OREM — Brent Brown said Monday that he is selling three of his car dealerships to the Larry H. Miller Group and will retain his original Toyota dealership and focus more heavily on that.
Brown plans to sell the Ford-Lincoln-Mercury dealership, the Dodge-Chrysler-Jeep dealership and the Chevrolet dealership, all located in Provo.
The Larry H. Miller Group will begin operating those dealerships Aug. 2 under an operator's agreement, but Brown said the final sale arrangements will take a bit longer to complete.
"My future plan is to really put all my focus into the Toyota dealership, which is by far our most successful dealership. Both my sons work there, and my office wasn't even in the same building. I didn't have much opportunity to train them. This gives me the opportunity to train them into the business," Brown said.
Brown said his sons — Jamison, 27, and Drew, 25 — are coming to an age when "they really kind of need their dad to show them the ropes."
Brown said it was "a little frustrating" after many years in the business to be publicly pigeonholed as someone who sold only Toyotas when he dealt in many types of vehicles.
"My other dealerships always kind of complained about that. The general public saw me as a Toyota dealer who did some other stuff on the side," he said.
However, he's clearly proud of his Toyota connection and happy to keep his first — and flagship — dealership in Orem.
Brown also is active within Toyota on a national level, serving as one of 13 members on its National Dealer Council and representing six Western states and Utah. He said he intends to spend more time on Toyota council efforts, as well.
He said he was "very pleased" with the sale.
"This will work well. It's good for the employees, it's good for my family, it's good for the community — I think it's a good thing," Brown said. "And I have a tremendous amount of respect for the Larry Miller organization. Obviously, as a Toyota dealer in Utah, I have crossed paths and rubbed shoulders with them a number of times. To a great extent, all that interaction was what led me to contacting them when I made this decision."
Tony Schnurr, president of Larry H. Miller Automotive, was equally happy about the transition.
"We are very excited about expanding our footprint in the state of Utah and Utah County," he said. "This is a wonderful opportunity for the men and women currently employed at the dealerships, and we hope to increase business opportunities to the point where we can employ even more residents."
e-mail: lindat@desnews.com