Santa Paula Chevrolet: Macik’s history pays off with dealership honors

As a 17-year-old just out of school he sold his first Chevrolet, an Impala John Macik drove all the way from his native Pennsylvania to California. Now, Dealer/Operator Macik is at the helm of the most honored dealership in the country, Santa Paula Chevrolet, a $50 million a year company which last year had a $4 million payroll.

Macik is celebrating his 20th year with the West Harvard Boulevard dealership where he’s still selling Chevrolets, albeit under much different circumstances than 1974 when he arrived in California at the wheel of that Impala. After working at various dealerships, Macik joined Santa Paula Chevrolet August 21, 1993 - almost 20 years after he sold his first car - and shortly thereafter was mentored by an established figure in the industry.

“The best part for me has been the customer, the people and personalities, solving their transportation needs,” said Macik. “Every transaction, every vehicle, every trade-in is different, and the personal relationships are all different... it’s fun, a lot of fun.”

Sales have a particular place in Macik’s affections: “For me that’s the best part in the business... the hours are flexible and you can make as much money as you want.” And if you’re any good at it you get promoted, something Macik started to become accustomed to while still in his early 20s.

As a sales manager he found satisfaction in creating good teams by developing the skills of others, while able to bypass “doing any of the things you didn’t like as a salesman because you’re the boss.” And then with another promotion Macik became that boss’ boss, and he enjoyed the challenge of making managers better at improving sales associates, “all for the end result - to take better care of customers.”

Promoted to general sales manager, Macik found, “That’s when it stops from being as much fun... always putting out fires,” and propelling Macik to Santa Paula Chevrolet. “I told myself if I ever got to have my own dealership I would do it my way, not the usual way,” a vow fulfilled. “I had to do my own thing, and now I’m able to do it exactly how I want to do it,” which brought Santa Paula Chevrolet much success.

A Mark of Excellence Award recipient for the third year in a row reflects Santa Paula Chevrolet’s standing in the top 10 percent of the nation’s almost 5,000 GM dealerships. All criteria must be met to garner the award - sales, service, customer satisfaction, market penetration, and certification of service employees.

Macik said it takes almost a year of schooling for certification that pays off for owners of all makes and models of vehicles that Santa Paula Chevrolet services, whether mechanically or in the body shop that accepts all insurers. Santa Paula Chevrolet also ranks 168th in the nation - the top five percent - for Chevrolet sales. 

Also a matter of pride to Macik is, “We have 71 families we are feeding, we can support families and charities in the community... and we doubled our size in two years,” held steady during the economic downturn and “did twice the business in 2011 than we did in 2009.” Macik noted the dealership has a “very, very low turnover” of employees, some “with us as long as I’ve been here... or longer,” a majority with Santa Paula Chevrolet for more than a decade.

And that includes Sandra Macik, John’s wife, who has been with Santa Paula Chevrolet for 17 years and handles all new inventory. “Sandra orders every new car” to exacting and different specifications, more than 1,000 to choose from, “one by one. That’s picking the vehicles, the packages, the options, the colors... that’s a big job,” in addition to dealer-trading to locate any car requested by a customer and handling courtesy and fleet deliveries. 

The philosophy of detailed and consistent customer service has paid off with an estimated 90 percent customer return rate, with some families boosting three generations of dealership patronage. “We’ve marketed ourselves consistently for the last 20 years, done a good job of getting our name and logo out and sold a lot of vehicles... even when people move out state they’ll come back to buy from us,” said Macik.