Tom Kilgarriff describes McGovern Automotive Group president Matt McGovern as “a big proponent of used cars.”

“All the stores are expected to sell used cars, and year to date we’re just about one to one used to new,” said Kilgarriff, who is group pre-owned manager for McGovern Automotive Group, who is Auto Remarketing’s 2026 Franchise Dealer Group of the Year, an award presented by ADESA.

The group currently operates 40 dealerships with 24 different brands, along with two independent Autobahn USA stores in Massachusetts that specialize in used luxury brands such as Audi, BMW, Ferrari and Mercedes-Benz.

“Last year, we were just under one to one used to new, so when you sell over 21,000 new cars in a year and you’re just over 20,000 used cars, it’s a lot of metal flying around,” Kilgarriff said.

It takes good people to manage all of that flying metal, and McGovern’s trust in its employees and efforts to be reasonable in building customer loyalty are among the reasons that the company has earned this award.

Building a loyal buying base

That people-centric work extends to McGovern’s work in selling vehicles at auction, and Kilgarriff said that involves “doing the right thing” and engaging in give and take with buyers.

McGovern leaders allow Kilgarriff and his team to build a loyal buyer base.

“Our philosophy is that we’re not here to sell one car; we’re here to sell thousands of cars … so you build buyer loyalty,” he said.

Kilgarriff wishes more sellers would engage in give and take with McGovern as a buyer “like we do as sellers.” At times as a buyer for McGovern, Kilgarriff has found an issue with a vehicle only to become “shocked at the lack of reasonableness on the part of the seller.”

“And it doesn’t take a whole lot to really gain favor and build loyalty with buyers by just being reasonable,” he said.

How does McGovern work to be reasonable as a seller?

“If it’s a good buyer and they came to us and they bought a car even if it was a red light or as is and it’s got a bad tranny and he bought 10 cars that day but he’d like some help or [to] get off of one car, I’ll take the car back and I’ll rerun it, and … they appreciate it,” he said. “Or at times if somebody asked for maybe an adjustment on a price, we’ll work with them on that also.”

One challenge of Kilgarriff has experienced in selling used vehicles: acquiring used vehicles. Buying cars at the auction can be pricey and challenging, with many dealers chasing the same good cars, Kilgarriff said.

“As we sell new cars and we sell used retail cars, it’s important to gain as many trades and retailable trades as possible, and that’s certainly a focus,” he said.

Keeping up with market trends

Kilgarriff works mostly on the wholesale side for the dealer group, but he noted that Matt McGovern was previously a partner with Prime Motor Group in Massachusetts before becoming owner of McGovern Automotive Group about 10 years ago.

Now, prevalence of EV and hybrid sales is a top trend for the group. He sees buyers recognizing the value of hybrids, specifically non plug-ins, which he said are “very very hot” and will continue to gain market share.

He sees plug-in hybrids as still facing challenges.

“They’re not quite ready to take off,” he said. “But obviously EVs are here to stay. I think dealers that learn how to buy EVs, learn how to sell EVs and service EVs and educate customers (about EVs) will benefit from it.” That is because he believes many additional off-lease EVs will hit the marketplace in the next one to three years. “So the volume will be out there.”

All of the McGovern stores stock off-brand used cars, and Kilgarriff said the company works to position used cars as well as possible to give them the best chance to sell and sell quickly.

“Data, reporting … analytics, we look at that to try to paint the target as to what works well where and at the same time what has historically not worked well and handle our inventory accordingly,” he said.

McGovern Automotive Group also operates a commercial vehicle business, selling new and used work trucks and vans, featuring Chevrolet, Ram, and Ford locations that provide businesses “with the powerful work vehicles they depend on.”

Discussing overall market trends, Kilgarriff said the COVID-19 period turned the typical market cycle and patterns upside down as new car production was limited, but that has returned to a more normalized seasonal pattern for the used car market over the past couple years, with a drop-off in wholesale prices in the fall. The bottom of the market hits from October through the holiday season and then sees an uptick from January to the spring.

“So, I guess it’s nice to see the more typical pattern in effect again,” he said.

McGovern is keeping up with additional tech trends, like artificial intelligence, which has emerged as a prominent tool for dealers in all facets of the business.

“That’s certainly the next big thing of course that I think everybody is trying to get their arms wrapped around, and certainly not just understand it and employ it, but trust it, and I’m sure everyone will break a few eggs here and there with it, but … it’s shown results for sure,” he said.

McGovern also uses vAuto for appraising vehicles that it is looking to buy at auction and for appraising trade-in vehicles at the store level.
“There’s an awful lot of tools available, and I’m sure it can be almost paralyzing to some, but … there’s no shortage of tech and tools available for everyone,” he said.

Even with all the available technology, Kilgarriff stressed the importance of people in the overall auto industry equation.

“It’s still being fair and doing the right thing and all of those sort of basic tenets that I think good business is built on, and regardless if you’re a one-rooftop independent or a 40 or 50 rooftop dealer group, it’s doing the basics, doing them well, treating people fairly, treating employees fairly, and I know it’s cliché, but I just think that’s still the business we’re in.”