Cable-Dahmer COO comments on Richert dealership's closing

The decision to close Doug Richert Chevrolet-Buick just south of Holton’s Town Square earlier this month wasn’t made by Richert or by Cable-Dahmer Automotive Group, which purchased the automotive inventory at the dealership that had for decades been known as Clark Chevrolet and is now selling that inventory at its Topeka dealership.

In fact, the dealership, which had been open for more than a century and sold and serviced vehicles manufactured by General Motors, was ordered closed by General Motors, according to Mike Rauscher, chief operating officer for Cable-Dahmer.

Despite the dealership’s closing, Rauscher said he and his dealership have no intention of leaving the Richert dealership’s customers in Holton and Jackson County in the lurch, even though there are no plans to reopen the dealership for auto sales or service by Cable-Dahmer.

“We realize it leaves a void in the community,” Rauscher said Monday. “But we cannot operate it. General Motors will not allow us to operate out of it… It’s an unfortunate situation.”

Rauscher also said Cable-Dahmer is “open” to selling the dealership building, which Cable-Dahmer purchased from former owners Bernie and Gene Clark, to a “third party” for future use, but for now, the Kansas City, Mo.-based dealership, which owns nine locations in Missouri, Kansas, Colorado and Nevada, remains focused on providing continued service to Richert Chevrolet-Buick’s customers.

The Richert Chevrolet-Buick dealership was closed on Wednesday, April 1, without advance notice to its customers, ending more than a century of sales and service of vehicles in the General Motors family that began in 1925 with Haubold Chevrolet, which became Clark Chevrolet in 1962 and Richert Chevrolet-Buick in 2017.

Rauscher said he could not comment on whether GM’s order to close the Richert dealership was indicative of an alleged pattern in which GM is purportedly trying to close or buy out small-town and rural dealerships and focus more on increasing profitability and selling electric vehicles.

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