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Dan Prior chairman and co-founder of AutoFair has made the Manchester mega-car dealership one of the top 100 dealerships in the country. By developing such concepts as one-stop shopping and "Up Front Best Pricing," Prior says customers don't have to block out an entire weekend dodging aggressive salespeople to find a set of wheels that suits their needs and their budget. The Business Review recently sat down with Prior to talk about what drives him in the auto business.
Q: Were you always interested in cars?
A: I had been in the auto sales business since 1971. I was putting myself through college, getting my Ph.D. in economics, but decided the money was too good in the car business.
Q: What was your first car?
A: A 1961 Alfa Romeo Spyder. It was a beautiful car, but a tough car to maintain.
Q: The idea for putting several large dealerships under one roof was fairly new back in the early '90s. Were you the first in New Hampshire to have something of this scale?
A: We started in February of 1991. I think when we got here, Grappone was the only other mega-dealer.
Q: Besides customer convenience, what are the other advantages to having this many dealerships under one umbrella?
A: There are a lot of back-office operations that we can make more efficient. Our advertising costs are also generally less than a smaller dealer. We also have full-blown human resources departments...