BIG WHEELS:Herb Chambers Honda’s Birtles has 28 years pleasing customers

Jack Foley

Scott Birtles, general manager at Herb Chambers Honda in Seekonk, has 28 years in the automotive business.

By Will McGuinness

Special to The Herald News

Posted Mar 19, 2008 @ 04:30 PM

Seekonk —

Scott Birtles, general manager of Herb Chambers Honda of Seekonk, knows the business of selling cars and making customers happy. With experience as his greatest teacher, Birtles used his early positions in his father’s shop to work his way from washing cars to working as the dealership’s service manager by age 19.
But Birtles made a major move that most dealership owner’s sons don’t: He left the shop. In his 28 years in the business, 23 have been spent with the Chambers company.
He was selling cars by age 21, and he went to Chambers the following year. There, he would climb the ladder to the desk behind which he now sits at his place on Route 44.
Birtles said part of the location’s success comes from the strength of the Honda brand and its commitment to three main values: efficiency, safety and reliability. He added the brand’s focus on these values has monetary benefits as well.
“They have very good resale value too, so what they bring to the customer’s table is safety, reliability and efficiency,” Birtles said.
He added these are attributes that transcend generations and that younger drivers just entering the market understand them too. Though Honda sponsors concert tours to promote its products, Birtles said, the product speaks for itself, but he’ll bring his son to the Fall Out Boy show anyway.
“The younger kids know Honda is a reliable car,” he said. “Fuel mileage is important to them too with gas heading toward $4 a gallon this summer,” he said.
Birtles said the company makes it easy for younger people to opt for Honda with its certified pre-owned program. MP3 systems and voice-recognition Bluetooth technology aside, he said that any car six years or newer with less than 80,000 miles comes with a seven-year, 100,000 mile warranty and a more preferred finance rate.
For every 300 cars sold at the dealership, 80 are used, and customers have an array from which to choose as he has 600 vehicles on his lot.
“You save money in financing, have zero liability in repair and are saving because it’s a used car,” he said. “It’s like an extra franchise for us, in certified used Hondas.”
“They are more online than ever. And if you do all your research, Honda’s going to come out on top,” he said.
Birtles said the Internet has been great for business, and it isn’t just younger people who are getting the benefits of it.
“The Internet has been a great asset to everyone in the car business and consumers too,” he said. Additionally, Birtles added, the visibility Honda garners through its many brands has a trickle-down effect as his site is often visited following Honda’s and the Kelley Blue Book’s.
“About 35 percent of our business comes from online. We get pretty good visibility from all the brands we offer as a company,” he said. “We love to have educated customers.
“The Internet gives them a lot of information before they get into the dealership, and now more than ever, how you treat the customer and doing what you say you will is the most important thing,” Birtles added.
Attention to detail, above all, is Birtles’ mantra.
“Most of our employees are not originally from the car business,” he said. “We look for people with good attitudes. You can teach them the skills, but some things you can’t.”
He added people with positive outlooks are more likely to pass those on to consumers as well.
“I have happy employees,” he said, “and the best part of my job is making customers happy.”

BIG WHEELS:Herb Chambers Honda’s Birtles has 28 years pleasing customers

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