Ron Baus All in the Family at Spirit CDJR
Transcript
Sean : Hello and welcome to our automotive leaders winning cultures webcast. I’m Sean Kelly. Today we head to the state of New Jersey and visit Mr. RonBaus. Ron, am I saying your name right first off,n
nOkay, I love it. We’re gonna call you the car boss and Ron is the owner of Spirit CDJR. Ron, thanks so much for jumping on. I know, we had to reschedule a couple of times. So I’m super excited to finally get to meet you and get your insights, especially in such a dynamic time in our industry.n
nRon : nYeah, no, it’s definitely never seen anything like this before. And I’ve been doing it for all my life, like over 30 years active. Wow, yeah.n
nSean : You’re gonna bring a lot of value to our webcast. So Ron, first and foremost, how did you end up in the automotive industry? What like what happened to being an astronaut or a baseball player, a fireman.n
n Speaker 2 : The first thought was, I wanted to be a chef, you know when I was, like, 10 years old. And when I found that you had to cook with onions, I was out of there. So that was like, probably the closest I ever got to, like, you know, maybe picking a career. I grew up in the car business, my father started the business when I was born. It was kind of one of these, like, you know, had to make some money. And, you know, it just turned out to be a career for him. He started at a Chevrolet store in Philadelphia, and then he opened a couple of used car lots and that’s where I kind of got exposure to the auctions hanging out. I love the auctions. I love that, you know, that whole experience and, and things were different back then, like, you know, your kids could go to the auction. My dad would say sit in the bleachers and say don’t put your hand up. And then he’d had the auctioneer, you know, make me bid and I’m like, I’m gonna put my hand up. n
nAnd I was like, you had fun with it. I mean you think back from all those memories. But that was the I think the segue or at least for that, I was pretty fortunate because my dad would close down the used car lot and go work for Ford dealership in New Jersey, and then an Oldsmobile Jeep store in New Jersey. n
nAnd both of those jobs were, you know, he was manager, I don’t know, exactly didn’t put Saturdays he would let you know, bring me in and just I would wash them. You know, he’s kind of one of those guys, just kind of asked for forgiveness, not permission. And he knew the owners weren’t around like Saturdays. So it was cool that way. n
nYou know, so I got to see, you know, exposed to a lot of, you know, a lot of different things in the culture. I want to say when I was like father, when he went to work for a man who had, like a history of buying dealerships, turning them around, and he would get general managers first opportunity to buy the store. And so that’s how we ended up in tweed or New Jersey. I was a man by the name of Don Tobin. Tobin was from the, I guess, the Cherry Hill-ish area, somewhere in there Princeton, I think somewhere anyway. So at the time, he had two stores, and this was the, you know, the I’m sorry, he had one store, there’s a second store. And I want to say, I feel like my dad started at 45. And, you know, by 1991, is when you purchase a store. And then Coincidentally, I did not start with a full-time, even when he bought the store, I at that point, was working for UPS. So I was with him part time as a loader. It was great money. Just to kind of put things in perspective, minimum wage back then was $3.35. And our UPS Store started you at $8. And that was a big spread. And it was good exposure, good experience. And honestly, it was really my mom kind of just said, Listen, you know, your father’s dream is to have a business that he can turn over to you and your brother have a younger brother who’s in the business with me as well. And you know, just give it a shot. And I really was hesitant because at that point, you saw the other side of the car business, the not so good side and behaviors and stuff like that, but ultimately I made that decision. I have no regrets. n
nYou know, I move quickly from being in service, for a little bit, salesman. Then he took over a used car lot. I ran that for about five years. And it was u201896 I had to come back to the main store because at that point, we just acquired Jeep back then it was of course where Plymouth and Dodge Plymouth went away. And then he was able to acquire Jeep and that’s when I came back there was you know the role of used car manager and it was probably the best you know, kind of my my career Honestly, I’d most fun, I should say.n
nSean : and what did you enjoy most about that? Yeah,n
nRon : I just love the used cars. I love the auctions. I love the unpredictability. It was, I was gambling because I’m not a gambler, but it was just the excitement of, you know, can you take a car, can you make 500? You know, lose 2000 You know, can you buy a car, bring it back, and, you know, so it was very different, because you didn’t have a lot of information, what you have today, tell you, you don’t even go to auctions anymore, obviously COVID change that, but still, like, we can just do everything online. But there was a time when, you know, you really had to kind of be out there. So that was my favorite part. And, you know, one day my dad said, Listen, it’s time to time to come into the main showroom and, you know, start, you know, start to take over, you know, and I shouldn’t say we would take over, but we just kind of run the desk and just just to kind of, you know, be familiarized with the manufacturers, you know, things like that. n
nHe was very, he was very big about, we call it just, just relationships with, with manufacturers, with the banks, with people. You know, he father was a trustee for NJ Car, which is our, like our, I guess our legal team from New Jersey, I guess, however you want to call it the legislative things like that. n
nSo it’s a very good organization to be a part of. I currently, I went so when he passed I was I didn’t take his seat for trustee now. I’m treasurer with the organization. So you know, so that exposure, you know, and quite frankly, I thought about it a lot. I really thought a lot of this stuff was kind of ridiculous. And all these meetings and if you’ve sat in meetings, you know me and they’re kind of like, they’re just like, they’re over the weekend. You can’t concentrate, you know, so. n
nSo yeah, my career really kind of took a wild ride, but a good one, no regrets of where I’m at. And you know what I’m doing. Now, I ended the order principle. My dad had passed to new nine and, you know, I’d split into his spot. You know, so, technically I work for mom, you know, she’s, she owns the stock, but my brother I handled the, you know, we were in the business, you know, and actually he, he puts it best in and he’s like, look, I work in the business. You know, he’s, you know, my brother, you know, he works in the business, I work on the business. So there’s two complete dynamics to kind of what we’re doing in terms of you knowu2026n
nOkay, I love it. We’re gonna call you the car boss and Ron is the owner of Spirit CDJR. Ron, thanks so much for jumping on. I know, we had to reschedule a couple of times. So I’m super excited to finally get to meet you and get your insights, especially in such a dynamic time in our industry.n
nRon : nYeah, no, it’s definitely never seen anything like this before. And I’ve been doing it for all my life, like over 30 years active. Wow, yeah.n
nSean : You’re gonna bring a lot of value to our webcast. So Ron, first and foremost, how did you end up in the automotive industry? What like what happened to being an astronaut or a baseball player, a fireman.n
n Speaker 2 : The first thought was, I wanted to be a chef, you know when I was, like, 10 years old. And when I found that you had to cook with onions, I was out of there. So that was like, probably the closest I ever got to, like, you know, maybe picking a career. I grew up in the car business, my father started the business when I was born. It was kind of one of these, like, you know, had to make some money. And, you know, it just turned out to be a career for him. He started at a Chevrolet store in Philadelphia, and then he opened a couple of used car lots and that’s where I kind of got exposure to the auctions hanging out. I love the auctions. I love that, you know, that whole experience and, and things were different back then, like, you know, your kids could go to the auction. My dad would say sit in the bleachers and say don’t put your hand up. And then he’d had the auctioneer, you know, make me bid and I’m like, I’m gonna put my hand up. n
nAnd I was like, you had fun with it. I mean you think back from all those memories. But that was the I think the segue or at least for that, I was pretty fortunate because my dad would close down the used car lot and go work for Ford dealership in New Jersey, and then an Oldsmobile Jeep store in New Jersey. n
nAnd both of those jobs were, you know, he was manager, I don’t know, exactly didn’t put Saturdays he would let you know, bring me in and just I would wash them. You know, he’s kind of one of those guys, just kind of asked for forgiveness, not permission. And he knew the owners weren’t around like Saturdays. So it was cool that way. n
nYou know, so I got to see, you know, exposed to a lot of, you know, a lot of different things in the culture. I want to say when I was like father, when he went to work for a man who had, like a history of buying dealerships, turning them around, and he would get general managers first opportunity to buy the store. And so that’s how we ended up in tweed or New Jersey. I was a man by the name of Don Tobin. Tobin was from the, I guess, the Cherry Hill-ish area, somewhere in there Princeton, I think somewhere anyway. So at the time, he had two stores, and this was the, you know, the I’m sorry, he had one store, there’s a second store. And I want to say, I feel like my dad started at 45. And, you know, by 1991, is when you purchase a store. And then Coincidentally, I did not start with a full-time, even when he bought the store, I at that point, was working for UPS. So I was with him part time as a loader. It was great money. Just to kind of put things in perspective, minimum wage back then was $3.35. And our UPS Store started you at $8. And that was a big spread. And it was good exposure, good experience. And honestly, it was really my mom kind of just said, Listen, you know, your father’s dream is to have a business that he can turn over to you and your brother have a younger brother who’s in the business with me as well. And you know, just give it a shot. And I really was hesitant because at that point, you saw the other side of the car business, the not so good side and behaviors and stuff like that, but ultimately I made that decision. I have no regrets. n
nYou know, I move quickly from being in service, for a little bit, salesman. Then he took over a used car lot. I ran that for about five years. And it was u201896 I had to come back to the main store because at that point, we just acquired Jeep back then it was of course where Plymouth and Dodge Plymouth went away. And then he was able to acquire Jeep and that’s when I came back there was you know the role of used car manager and it was probably the best you know, kind of my my career Honestly, I’d most fun, I should say.n
nSean : and what did you enjoy most about that? Yeah,n
nRon : I just love the used cars. I love the auctions. I love the unpredictability. It was, I was gambling because I’m not a gambler, but it was just the excitement of, you know, can you take a car, can you make 500? You know, lose 2000 You know, can you buy a car, bring it back, and, you know, so it was very different, because you didn’t have a lot of information, what you have today, tell you, you don’t even go to auctions anymore, obviously COVID change that, but still, like, we can just do everything online. But there was a time when, you know, you really had to kind of be out there. So that was my favorite part. And, you know, one day my dad said, Listen, it’s time to time to come into the main showroom and, you know, start, you know, start to take over, you know, and I shouldn’t say we would take over, but we just kind of run the desk and just just to kind of, you know, be familiarized with the manufacturers, you know, things like that. n
nHe was very, he was very big about, we call it just, just relationships with, with manufacturers, with the banks, with people. You know, he father was a trustee for NJ Car, which is our, like our, I guess our legal team from New Jersey, I guess, however you want to call it the legislative things like that. n
nSo it’s a very good organization to be a part of. I currently, I went so when he passed I was I didn’t take his seat for trustee now. I’m treasurer with the organization. So you know, so that exposure, you know, and quite frankly, I thought about it a lot. I really thought a lot of this stuff was kind of ridiculous. And all these meetings and if you’ve sat in meetings, you know me and they’re kind of like, they’re just like, they’re over the weekend. You can’t concentrate, you know, so. n
nSo yeah, my career really kind of took a wild ride, but a good one, no regrets of where I’m at. And you know what I’m doing. Now, I ended the order principle. My dad had passed to new nine and, you know, I’d split into his spot. You know, so, technically I work for mom, you know, she’s, she owns the stock, but my brother I handled the, you know, we were in the business, you know, and actually he, he puts it best in and he’s like, look, I work in the business. You know, he’s, you know, my brother, you know, he works in the business, I work on the business. So there’s two complete dynamics to kind of what we’re doing in terms of you knowu2026n