Grappone Auto Group secured for the family as daughter buys out dad

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Amanda Grappone Osmer recently became the dealer principal of Ford and Honda franchises in New Hampshire after assuming full ownership from her father. She already was the full owner of a Mazda franchise in the Granite State.

As part of the change in ownership, Grappone Osmer also sold Toyota and Hyundai franchises to McGovern Auto Group.

The sale was necessary for her to realize her long-term vision for the Grappone Automotive Group, Grappone Osmer told WardsAuto in a Zoom call.

“The strategic vision, for me, is to continue to live our mission, make sure that, if any of my kids are interested in the business, that they’re well-qualified to come into it and to lead with the right kind of heart and the right kind of mind,” she said.

The Grappone Automotive Group mission is dedication to building lifelong relationships with team members, guests and the community by serving with integrity, kindness and respect, Grappone Osmer said.

A change of plan

Until this year, Grappone Osmer held a minority ownership in the family-owned dealership group, which included Toyota, Hyundai, Ford, Honda and Mazda franchises as well as a Ford Commercial Vehicle Center and a wholesale parts operation.

Grappone Osmer acquired full ownership in the Mazda franchise from her father in 2022, she told WardsAuto. He retained majority ownership in the other franchises.

Grappone Osmer had aimed to take over the entire group when her father retired. The sale of the Toyota and Hyundai franchises was “not part of my master plan,” Grappone Osmer said.

Then, three years ago, her father told her he intended to sell the entire group to fund his retirement, she said. Grappone Osmer couldn’t obtain enough capital through bank loans to acquire the remaining dealerships, she said.

She considered bringing in private equity or venture capital or partnering with another dealer.

“But you know, every time I came back to it, me being in the minority position, it just made it hard to overcome having to give up the Grappone name and controlling interest just for the sake of raising the money,” Grappone Osmer said.

The Toyota franchise had the highest valuation. So, they sold it to the McGovern Group. “That, in part, allowed me to take my proceeds from the Toyota sale to help buy my dad’s shares,” she said.

As for the Hyundai franchise, keeping it would have involved a major investment to make the facility image compliant. Renovation was not an option owing to the current building and location, Grappone Osmer said.

Meanwhile, building an entire new facility “was easily $10 million, so that was not on the cards. So, unfortunately, that sort of forced our hand to have to sell,” she said.

Continuing the family legacy

Grappone Osmer has worked at the family dealership group for three decades though she admits she really disliked her first full-time dealership job as a cashier at a Volkswagen dealership that the family then owned.

But she had an epiphany. “I realized I wasn’t a car person at all but I love people and I love helping them just trying to reach their potential and, as a business owner, you can do that,” she said. So, she stuck with it.

Grappone Osmer wanted to continue the family legacy, which included more than just selling cars. It also included taking care of people, she said. And she knows that legacy well; she wrote a book titled “Grappone Automotive: The Founding.”

Grappone Automotive Group’s roots were planted in 1924 as a single-pump gas station by her great-grandfather. That gas station became the Grappone Automotive Group.

She feels that her ancestors tried their best every day to take care of the community and support the people around them with the resources they had. “I feel like it’s sort of in my DNA just to keep carrying that on,” she said.

When others asked her why Grappone Osmer didn’t sell all the franchises or just keep the Toyota store, she thought, “who would that help except me?” she said.

And she couldn’t just abandon what her family had invested 100 years in building, she added. “I feel this responsibility to steward it down to the next generation and I’m hopeful that the next generation will steward it down to the sixth, as well,” she said.

Time and circumstance govern growth

Grappone Osmer has three children. Her 19-year-old son definitely wants to work in the family business, she said.

He can do so on two conditions, she said: That he is qualified to do the job he wants to do and that he accepts the rate of pay that job offers “because you don’t get paid extra just for being the owner’s kid,” she said.

Grappone Automotive Group included 13 franchises when she started working there and now it is down to three, she said.

“So, I get it that it is just a matter of time and circumstance that changes whether we shrink or grow,” Grappone Osmer said.

She is not opposed to acquiring more franchises. For now, however, her commitment is to her team of 240 employees “who are still trying to catch their breath from closing the sale of Toyota,” she said.

If her children want to acquire more franchises, “it’s great,” she said. “I mean, what I want to do with my life is to be a really excellent top-notch employer to as many people as possible.”

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