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Tammy Darvish, longtime face of DARCARS Automotive Group in Bethesda, Md., and now COO at Capital Automotive Real Estate Services in McLean, Va., was in the vanguard of dealership leaders who took their fight for dealer rights all the way to Congress.
Darvish, who was the first woman to chair the Washington Area New Auto Dealers Association and a board member of the National Automobile Dealers Association at the time, had an extensive career in the auto industry by the time the recession hit. As a senior vice president for her father's dealerships, Darvish, 54, had her hands in many aspects of the group's business.
DARCARS lost several franchises when General Motors and Chrysler Group terminated hundreds of franchises during the recession. Darvish channeled her energy and frustration into advocacy for dealership groups beyond her family's.
At first, unity
"Dealers never really want to believe that there's a dark cloud coming," Darvish said. But this downturn was real.
In October 2008, Darvish organized a rally in support of the auto industry at one of DARCARS' D.C.-area dealerships. She was...