Customer service, edgy new 
GM products drive Lima Auto Mall

LIMA — The location and owners have changed, but Bill Timmermeister can follow the history of Lima Auto Mall back at least 101 years.

“Records get a little fuzzy when they get back to a certain place. I have an inkling there was some history before that,” said Timmermeister, who owns the car dealership.

Marques have come and gone through the years, but the company has always carried the Cadillac brand. That tradition was put in jeopardy last year as the new General Motors Co. proposed closing more than 1,000 Cadillac franchises, Lima Auto Mall included.

“We didn't go to arbitration, however we spent a lot of money preparing to go,” Timmermeister said. “The night before we were to go to a three-day arbitration, they called and said we were being reinstated.”

It was great news for the company, which had already lost its Jeep franchise and Chrysler service department the year before. It also lost Pontiac when GM discontinued the 84-year-old brand famous for its classic GTO muscle cars of the 1960s and 1970s.

That decision still makes Timmermeister sour.

“The Grand Am for a good number of years was the No. 1 selling nameplate in the United States and they decided to replace it by calling it the Pontiac G6. Nobody knew what that was,” he said. “It was a wonderful car and a lot better than the car it replaced. If they called it Grand Am it would have sold like hotcakes.”

Nowadays, the leaner Lima Auto Mall carries new vehicles from Nissan, Cadillac and Chevrolet.

“Sales are continually going back up, but they have a long way to go to get back where they were,” Timmermeister said.

In many markets the downturn pushed used cars to the top of the list for many buyers. That was less the case here.

“Used cars have had a larger following in the Lima market than many others. Historically across the United States, the general rule of thumb is if you sold 100 new cars you would be expected during the same time to sell 50 used cars. In Lima that's turned on its head. We sell a lot more used cars than new cars, but it's always been that way.”

The Auto Mall stocks mostly super-late-model used cars of all brands.

As for GM, whose bread-and-butter Chevrolet brand is the Auto Mall's top seller, Timmermeister said some of the public faith is being restored after the re-emergency from bankruptcy.

“One of the best things GM had going for them all along is they have some really innovative and crisp new products. Had they not had that, they would have had a much worse time,” Timmermeister said.

Still, he understands the frustration of GM stockholders who saw most of their investment vanish after years of poor management.

Though the continued political and financial uncertainty may be out of Timmermeister's hands, having good customer service isn't. The company wants to ensure that its 60 or so employees are properly trained and have the right attitude to take care of people.

“It doesn't make any difference if you're selling shoes, or cars, or washers and dryers, or Christmas decorations,” Timmermeister said.