Asbury now coast-to-coast, gains in-house F&I products in Larry H. Miller deal

The Miller acquisition will add sales of 115,000 new and used vehicles a year to Asbury and expand its footprint to 152 dealerships, including seven Larry H. Miller used-only stores. It will add five new states — California, Washington, Idaho, Utah and New Mexico — to Asbury’s portfolio and expand the public group’s presence in Colorado. The deal also includes 11 Larry H. Miller collision centers.

Larry H. Miller’s 54 franchised stores are in many markets Asbury had sought to enter and carry the mainstream brands Asbury aimed to have in those areas, Hult said.

“We’ve really laid out exactly where we want to be, the states we want to be in, with the brand mix we want to be in,” Hult said.

Asked whether the sale would cause challenges with any automakers or trigger store divestments, Hult said one brand might pose an issue, but he didn’t name that brand. Hult otherwise characterized completion of the deal as a matter of obtaining automaker approval through conversations alone.

Despite the used-only stores being acquired, Hult told analysts Wednesday that Asbury opposed the idea of creating its own used-vehicle chain, preferring instead to generate used-vehicle revenue primarily through its franchised stores.

“We’ll stay hard and true to that model,” he said.

Still, Asbury “absolutely” wanted to keep the seven Miller used-only stores, Hult said. “It’s part of their DNA,” he said.

And when Asbury buys another group, it’s because of the target’s already successful business model, according to Hult.

“We’re not going to start to move the furniture around,” he said.

That extends to Larry H. Miller’s 5,300-employee workforce, Hult said. As with its Park Place deal, “we take on everybody,” he said.

Hult intends for that to include Larry H. Miller Dealerships President Dean Fitzpatrick and the rest of the auto platform’s management team.

“We clearly want them,” Hult said. “… This is an extremely well-run group”

Representatives for Larry H. Miller Dealerships declined requests for immediate interviews with Miller family members or company executives.