 Men are beginning to share the
road
in the auto dealer industry
By JOY CAPPS
Photography ROBERT FRENCH
Automobiles have been a maleinspired
industry dating back
to 1769, when the first selfpropelled
mechanical vehicle
was designed by French inventor Nicolas-
Joseph Cugnot. (Some dispute who was
first to create a motorcar.) But any way
you look at it, men have consistently
dominated the space.
Even songs about cars have been primarily
written and sung by men. Think
about it. There is Riding Around in My
Automobile by Chuck Berry, Mustang
Sally by Wilson Picket, Jaguar by the
Who and Little Deuce Coupe by the
Beach Boys, to name a few.
But men are slowly beginning to
move over on the road as women shift
into high gear. Statistics show women to
be the fastest-growing market in the
industry: Women are buying 35 percent
of today’s vehicles, influencing around
80 percent of all purchases and making
up 65 percent of service customers.
While automakers and dealerships are
putting things in place to address this rising
demographic, those who work in the
industry are still predominately male. A
2006 survey by the National Auto Dealers
Association (NADA) showed 49 percent of the nation's car dealerships don't have
one female sales representative.
Obviously, this means 51 percent of
dealers do have women in place to
make the deal. In fact, growing numbers
of women can be found in all customer
touch points within the auto
dealer industry, from salesperson to
technician to service writer. Such is the
case with the five women profiled here,
who are finding rewarding careers.
 BETTY PURGASON,
SALES REPRESENTATIVE
North Park Toyota in Boerne
Betty Purgason has been selling cars
for nine years. She sells new and used
cars, both in person and over the
Internet. She has been so successful that
she recently ranked second in sales for
the annual August sales event by selling
32 and 1/2 cars.
At 54 years of age, she has made her
second major career change. She started
working for Empire Lincoln Mercury when
she was 17. “I was working in a typing pool
at Metropolitan Insurance on Fifth Avenue
when a friend recruited me to the car business,”
she says. “Since I lived in New York
City, where I usually took the bus or the
train, I didn’t know much about cars. But I
was interested in learning more.”
Purgason quickly adapted to the world
of automobiles as a sales secretary for
Manhattan Ford Lincoln Mercury. (Shortly
after her arrival, Empire Lincoln Mercury
merged with Gotham Ford to form
Manhattan Ford Lincoln Mercury.) While
working there, she obtained her dream car
for a mere $300. She parked her white
1965 Mustang convertible with a black
top and interior across the street from the
dealership in an old run-down garage for
$30 a month. (In NYC, $30 a month for
parking is unheard of by locals.)
In 1973, she met and married her
husband. Shortly thereafter they moved
to San Antonio, where she became a
sales secretary for an up-and-coming
new car sales manager, Clarence J.
Kahlig II, at North Park Lincoln Mercury.
At the time, North Park Lincoln Mercury
was a satellite for Main Lincoln Mercury.
“I quit two times to have my two
sons,” Purgason reflects. “But every time
I’d quit, Clarence would call me back to
work as contract labor.”
In 1982, she rejoined the North Park
Lincoln Mercury team full time as
Kahlig’s executive secretary. Her responsibilities
grew as Kahlig moved from general
manager to owner in 1984. Over the
years, she experienced the industry from
a different perspective from most as she
supported the dealer principal of one of
San Antonio's most successful multipoint
automotive operations and president of
Kahlig Enterprises.
After 25 years of working in the same
role, Purgason decided she needed a
change. “When I told Kahlig I wanted to
be a sales representative, he said I wouldn’t
like it,” she recalls. “I told him to let me
determine that, and here we are nine years
later. In fact, I’ve been with him 34 years because he truly cares for his people.”
Being in sales is strenuous work, with
no days off but Sunday during sales
months. When you’re a woman, it is
hard to have children while working so
many hours and still be a dedicated
mother. Purgason waited until her children
were grown to make this career
change so she could easily put in the
hours and make the additional pay.
Purgason knows that sales representatives
need to be dedicated to customers
and the job in order to be successful. “I think physically fit women my
age or with teenagers would do well.
