Ingram Walters is out of the car business. And Charlie Tomm is back in.

The longtime dealer and co-founder of the National Alliance of Buy Here-Pay Here Dealers has sold his last dealership, Bob Mayberry Hyundai in Monroe, N.C., to Pablo River Partners, a Jacksonville, Fla.-based investment firm headed by chairman and CEO Tomm, according to the Presidio Group, which advised the seller in the transaction.

For Walters, who co-owned the Charlotte-area dealership with his wife Missy, the sale marks the end of a long and successful career that took off when he opened his first BHPH operation in 1990.

“I was working for my father-in-law and just didn’t really like the new car business,” Walters said. “And in 1990 the car business was terrible and buy here, pay here was good. I just got obsessed with buy here, pay here and next thing I know I had five locations all over Charlotte, and a big portfolio, and had lots of people flying to Charlotte to see how I did it. So, I started a buy here, pay here boot camp.”

When some of those people flying in turned out to be clients of BHPH accountant Ken Shilson, Walters called him to see if they could work together on dealer training events. That turned into NABD, which they formed in 1998 to provide buy here, pay here-specific education and legislative advocacy for BHPH dealers.

In December 2017, Walters and Shilson sold the assets and operations of NABD to the National Independent Automobile Dealers Association, which merged NABD’s spring dealer conference into its convention and continues to operate the fall show, now known as the BHPH Dealer Forum. Walters, a frequent and popular speaker at BHPH conferences, has remained a fixture at that event.

Walters eventually closed his BHPH operation and collected out his accounts, allowing him to acquire the Hyundai store. But with Hyundai seeking additional investment to upgrade the facility and demand for dealerships in the region high, he said now felt like the right time to leave it to someone else.

“I was a Hyundai dealer for 10 years and just thought somebody wanted it more than I did,” he said. “We know Charlie will be a terrific steward of the business we’ve built and will continue the dealership’s legacy of excellence.”

The acquisition is a return to the business for Tomm, who has held leadership roles in dealerships for decades, most recently as CEO of Ford of Clermont, which was sold in 2022. His previous roles include CEO of Brumos Automotive and CEO of Asbury Automotive’s subsidiary Coggin/Courtesy AutoGroup.

“Ingram and I immediately hit it off, and I was impressed by the Walters family’s deep roots in Monroe and their dedication to giving back to the community,” Tomm said. “We plan to build on the strong foundation they have established by investing in the facility and keeping the dealership’s talented team in place.”

The dealership’s real estate, including some 28,000 square feet of facilities on 10 acres, was included in the sale.

As for Walters, he’s turning his attention to selling larger real estate properties.

“I buy and sell a lot of timberland, a lot of big tracts of land,” he said. “I’m called a horizontal real estate developer. That means I buy big tracts of land and I put in the roads and the lots and water and sewer and I sell them to national home builders.

“I’m going to get in my helicopter and fly around and buy land. That’s what my plans are.”

Rick Case Honda celebrates No. 1 ranking and more

Rick Case Honda had a lot to celebrate this week.

The Davie, Fla., dealership commemorated its ranking as the No. 1 U.S. Honda dealership in sales volume.

The event was attended by American Honda president, CEO and director Kazuhiro Takizawa Inc. and vice president of automobile sales Lance Woelfer, as well as 427 associates and 15 executives from American Honda Motor Company.

“This is a truly a special day for us and for our team here at Honda, without whom we would not be celebrating these incredible milestones,” Rick Case Automotive Group president and CEO Rita Case said. “We are number one, and we are ready to break records in the U.S. again in 2025. We just completed a brand new, beautiful, state-of-the-art facility just for our customers, and we are excited to share it with them.”

The dealership said it holds the world record for most of new Hondas sold in one month with 1,222.

Rita Case’s association with Honda dates to 1959, when Honda motorcycles were introduced in the U.S. and her parents began selling them. In 1970, they became the first dealers in America to sell Honda cars and Rita sold them after school.

“I am impressed by the history of Rick Case Automotive,” Takizawa said. “You take care of our customers. Since we’ve been here you all are here selling cars, servicing cars and taking care of customers for us. Thank you very much for all of your decades-long efforts.”

Rick Case Honda also earned its 17th consecutive Honda President’s Elite Award in 2024, also a record for a U.S. dealership. The award, which goes to the top 15% of Honda stores, is based on overall dealership performance including volume, operational excellence, customer satisfaction and facility.

“We couldn’t be prouder of our association and relationship with Rick and Rita and all that has been accomplished,” Woelfer said. “Leadership drives a great experience, but it’s also about the interaction they have each and every day with the Honda team here and their customers. You can’t win the President’s Award 17 years in a row without really taking care of the customer.”

The celebration also included the grand opening of Rick Case Honda’s new “Blue Stage” Honda facility, designed to enhance and elevate the customer experience, and its Honda Power of Dreams Store, a “one-stop” shop for everything Honda including recreational vehicles, side-by-sides, ATVs, motorcycles, dirt bikes and generators.

The event was kicked off by Lateefah Dooling, who sang the national anthem just as she did when the dealership opened in 2002.

“It feels wonderful just coming back in, seeing the growth from when I was given this opportunity 23 years ago,” said Dooling, now a special education teacher with Broward County Public Schools. “I feel truly amazed and very honored to come back and be part of this celebration.”

Dooling grew up as a member of Boys & Girls Clubs, which Rita and her late husband Rick have long supported, creating, developing and leading initiatives that have raised more than $120 million for organizations in South Florida.