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Transition equals addition for McGrath family

The jingle is familiar to anyone who listens to Chicago radio. However, the tune is more than just a catchy slogan about car prices.

"When you do the math, you choose McGrath" is a statement about the way the entire McGrath family of dealerships does business, owners say.

"It also means buying into the family, the respect and the customer service you get at all of our McGrath dealerships," said Kevin McGrath, dealer principal.

McGrath and his older brother, Mike, grew up in the automobile industry, working alongside their father, Mike McGrath Sr., for the past 24 years. The two brothers are in the midst of a successorship where they are buying the dealerships from their father over a number of years.

The McGrath auto group includes six dealerships in three locations. The first two stores, McGrath Acura of Westmont and McGrath Lexus of Westmont, are both located on Ogden Road in that suburb. McGrath City Hyundai and McGrath City Honda are on Grand Avenue in far west Chicago near O'Hare International Airport, while McGrath Acura of Downtown Chicago and McGrath Lexus of Chicago are located across the street from each other at Elston Avenue and Division Street.

We recently sat down with McGrath to chat about the family business:

Q. How did you get started at McGrath?

A. I started selling cars as a 17-year-old. I sold Lexus for a while, but I traversed over to Acura because I wanted something more youthful. At that time, the dealership was in Countryside. I eventually asked my father if I could become sales manager. He resisted me for a while, but when I did become sales manager, I took it to No. 1 in the Chicago area in six months. We eventually moved the dealership to Ogden Avenue in Westmont because that's where the other luxury dealerships - BMW, Mercedes - were. For 15 years in a row, that dealership has been No. 1 in new-car volume and for 14 years it has won the Dealership of Distinction Award, Acura's highest recognition.

Q. Describe the challenges in opening the Goose Island-area Lexus and Acura dealerships.

A. The McGrath family feels their hard work at McGrath Acura of Westmont paid off when Acura awarded them McGrath Acura of Downtown Chicago. The McGrath family was awarded the Acura store in 2006. Mike McGrath Sr. opened the Chicago Lexus store in 1997. Real-estate in Chicago is very expensive and car dealerships require lots of land and building space to operate. Chicago has its challenges, but has great opportunities with 2.3 million people living 10 miles around our store. The McGrath family is proud to represent Goose Island, a premiere space right on the Kennedy expressway with 250,000 cars and trucks driving by daily.

Q. How do you motivate your employees?

A. We really pride ourselves on employee engagement and have developed a reputation in the industry that McGrath is a place where you want to come to work. We have two large events per year. One is our Christmas party for the whole company where we spend $150,000 to really make it special. In the summer, we take all of our employees to Great America (Six Flags) in the summer. It's not just for the employees, but everyone in the family gets a ticket. It's really neat to walk around the place and see everyone having a good time.

Another thing we do is invest heavily in our employees' retirement. We do a 50 percent match into their 401(k) accounts, which almost no one does anymore.

We are very educated on what the market conditions are. We push our employees and ask them to rise to their best level. Whenever possible we try to promote from within the company. That isn't always possible, but we always have our eyes on someone to move up into a higher position. That works very well, too, because the employees tend to rally around their new leader because they know the individual well.

Q. How is customer service different at the McGrath dealerships?

A. Customer service is paramount to the McGrath business model, so we focus constantly on it. We can predict future business based on current business through our customer satisfaction scores. We exist because of the customer. One thing we tell our employees is McGrath does not pay your paycheck, the customers do. That makes them think about it and it's engaging for our employees to do so.

Q. What do you like about this business?

A. It's not work to me. I love meeting new people from all walks of life and talking to them. I love seeing them come in every two or three years to get a new car. I work with the nicest people, too.

Every year brings new challenges. We are looking to open more stores, but we are very selective about the brands we represent. We want to choose the right ones.

Q. Which vehicles do you like from the various brands that McGrath sells?

A. For Acura, it's the SUVs. Lexus has outstanding sedans and coupes. Honda is an economical brand and represents outstanding value. Hyundai has incredibly designed vehicles along with an incredible 10-year warranty that is the best in the business. My favorite one of all, though, is the Acura NSX. It's a $200,000 supercar. The new one arrives in May and we're only getting five.

Q. Where do you see the car industry heading in the next few years?

A. You're going to see better aerodynamic design and nine-speed transmissions on more vehicles. The safety technology is going to improve to the point where these cars are almost going to drive themselves.

With technology like lane assist and adaptive cruise control, which will automatically slow (your car) when the vehicle in front of you slows, will continue to make driving safer.

We are also going to have to change our way of thinking to sell to millennials. Whereas getting a car represented freedom for the older generation, the Internet and social media represent freedom for millennials. I think we will begin to see car sharing among individuals and have to learn how to market to that.

Q. Tell us about your family and what you like to do in your free time.

A. My wife, Diane, and I live in the Western suburbs and have a boy and a girl. In the summer, I like to golf. As a family, we love to ski. We like to go to Park City, Utah, to ski and do so every chance we get.

Q. What charities do you support?

A. We are big supporters of the USO. My grandfather was a World War II fighter pilot. PAWS also gets our support because we love dogs. We also support the Joffrey Ballet and every year we do something for the Children's Heart Foundation because our son was born with a heart problem. All of our dealerships support many different charities. We just donated a car to St. Mary's Catholic School that they are selling raffle tickets for to raise money.

  The McGrath Acura dealership is at Elston Avenue and Division Street, right next to Goose Island in Chicago. Daniel White/dwhite@dailyherald.com
  The McGrath family beat out 10 other dealerships to land the right to open a Chicago store. Daniel White/dwhite@dailyherald.com
  The McGrath family owns two Acura dealerships, one in Chicago and one in Westmont. Daniel White/dwhite@dailyherald.com
  It took about five years to buy land, get zoning approval and build the new McGrath Acura of Chicago dealership. Daniel White/dwhite@dailyherald.com

Auto Biography

Kevin McGrath Dealer principal

1301 N. Elston Ave., Chicago, (773) 336-3600

<a href="http://www.mcgrathacuraofdowntownchicago.com">www.mcgrathacuraof downtownchicago.com</a>

<span class="fact box text bold">Tag line:</span> When you do the math, you choose McGrath

<span class="fact box text bold">Sales hours: </span>9 a.m.-8 p.m. Monday-Thursday, 9 a.m.-6 p.m. Friday-Saturday.

<span class="fact box text bold">Service hours:</span> 7 a.m.-6 p.m. Monday-Friday, 7 a.m.-5 p.m. Saturday.

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