West Herr Auto Group

The West Herr Auto Group logo

The West Herr Auto Group is the largest automotive vehicle retailer in New York. West Herr now has 23 dealerships, 4 collision centers, and various other buildings in the Western New York area. It ranks as the 24th largest auto group in the nation as of 2014. Consisting of a group of automobile dealerships in the Buffalo, New York and Rochester, New York area. The group was started in 1950 by Joseph Herr Jr. and Harold West in a single location in Hamburg, NY.^[1] Scott Bieler is the current president. Brad Hafner is the chairmen. Bill Loecher and John Wabick are both Vice Presidents.^[2] Steve Tasker, former Buffalo Bills player and broadcaster for CBS Sports, serves as their current spokesperson.^[3][4]

Accomplishments

With over 1,900 employees in the Western New York area, the West Herr Automotive Group is the largest automotive group in New York State, selling almost 47,000 new and used vehicles annually. With over 1,800 used vehicles and 5,000 new vehicles in stock at any given time.^[5][6]

• The West Herr Auto Group has six dealerships voted "Best Places to Work" by Automotive News.^[7][8]
• The West Herr Auto Group was voted onto the "Best Place To Work In Western New York" list through Buffalo's Business First newspaper in the category with 401 and more employees for 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013 and 2014.^[9][10]
• West Herr consistently participates in the annual Buffalo Auto Show.^[11] In May 2009, Ford chose West Herr's Hamburg location as the first spot in the nation to debut their 2010 Taurus Sedan.^[12]

History

• 1995 - West Herr opened its Jaguar location in Getzville, NY.
• 1995 - West Herr opened its Subaru-Kia store in Orchard Park, NY.
• 1998 - West Herr opened its Dodge location in Orchard Park, NY.
• 1999 - West Herr opened its Ford location in Amherst, NY.
• 2000 - West Herr opened its Toyota of Orchard Park Location - Having acquired the previous John Maroone Toyota Dealership in Orchard Park, NY.
• 2001 - West Herr opened its Chevrolet of Orchard Park location.
• 2002 - West Herr opened its second Chevrolet location in Hamburg, NY.
• 2002 - West Herr opened its Nissan of Orchard Park location - Having acquired the assets from Southtown for the Nissan & Saab franchises.
• 2003 - West Herr opened its Chrysler - Jeep - Suzuki location in Orchard Park, NY.
• 2003 - West Herr opened its East Aurora Buick-Cadillac-GMC location.
• 2003 - West Herr's Saturn of Clarence location was named the sales leader of new car sales for the previous year.
• 2004 - West Herr's Saturn of Clarence location was named the sales leader among the 438 Saturn dealers in the nation for the second consecutive year. Their Saturn of Orchard Park location placed third. The Clarence location reportedly sold 2,100 new vehicles while the Orchard Park location sold 1,500 new vehicles.
• 2004 - West Herr won the Torch Award for Marketplace ethics from the Better Business Bureau for the third time. This made them the only Buffalo business to accomplish this feat.^[13]
• 2005 - West Herr opened its new corporate office location in Blasdell, NY.
• 2006 - West Herr Subaru received the Subaru Stellar Performer Award. This process recognizes those dealerships that have achieved a high level of customer satisfaction through continually striving to improve dealership processes, and is granted to only a few dealerships nationwide. They also received this award in 2003, 2004, and 2005.
• 2007 - West Herr broke into the Lockport market with the opening of its hew Honda franchise.
• 2007 - West Herr acquired Culligan Lincoln-Mercury & Culligan Toyota Plans to consolidate the Lincoln-Mercury franchises with their existing Ford dealership in Amherst began in 2009. West Herr also began looking for a suitable location for the newly acquired Toyota franchise in 2007.
• 2009 - West Herr opened its door for their new Toyota dealership in Williamsville, NY.
• 2009 - West Herr Honda was awarded the Honda President's Award. Just 2 years after opening its doors. The award evaluates the dealership based on customer satisfactions, sales, and training.
• 2010 - West Herr opened its Used Car Outlet in Williamsville & Used Car Outlet in Amherst.
• 2010 - West Herr broke into the Rochester, NY market with the purchase of BMW of Rochester and Mercedes-Benz of Rochester.^[14]
• 2011 - West Herr was awarded a Buffalo Niagara Business Ethics award for their community work.^[15]
• 2011 - West Herr moved its Mercedes-Benz store to a new facility located at 4296 West Henrietta Road, right next to its existing BMW of Rochester store. They also acquired Sprinter & began selling Sprinters out of the new Mercedes-Benz facility.
• 2012 - West Herr's Mercedes-Benz of Rochester location was awarded the Mercedes-Benz Best of the Best Dealership recognition award. A select few dealers receive the award each year.
• 2012 - Both West Herr Ford locations were awarded the Presidents Award by Ford. Only the top 2% of dealerships in the country receive this award. West Herr's Ford Amherst locations has received the award 12 times. West Herr's Ford Hamburg location has received the award 21 times.
• 2012 - West Herr acquired its third Chevrolet Dealership by purchasing an existing location from Glen Campbell on Transit Road in Williamsville.
• 2014 - West Herr acquired its third Ford Dealership and third dealership in the Rochester area from Vision Auto Group.^[16]
• 2015 - West Herr acquired its second Nissan Dealership, formally Cappellino Nissan, in Lockport.^[17]
• 2015 - West Herr took ownership of the Autoplace Nissan and Infiniti Dealerships in Williamsville.^[18]

