This photo of Warren Price hangs over the main door in Price Auto Group’s Honda store.

This year marks Price Auto Group’s 25th anniversary as an Auto/Mate customer! The Delaware-based automotive group has been using our dealership management system (DMS) since 1992, and in our mind there is no truer definition of the word “partnership” than the relationship that we have had over the years with this fantastic group of people.

As a token of our appreciation, we would like to share a few details on the man that started the Price Auto Group.

As a teenager, Warren Price loved dirt bikes. He loved riding them and he loved racing them, and quickly discovered that to support his passion he’d have to learn how to keep them running. In the 1960s Japanese manufacturers were the dominant players in the U.S. market for trail bikes, and it wasn’t long before Warren was importing parts from Japan and distributing them out of his parents’ house.

Eventually his parents got tired of looking at a house filled with motorcycle parts so at the tender age of 17 (he lied on his business application and said he was 18), Warren started Diamond Motor Sports and became one of the first Honda dealers in the U.S.

Over the next 25 years, Warren acquired several more franchises. In 1992 he was frustrated with the service he was getting from his legacy DMS vendor and switched to Auto/Mate. Price Auto Group officially became Auto/Mate’s fifth customer!

Warren had some definite ideas about what he wanted his DMS to do. His feedback and suggestions helped to define and prioritize some of the early features that were included in Auto/Mate’s DMS. For years, Price Auto Group beta tested most of our new features and introductions.

Auto/Mate and Price Auto Group share many of the same management philosophies. First and foremost: Take care of your employees and they will take care of your customers. Price Auto Group spends “more than the average dealership” in sales, management and leadership training. They also cultivate employee talent and promote from within.

Similar to Auto/Mate, Price Auto Group is heavily involved in giving back to their local community and donates regularly to many local charities. Additionally, Warren established a foundation that awards scholarships to students attending auto technician schools and training programs.

Unfortunately Warren Price passed away a few years ago, but today the employees at Price Auto Group carry on his legacy. One of the ways they celebrate his memory is with their annual Success Party, during which all 450 employees and their families celebrate the company’s success.

We’d like to congratulate Price Auto Group for being such a fantastic company and setting a great example within their communities, and we’d like to thank them for being such a great customer. We hope to continue this partnership for many more years!

To learn more about our partnership with Price Auto Group in their words, watch this video: