Despite recession, Toyota woes, Palatine dealership moves ahead

Gary Vicari, president of Arlington Toyota Scion in Palatine, saw the e-mail after 5 on Tuesday evening just as some salesmen were wrapping up a few deals.

The message was an unprecedented "stop sale" from Toyota, ordering all of its dealerships not to sell or deliver eight new-vehicle models until a modification is available for an accelerator problem is resolved.

The e-mail stopped Vicari, 56, cold. First, it was the recession, then turmoil in the auto industry, and now this shock delivered directly from the manufacturer.

"This knocked the breath out of me," Vicari said.

He had no choice. He walked out of his office, onto the sales floor of the $21 million new building, and broke the news to his workers.

He said Toyota expects to have the accelerator issue fixed by the third week in February - after the Feb. 10 grand opening sale scheduled at the dealership.

Toyota's stop order includes Camry and Corolla, the company's top-selling models, and the eight models accounted for 56 percent of the automaker's U.S. sales last year, according to the company.

Vicari noted that dealers can still sell about 10 Toyota models, including Prius, Yaris and Sienna, and can even sell some Camrys, Corollas, Highlanders and Rav4s, depending on where the gas pedal was manufactured.

So, while he knows sales may take a hit, he doesn't expect an immediate effect on staffing. He noted that Arlington and other dealers have weathered short-term crises before.

"There was the oil embargo years ago, then a recession or two, and now this recall and stop-sales," he said. "But as long as we operate in other areas and increase our used-car sales, then we'll do OK. Sure, we'll lose our quota, but we're hoping it's just for a short period of time. When it's over, then we'll move on."

Such voluntary recalls and stop orders were unheard of when Gary's father, Anthony Vicari, was a teenager on Chicago's North Side, It simply wasn't the way business was done.

Anthony loved cars so much he started buying and selling them wholesale. Over the years, he worked at a dealership and saved his money until, with some borrowed money from in-laws, he bought Harvey Lincoln-Mercury in the South suburb.

To 12-year-old Gary, that was cool. He watched his father, a former Marine in occupied China after World War II, now taking his family on a new journey.

"I was in awe of all the new cars and thought I would one day be a car designer," Gary said.

But when it came time to begin his career, things changed. His father bought Arlington Toyota from the Krasny family in Buffalo Grove in 1983 - when Krasny son Michael preferred to go into computers instead of cars and wound up founding the company that became CDW Corp. in Vernon Hills.

Gary Vicari started working in the family business as a porter around age 16, then did other jobs during high school and college.

"When I was hanging around a group of salesmen, here I was a 19-year-old and I'm with all of these 55-year-old hardened car salesmen," he said. "It really turned me off."

So, after earning a bachelor's degree in communication and business at the University of Colorado and doing some graduate studies at Illinois State University, he went into sales in the electronics industry in California and New York. That is, until August 2000 when his father died unexpectedly of a heart attack.

Gary returned home, where his father's trustee and the family decided to keep the family business, with him running it as president.

"I never thought I would be here," Gary said. "I had no clue that I would be back when his (Anthony's) wishes were read. It was a surprise."

Now, Vicari finds himself sitting at his father's old desk. But the dealership, and the industry, change, he said.

Sales practices have changed from the anything-goes atmosphere where customers endured high-pressure tactics, to a more professional atmosphere with increasingly stringent standards set by Toyota and the industry.

By May 2005, Arlington Toyota had remodeled and spent about $950,000 to include Toyota's specifications and to resolve their space issues.

"The mindset was that we'd stay (in Buffalo Grove)," Gary said.

Then he received new specifications from Toyota that sought more technicians, more land, and more service stalls. The Buffalo Grove site was at capacity. If the business didn't meet the new standards, then, the dealership could lose some benefits, including the opportunity to buy a certain number of cars to sell.

So the family began to look at new locations in Arlington Heights, Palatine, Deer Park and Kildeer. They also had to meet state and Toyota specifications on location and square-footage.

By early 2007, they agreed to a site on Hicks and Rand roads in Palatine. The housing market was booming and the area held promise for growth. Architects and contractors were hired, state and local approvals were provided, and Arlington Toyota was expanding.

Within a year, foreclosures roared in with the recession, and the Vicari family considered scaling back. But that would have cost more.

"We decided to stick with our plan. It was a gutsy thing to do," Gary said.

Dave Sloan, president of Oakbrook Terrace-based Chicago Automobile Trade Association, said Wednesday that Toyota is making all the right moves for its vehicles and its customers, and dealerships like Arlington Toyota will weather this storm. "Hopefully, this will be a short-term blip on Toyota's radar," he said. "For dealers like Arlington that are expanding, they see great things for the future or they wouldn't make such an investment."

<div class="infoBox"> <h1>More Coverage</h1> <div class="infoBoxContent"> <div class="infoArea"> <h2>Stories</h2> <ul class="links"> <li><a href="/story/?id=354450">No easy answer to why Toyota accelerators stick<span class="date"> [1/28/10]</span></a></li> <li><a href="/story/?id=354462">What's next if your vehicle is in Toyota's recall<span class="date"> [1/28/10]</span></a></li> </ul> </div> </div> </div>