References

1. http://www.bizjournals.com/buffalo/news/2015/03/20/west-herr-still-a-top-25-dealership.html
2. "Buffalo Area Largest Volume Car Dealer | New Cars and Used Cars At Sale Prices | West Herr Auto Group". Westherr.com. Retrieved 2014-01-07.
3. http://www.newcarpremiere.com/tips_for_success.htm
4. "Steve Tasker- Living Legend | West Herr Jobs". Buffalo-ny-jobs.com. 2011-05-16. Retrieved 2014-01-07.
5. Glynn, Matt (30 January 2010). "Car dealers feel upbeat in post-'Clunker' market". The Buffalo News. Archived from the original on 2 March 2010. Retrieved 7 January 2014.
6. "West-Herr among biggest dealers - Buffalo - Business First". Buffalo.bizjournals.com. 2010-03-24. Retrieved 2014-01-07.
7. "2013 Best Dealerships to Work For". Autonews.com. 2013-10-18. Retrieved 2014-01-07.
8. "28 dealerships repeat on this year's list". Autonews.com. 2013-10-21. Retrieved 2014-01-07.
9. "Best Places to Work Winner announcement on westherr.com"
10. "West Herr New York, A Great Place to Work". Westherr.info. Retrieved 2014-01-07.
11. Maziarz Christmann, Samantha (11 February 2010). "Auto show drives visitors into high gear". The Buffalo News. Archived from the original on 7 August 2011. Retrieved 7 January 2014.
12. Hayden, Brian (27 May 2009). "New Taurus sedan debuts at West-Herr in Hamburg". The Buffalo News. Retrieved 7 January 2014.
13. "West Herr pulls '3-peat' with BBB award - Buffalo - Business First". Buffalo.bizjournals.com. Retrieved 2014-01-07.
14. "West Herr Expands to Rochester". WNYMedia.net. WNY Media Network. 8 October 2010. Archived from the original on 8 October 2011. Retrieved 7 January 2014.
15. "BNBEA Awards Presented To Three Companies | WKBW News 7: News, Sports, Weather | Buffalo, NY | Top Stories". Wkbw.com. 2011-05-05. Retrieved 2014-01-07.
16. http://www.bizjournals.com/buffalo/news/2014/11/07/west-herr-acquires-rochester-dealership.html
17. http://www.buffalonews.com/business/west-herr-acquires-cappellino-nissan-in-lockport-20150226
18. http://www.bizjournals.com/buffalo/news/2015/04/10/west-herr-automotive-acquires-autoplace.html