time for dealerships because of the country’s recession.
It took awhile because they’d never been involved in that industry and it’s not easy to break into, but in 2011, the family had its first two stores.
“We discussed it as a family. We said it was a good opportunity for us,” Austen said. “We said, ‘it’s a lot different, but it’s something we can do together.’
“It was a rough time, but we made it through it and got the stores turned around.”
The parents are still involved running the construction businesses, as well as the dealerships.
Austen and Tyler help run the dealerships. And, Brady is still in high school.
Brian Atwood, who also commutes from Frostburg, is the GM of the Morgantown stores.
He makes sure customers get a personal touch because he knows that’s what the Weimers want.
That means when a customer asked Weimer Volkswagen to honor a free oil change promised by the former owner, the answer was easy.
“We are a right-thing-to-do business,” Atwood said in explaining why the business would honor that deal.
“How can we not? I think it would be unreasonable not to,” Austen added. “It’s just the right thing to do.”
That’s part of the “how would I want to be treated” attitude Austen said his family always expects.
“When your name is on the building and your name is on the back of cars, people want to know who they are buying from,” Austen said. “They want to look you in the eye.”
That’s why Austen is in Morgantown on a regular basis and why he, Tyler and Dave make sure customers see them at all the stores.
“Dave stays well informed,” Atwood said. “It’s like he’s always here. Whatever IT is, Dave has it.”
Austen said his dad takes the construction business very seriously. And though, he’s serious about this new venture, he also looks at it a little differently.
“Dad looks at this as fun,” he said. “Obviously, it’s a business, but this is fun to him.”
That doesn’t mean Dave doesn’t put in the work. Austen said he’ll do whatever needs to be done.
“He’ll sell a car,” Austen said. “He will go change oil if he needs to.”
The decision to buy two more stores 70 miles away from their home base in Frostburg was not hard to make.
“We’re excited to be here,” Austen said. “Morgantown is a bigger market for us and it’s like a second home. We made the best decision.”
It’s a second home because Tyler graduated from WVU and the family are big Mountaineer sports fans, going to most home football and basketball games.
Austen is a graduate of Frostburg State University and Brady plans to head to WVU after graduating high school.
The Weimers are longtime Chevy fans, but now they are proud of every make they sell. And, they appreciate the competition of being next to Mike Wood and his Freedom dealerships at University Town Centre.
In fact, both of their Morgantown stores were bought from Wood.
“It’s good to have competition,” Austen said. “We want to give our customers options. We think the product will speak for itself. If our sales people are as good as I truly know they are, [customers] will buy from us.”
TWITTER @DominionPostWV
