A Des Moines, Iowa, teenager buys old cars, bangs out the blemishes and finds some willing buyers among his pals looking for rides. Such was the start for Carl Moyer in the auto industry.

And now, decades later, he is the Auto Remarketing 2011 CPO Dealer of the Year.

Moyer — who owns Karl Chevrolet in Ankeny, Iowa — will be presented with award at the CPO Forum conference on Nov. 14.

The forum – which runs from Nov. 14-16 — is part of the Used Car Week lineup that also includes the National Remarketing Conference and Re-3: Recovery, Repossession and Remarketing events. Used Car Week begins Nov. 14 and goes through Nov. 18 at the Red Rock Casino, Resort and Spa in Las Vegas.

More information can be found at the websites for the CPO Forum, NRC and Re-3.

Upon receiving word that he won the award, Moyer talked with Auto Remarketing about his how his dealership and auto career have grown, his family, his management style and much more — including his grassroots beginnings in the business as a teen

“I’d find a car for $50 and pound the dents out of the fenders and sell it to one of my high school buddies,” Moyer said of his start in the business during high school.

“The percentage of mark-up was pretty good because I spent 50 bucks for it and sell it for $100,” he said with a laugh. “That’s a pretty good mark up.”

While his “reconditioning” techniques (if you will) have changed since his grassroots beginning, Moyer still has a deep-rooted passion for cars.

That passion has translated into him being one of General Motors’ top-selling certified pre-owned dealers today and having two generations follow him into the car business. His store has sold more GM Certified vehicles than any other dealer in the country for five straight years and is on pace this year to make it six.

“He really sees the value in the program and once he sees value in something, he’s all in. And it’s because of that 100-percent commitment, being all in, that makes him successful (in CPO),” said Larry Pryg, national manager of GM Certified Pre-Owned Operations.

“He’s always been a fantastic Chevrolet dealer. If I had to summarize Carl, I’d say he has very high standards, one,” Pryg continued. “Two, he’s highly engaged in his business. And three, he’s always thinking about how to improve and how to innovate when it comes to making customers happy.

“That’s just what sets him apart. It’s not a secret formula. It’s just a commitment to excellence,” the GM executive added. “And when you’re in the store and you talk to their people … they’ll say, ‘Well that’s just the Carl Way.’”

Store’s History

Discussing the store’s origins, Moyer said he purchased the original facility — which had also been a Chevy store with its previous owners — in January 1978, not having a single car or employee. The uptown Ankeny, Iowa, store he bought had a one-car showroom that was designed in 1947.

“It was kind of an old, worn-out facility that at best — if I had 20 cars — I could have parked 20 cars there,” he said of the store.

Five years later, Moyer moved the shop to its current location, purchasing the lot of a Ford store that had succumbed to some of the gas-price issues that affected the industry in the early 1980s.

As for the discrepancies in spelling of the first letter of Moyer’s first name and store’s name, the “K” is actually backwards and cartoon-like in the dealership logo, as reported in a 2008 Auto Remarketing article. It is a creation of Moyer’s, who is an amateur cartoonist.

Sharing more about the history of Karl Chevrolet after its move to its current location, Moyer said the store eventually began to grow and pick up momentum in that location, expanding in size and employee-count.

Moyer admits “I never have a good night sleep,” always thinking of expansion ideas for the store, which has blossomed from a 36,000 square-foot-facility to now being much larger than 150,000 square feet. The dealership has sprawled out from 11 acres to 30 acres.

Karl Chevrolet has gone from owning zero vehicles and having no employees at its inception to boasting 2,000 on the lot today and more than 400 employees.

“We had to get General Motors involved to approve the facility,” Moyer said of his current lot’s inception. “At the time, they had come out here and it was actually more than they wanted me to have, but they approved it.

“And at that time, they told me if I did what I was planning on doing, they would actually recognize us as being a major point and start feeding me some cars and help along with the process of making things happen,” he continued. “So, the move to here actually got us some recognition from the factory and from that point on, things started to get better.

“And there’s no question that we’ve had a lot of luck along the way. The facility, the location here, it’s allowed us to develop,” Moyer added.

Family Ties

Another blessing Moyer counts is the fact that his family has joined him at Karl Chevrolet.

Moyer’s two sons, Bret and Brad, and daughter Pamela work for him at the dealership, as do two of his granddaughters, Jami Fontana and Carli Fontana.

Bret is the general sales manager, Brad is the used-car manager and Pamela works for Bret. Jami is in the marketing department and granddaughter Carli is the receptionist.

“I’ve got all my family here,” he said. “It’s just been kind of a really hard-to-duplicate situation that’s just neat. I think I’m luckier than I should be.”

Outside of the dealership — in the little free time he has — Moyer also gets some quality time with his two sons racing trucks in the Dirt Truck Racing Association they created.

“It’s really a fun deal that I get to go race against the kids. And both of my boys are really good at what they do and they make the old man work for whatever he gets,” Moyer said.

He also enjoys spending time with his wife, Penny, and traveling with her to their vacation home in Scottsdale, Ariz.

Additionally, Moyer has a hot-rod shop where he builds street rods and transforms brand-new Corvettes into classics.

“I’ll take all the body parts off it, all the skin off the car. I’ve made molds and we produce our own body panels that go on the new Corvette that make it look like a mid-year car. We build a `63 Split-Window, we build a ’67 Corvette Roadster and put them on a brand-new Z6 chassis.”

The store then sells the remodeled Corvettes throughout the U.S.