But you need to be able to stand up for
yourself, as it is a dog-eat-dog world,”
she confides.
 JUDY RIVET,
WARRANTY ADMINISTRATOR
North Park Lexus
Judy Rivet has one title but wears
multiple hats. As the warranty administrator
for North Park Lexus, she is the
only person cross-trained as a service
advisor, cash manager, cashier and service
manager. When she first joined
North Park Lexus, she was the dispatcher
and ran the service shop.
Originally, she joined North Park Lincoln
Mercury to fill her need for part-time work. “I would work at night as the greeter, and
then I became a full-time receptionist,”
Rivet says. “I would even help used car
managers book deals in the evenings.”
Rivet was fortunate to work for current
owner Clarence Kahlig. “He and his exwife
always watched out for me,” reflects
Rivet. “They would do things like give me
tickets to the rodeo so I would have an
opportunity to take my kids.” With her
children as her focal point, she took three
months off to spend more time with them,
starting in July, 1995. Three months later,
Kahlig asked her to work for his North Park
Lexus dealership. And she has been there
ever since. “I would do anything for him.
My loyalty is strictly to Kahlig,” she says.
With her diversified experience, she
finds no two days at work are alike. The
only consistency is the 600 to 700 customer
touch points she tracks each day.
Rivet has found that being highly organized
and listening to customers are the most important parts of her job. “Customers will tell you what their
needs are if you take the time to listen,”
she explains. “And reporting what they
say has to be correctly worded for warranty
work to be credited correctly.”
Other responsibilities include taking all
new cars to the mechanics and getting
them ready for delivery. She also makes
sure every car that comes in from the factory
is in proper working order before it is
sold. “I back up everyone and do what
needs to be done,” she says. “If cars need
to be moved on the drive, I move them.”
She used to find working in a maledominated
business to be challenging. “I
was a naïve little girl back then,” she
recalls. “But now I’m wiser and more
direct when it comes to business.”
Over the years there have been male
customers who wouldn’t want to speak
with women. The typical assumption is
that women don’t have the knowledge
about cars men do. “Once they ask you
questions and you pop back with informative
answers, they are surprised, and the
barriers begin to melt away,” she says.
Rivet believes the key to a rewarding
position in service is working for the right
dealership management and owners. “This is a high-stress job with long hours,
deadlines and pressure. But if you want to
meet people and make good pay, this is
the right business to be in,” she says.
 CAROLINE RIAK,
SELLING MANAGER
Ken Batchelor Saab
Caroline Riak has been in sales for 24
years, spending the past five years in the
auto dealer industry. Her success at selling
cars can be attributed to her diverse
background and wealth of experiences
in the field.
As she was earning her degree in
sociology from the University of Florida,
a summer job opened her eyes to a
career in sales. “If you don’t mind working
hard, you can see the fruits of your
labor and make a lot of money in sales,”
she comments. “I discovered it to be
something I was good at, and it fit my
personality Knowing that the amount of
money I could make depended on what
I accomplished was really motivational.”
Riak’s sales career began in New York
when she worked as a headhunter for clients such as MasterCard and Calvin
Klein. With the recession, a moonlighting
job became necessary to make ends meet,
and she began serving cocktails at a comedy
club. This position transitioned into a
full-time job as the club’s sales and marketing
person. (Her stories from these two
positions alone could fill pages.)
While in New York, Riak met and
married a Texas oilman. “We moved to
Scotland, and I began managing a couture
boutique for mothers of the bride in
a chain of stores called Fraisers,” she
reflects. After relocating to San Antonio
several years later, Riak spent four years
working for a high-end jewelry store.
The craziness of the retail industry
prompted her to answer a blind ad,
which just happened to be for Ken
Batchelor Saab.
Now, five years later, Riak knows she
has found her home. As the selling manager,
she is responsible for ordering the
Saab product line, as well as meeting
with customers to answer questions, discuss
incentives and run numbers on the
cars. Riak will also sell anything in the
store, including Cadillacs, Hummers or
pre-owned cars. “The other thing we are
selling is ourselves and the service benefits
of the dealership,” she says. “We are
very customer-service-oriented at Ken
Batchelor. We make sure people have a
good time and know they will be taken
care of while they are with us.”
