My Car Business Education

Since my family has been in the car business since 1960, they have a lot to pass down.  I started in a play pen on the showroom floor of Godwin Ford in Winnsboro, SC in about 1979.  I started watching my father and grandfather from the very beginning learning every little thing I could about cars and selling cars.  I worked in the summers from about age 10 on up and when I got my driver’s license I was at the dealership every spare moment I had.  I learned first how to work on cars and what made them go.  I think this is the most important part because you can’t sell someone a good car if you don’t know that it is a good car.  Secondly, I learned how to interact with customers and help them decide what they need.  This is the key to selling your customer the best car for them and their family and lastly, the most important aspect of any business, Customer Service.  When I decided I was going to attend the University of SC in the fall of 1996, I also decided that I would continue to work as much as I could as well as attend college full-time.  This was great for me and for business.  I learned even more and started building relationships with customers and vendors.  After graduation in the spring on 2000 I went to work full-time at Godwin Motors and for the last 11 years I have been learning more and more each day from my father, my customers, and many of my peers in the car industry.  I have also had the chance of serving on the Executive Committee of the Carolina Independent Automobile Association.  This has been very educational as well, learning from some of the brightest in the car industry and helping to shape new dealers and the way they buy and sell cars.