Many businesses have come and gone over the last three decades. But with their family-centric philosophy and a desire to serve the customer through the years, Champion Ford was recently able to celebrate their 30th anniversary.
Bruce Brubaker, a former MLB pitcher, acquired the Ford dealership in 1990 from the Holder family. In the summer of 2000, the dealership moved from its downtown location to its current spot at the corner of J.R. Miller and Southtown boulevards.
Brubaker’s sons later joined what became a family business. Bruce III, known as Duke, is the General Manager and President of the Owensboro location. Tyler was the General Manager of the Champion Ford REO location before moving to their ChampionShip Auto Sales location on KY 54.
The company officially celebrated their 30th anniversary on Dec. 20.
Duke Brubaker said they were honored that they’re received enough support to not just remain in business, but continue to grow over the years.
Brubaker takes pride in how they treat both their staff and customers.
In an industry that is ripe with turnover, Champion can boast that seven of the staff members from various departments that started in 1990 were still there 30 years later. While one retired in December, the other six are still working.
“We don’t have much turnover in the core group,” Brubaker said. “We’re blessed that we have a good team.”
Last year was one of the most trying due to all the circumstances that came with the pandemic. Champion had to shut down for 41 business days, but Brubaker said they didn’t let anyone go and everyone stayed on payroll.
Brubaker said rather than just stay home, his team still made use of their time — a representation of how dedicated the company is from top to bottom to provide a welcoming experience for the customer.
“A core group of them came in, they cleaned the place, they painted a lot of rooms, they just did maintenance that we didn’t have time to do — all on their own, which was very, very nice,” he said. “It was a tough time when sales were shut down, but it gave everybody time to have something to do. When sales opened back up, we started going back in.”
Brubaker said the key to continually building their customer base is trying to treat everybody like family, especially since they are a family-run business.
He also tries to avoid coming across as a “typical car guy.”
“Our ads are different,” he said. “Sometimes they’re emotional, sometimes they’re funny. They get to the point and they attract the customer’s attention by not playing games with the pricing, not using gimmicks that a lot of dealers do that get a bad reputation.”
Brubaker also monitors their online reviews and answers every one personally.
“We’re not 100% perfect — no business is,” he said. “When we mess up, I apologize and we try to work it out with the customer. We have a good reputation and we want to make sure we keep it. We don’t want to tarnish that.”
Champion offers new Ford, Lincoln and Mazda inventory, as well as a variety of used makes and models. They’ve also got a quick lane and a full detail shop on site.
They also provide a “no regrets” buying experience, wherein a customer not pleased with their purchase can exchange it for any reason within four days.
“We want to make sure people are happy with their purchases and happy with their decisions,” Brubaker said.
In the short term, Brubaker said they are still looking to make it through the end of the pandemic successfully. Long-term, he hopes to continue with the practices they’ve shown over the last 30 years.
“You see a lot of businesses come and go and shut their doors,” he said. “The Owensboro community has welcomed us. We’re happy and honored that we’re still open 30 years later.”