“That’s just another business that we have. It’s almost like a hobby,” he added. “Whenever I go into that hot-rod shop, man, we’ve got some really neat projects going on, so that’s kind of like a hobby, it’s not really like work.”

Interacting with Employees and Customers Tops in Moyer’s Book

Sharing more about his business experience, Moyer said that interacting with people — employees and customers — is his favorite part of the job. He works deals in the showroom every day and said his ability to interact well with shoppers has helped him be a strong dealer.

“I pay attention. And the truth of the matter is, if you knew me a little better you’d understand that I don’t feel like it takes any special lingo — like car lingo. (I use) plain English, trying to treat people just the way you’d want to be treated and no trickery or those kind of things,” Moyer noted.

“It’s just basic stuff that’s so simple that it’s sickening, really, but it’s just what I believe,” he added. “If somebody really wants to get something done, I think they would appreciate just trying to get to it rather than dancing around the dance floor for half of the day to finally get a deal done.”

When it comes to his customers, Moyer is also persistent and committed in how he approaches them.

“If you show an interest in buying a car, then I’m going to make sure we give it our best shot. And I’m not going to forget about you. If I don’t get you today, we’re going to keep working on you until you tell me to quit,” he shared. ”And then the same thing holds true after you buy a car. I get involved myself and make sure that if there is a problem, it gets fixed.”

The approach seems to be working: Moyer said the store has a 70-percent retention rate.

“To give you an example of what he strives for, he basically wants to be your dealer for life,” said Pryg. “He has a lot of programs set up that are very innovative that tie people back to his dealership, like tires for life. So if you buy a new car there, when you need new tires, he puts them on for you for free.

“I don’t know many dealers that do that, but that just supports the whole dealer for life (approach),” Pryg added.

As far as his management approach with his employees, Moyer said he has a tight structure in running the dealership. The responsibilities for his managers are very clear and Moyer has specific things he demands of them each day.

“I expect certain things out of each of my department heads every day. If they get off course, we talk about it,” Moyer said. “And I’m really easy to work for, but I’m really, really tough on bad help. If people are committed to doing the things that we agree they’re going to do, then it’s pretty much like being on vacation. You just do what you say you’re going to do and I’m happy. But if you don’t, then there is a problem.”

He is also very “hands-on” as a leader. For instance, his office is located in the middle of the store’s showroom and Moyer makes sure that he is accessible for employees to share their concerns or to have issues addressed.

Moyer strives to stay abreast of everything that happens at the store. He begins his day at 6:30 a.m. and by the end of it, he has traversed almost the entire 150,000-square-foot facility, remaining involved throughout every aspect of the business.

“The biggest thing will stand out (about Moyer) is the hands-on (approach). He’s here every day working, paying attention to what’s going on, helping anywhere that he can,” said pre-owned sales manager Gary Cron. “He’s just a real passionate car person.”

Dealing with Challenges

Moving along, Moyer shared how he handles some of the challenges auto dealers like him are facing.

Obviously, in today’s economic environment, businesses in all walks of life — including car dealers like Moyer — are faced with significant hurdles. But Moyer has a unique approach toward handling overarching economic factors that impact the car market.

“You can turn on the TV at night or read the newspaper and they’ll tell you what the challenges are. I don’t think they’re any different for me than they are for anybody else,” Moyer said.

“The secret to handling those — and I’m not being cute when I tell you this — I don’t watch the news and I don’t take the newspaper because I can’t do anything about it. I just know what I have to do every day. No matter where the highs and lows are in the economy … this (business) I’ve got here is big and it’s got a healthy appetite and I know I have to do business every day,” Moyer continued.

“So we don’t ever change our forecasting based on whatever the news tells us. We always forecast for whatever it takes to make this thing work and we figure out how to get it done,” he added.

A Changing Industry, GM

Next up, Moyer talked about some of the changes he has seen in the 30-plus years he has been in the business.

At its core, he said, the principals of the car business haven’t necessarily changed dramatically. In essence, the business is still about knowing how to work with people.

“We’re still dealing with humans. The approach to doing business from the time I started selling cars to today, it’s really nothing different because you’re just communicating with humans,” he explained. “But how educated those humans are has changed tremendously from the time I started selling cars until today … the guy that walks on the showroom floor is so much smarter than he used to be.”

The integral role of the Web has also significantly changed how business gets done. Today’s customer often has a plan of attack even before arriving at the store.

What Moyer said has been the major change is the product. And for his brand, in particular, the improvement has been significant.

“I really think today we’ve got more desirable, worthy product than we’ve had in the 33 years that I’ve been a dealer,” Moyer commented, acknowledging that the Chevy did face product challenges in some of his earlier days in the business.

Not only is Chevy’s current lineup solid, Moyer is excited about what the brand has in it future.

“And the things we’ve got coming down the pipeline … it all looks good,” Moyer added.

As far some of the hot-sellers in the brand’s current lineup, Moyer said Chevy’s Cruze and Equinox have been especially strong. In fact, he said the customer demand for those rides is constant.

What’s more, the customer feedback for those models has been “outstanding.”

“That’s one of those cars you can’t get enough of them. They’re sold when they land,” Moyer said of the Cruze, also echoing that sentiment about the Equinox, noting: “We never have them on the ground. They’re sold when they get here.”

As a Chevy dealer, Moyer said he feels “really good about what we have to sell and what we have coming at us.”

He added: “And I really feel good about our leadership at this point. I think we’re in pretty good shape.”