“I think it’s hugely important to be out there” || Dan Fields, President, Fields Auto Group

Dan Fields is something of a Renaissance man - he studied in multiple countries during college, is bilingual, and has a professional interest in aquaculture in addition to the automotive business. He’s also lived, worked, and studied in several very different states, and fittingly, Fields Auto Group has 34 locations in some diverse areas -  Florida, Illinois, Wisconsin, and North Carolina. At Fields Auto Group, Dan is business partners with his father John and brother Ryan.

On this episode, Dan Fields sits down with Derek D to discuss how Dan’s grandfather started Fields Auto Group with one of the very first individual Cadillac franchises in the country, why repeat business in the form of service starts with customer satisfaction over the car’s initial price, and how a built-to-order system can only work properly with communication on every side. Plus, Dan talks his coincidental acquaintance with NFL coaching great Tom Coughlin, why he bought his everyday-drive car spontaneously, and losing eleven already-sold vehicles aboard the cargo ship Felicity Ace, which caught fire in the middle of the Atlantic in February.

Fields Auto Group

Episode Highlights:

• The surprising segment of the market that has recently done the best business for Fields Auto Group, and the unlikely places some of this business has come from
• What it’s like being the “operations guy” (and only gearhead) in the family business - and the simple key to making sure a family business doesn’t fall apart
• The recently released vehicle Dan anticipates being a big hit in one of his most important markets
• The (minor) “woes” of trying to come up with a unique configuration for a high-end built-to-order car

“Our theory always has been we always want them to come back to service, and for them to trust us to charge a reasonable rate.”

— Dan Fields

|| Dealer News Today is a DCG Media production