Before moving into management,
Riak was selling an average of 17 cars
each month. Now that she is involved in
helping other people close their deals,
she finds each day to be different, with
new challenges. “We’re not just selling
cars, we’re building relationships with
people we might not have had the
opportunity to meet or know otherwise,”
she says. “Our clients become our
friends. This job is about taking care of
people, and being able to do that everyday
is just plain fun!”
 ELIZABETH WOLFF,
SALES CONSULTANT/
INTERNET MANAGER
Cavender Saturn
Fredericksburg native Elizabeth Wolff
has lived in San Antonio for over 20 years.
Until two years ago, she spent most of her
career working in health care administration
as an office manager for various
agencies, including managed care, hospice
and pediatric home health care.
Little did she know that her life would
dramatically change when she purchased
her first Saturn Vue in 2005. “I had a
great experience buying the car and
working with the sales consultant,” she
recalls. Shortly thereafter, she was invited
to attend Saturn’s annual car show, and
the rest is history, as they say.
“While I was at the show, I started
talking with Rick Cavender, and he told
me he was sure they’d have a place for
me if I was ever looking for a job,” she
says. “He made me feel so comfortable that I took him up on his offer and sent
in my résumé that November.”
Wolff learned that they weren’t looking
to hire until May or June. In the interim,
she was encouraged to go through
the Saturn testing process. As fate would
have it, two openings became available
earlier, and she began her new career in
automobile sales in February. “The sales
manager who hired me wasn’t sure if I
could do the job since I hadn’t been in
the car business,” she remembers. “But
his need for someone to hit the ground
running sealed the deal.”
Even though Wolff was a bit nervous
about this major career transition, she
really felt like it was meant to be. “I’m
still trying to hold onto the best advice I
received since I started,” Wolff confides, “which is to stay dumb and enthusiastic
because when you start to know too
much, you think you know it all.”
She quickly learned the key to success
at Saturn is embracing their distinct selling
proposition. Saturn’s culture is a different
kind of experience from what one
experiences in traditional dealerships, as
they build brand loyalty in unique ways.
In addition to follow-up calls and thankyou
notes, Saturn has a no-hassle, nohaggle
philosophy. This approach zeroes
in on finding the vehicle that meets the
needs of the customer, not the needs of
the salesperson. Other techniques
include a launch site celebration so customers
feel like they are driving their cars
off the showroom floor.
“My goal is to be with this company
a long time and to move up,” she says
enthusiastically. “The only way to do this
is to learn what the people above me
do.” In keeping with her goal, her new
role as Internet manager is helping her
learn about marketing and selling to the
younger buyers who shop online before
coming into the dealership.
Wolff has also been learning that having
a tough skin in this male-dominated
industry will serve any woman well. “When someone doesn’t buy a car from
me, I’ve learned that it’s not personal,”
she says. “But I’ve also noticed that people
let their guard down around women,
which can make my job much easier.”
 NICOLE LEON,
SALES REPRESENTATIVE/
SERVICE ADVISOR
BMW of San Antonio
Nicole Leon started selling cars five
years ago after a friend insisted she
would be a perfect fit for the business.
At the time, her friend was making a
killing selling Porsches, so she trusted he
knew what he was talking about. After a
few months of selling Nissans, she
moved to Infiniti and really found her
niche selling high-end cars.
“I found that not being the stereotypical
salesman really gave me an
advantage,” she explains. “I found
people putting their guard down
around me.” Leon believes that the
best way to earn someone's business is
to be confident, funny, sincere and
relaxed. She attributes her success in
the business to this approach.
Since most men do not expect a
woman to know anything about cars,
Leon has enjoyed “blowing people
away” with her product knowledge. “People love to hear me explain what
torque is,” she says.
Leon recently made the decision to
move into the service department at
BMW as an advisor. “Having two ‘tween boys at home made this decision
a no-brainer,” she remarks. “It
makes sense to have an easier schedule
so I can keep my eyes on them. I
look forward to the challenge of a
new career, but I'm sure I will miss the
excitement of closing the sale.”
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