Executive Profile with Jim Fitzpatrick, Powered by CBT News

Rita Case carries forward a legendary automotive dynasty while breaking new ground.

• CBT News • Season 1 • Episode 6

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Rita Case's remarkable journey from selling the first Honda car in America to leading one of the nation's most successful dealership groups offers a masterclass in automotive entrepreneurship and resilience. 

Following her husband Rick's passing in 2020, Rita has continued to build upon their shared legacy while charting her own course as a pioneering female leader in a male-dominated industry. As the daughter of Honda's first U.S. motorcycle dealer, automotive retail runs in her blood – a passion that led to her fateful meeting with Rick at a Honda 20 group where their personal and professional partnership was born.

The secrets to their 40+ year successful marriage and business partnership? "Mutual respect, compromise, and staying in your lane," Rita reveals. This approach helped them build a powerhouse organization that holds industry records including the most Hondas ever sold in a month (1,222) and the most awarded Honda dealership in American Honda's history with 16 consecutive President's Awards.

Rita offers candid insights on industry challenges, expressing skepticism about fully digital car buying ("I don't think people are going to be buying cars from home") and concerns about the pace of EV adoption in markets like Florida and Georgia where driving distances are significant. Her innovative marketing approaches, including the Rick Case Rewards card with at-cost gas for customers and their signature 90-minute purchase guarantee, demonstrate her commitment to enhancing the dealership experience.

Perhaps most remarkable is the Case family's dedication to community service, having raised over $100 million for various causes with a focus on education and youth development. From their Bikes for Kids program to Boys and Girls Club support, giving back isn't just a corporate responsibility – it's who they are. This commitment was recently recognized when Rita was named 2024 Time Dealer of the Year at the NADA Show.

Wondering what Rick would think of her leadership? "He would be saying, 'Honey, you're fulfilling your promise to me,'" she reflects with characteristic warmth. Visit any Rick Case dealership to experience firsthand how Rita continues to honor that promise while creating her own remarkable legacy.

Thanks for tuning in to this episode of Executive Profile with Jim Fitzpatrick.
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Jim Fitzpatrick:

This is the Executive Profile exclusively on CBT News. In 1962, Rick Case opened his first dealership, laying the foundation for what would become a monumental legacy in the auto industry. Over the years, Rick, alongside his wife, Rita, expanded their reach, representing iconic brands such as Honda, Hyundai, Acura, VW and more. They achieved numerous milestones along the way. After Rick's passing in 2020, following a short battle with cancer, Rita took the reins of the organization, steering it with the same dedication and vision across South Florida and Atlanta, Georgia. Beyond their business achievements, the Cases have made a significant impact in their communities that they do business in, raising over $100 million for various causes. This month, Rita was named the 2024 Time Dealer of the Year at the NADA Show in Las Vegas.

Jim Fitzpatrick:

On this edition of the Executive Profile, I had the pleasure of spending some time with Rita at Rick Case Honda in Davie, Florida. Check it out. Rita Case, thank you so much for allowing CBT News to come in here. So many people in the industry want to learn about your story. A lot of them already know about your story, but it's so inspiring for so many people and, of course, we would be remiss if we didn't mention the fact that Rick passed away a few years ago. So we want to know where the company stands today and what your vision is for the future. So thank you so much for joining us.

Rita Case:

Well, listen. Thank you very much for having me. I'm excited to have the opportunity to tell my story to such a huge audience. But yeah, it's been. You know Rick passed away just over three years ago. You know, rick and I met back in the 70s. I was a car dealer and he was a car dealer, and so I always had the car dealership in my blood. I was very passionate about the industry, the retail side of the industry, and so we're just a great partnership. So when he passed away it wasn't really a traumatic part of our operations or our business. We continued to run exactly how we had before. I was always the COO, he was the CEO, and the group and the manufacturers and our associates, the public, the community all recognize this as being a team.

Rita Case:

Of course it was a huge, huge loss for our family, for our dealership group and for the community. But we're plugging right along, we're doing great, and everybody you know got behind me, of course.

Jim Fitzpatrick:

Yeah.

Rita Case:

And we're still holding our records and keeping ourselves number one, exactly where I promised Driftly would be.

Jim Fitzpatrick:

Fantastic. So for those of you that are out there that are thinking well, you know, now that Rick's gone, maybe Reed is going to sell the whole operation. But couldn't be further from the truth.

Rita Case:

Could not be. I know One of the commitments that I made to him. I didn't even need to make it because it was pretty much expected Sure, because it was pretty much expected, but that Rick Case Automotive and the name Rick Case would be synonymous with being a very volume dealer, would be synonymous with community support and that we would continue to lead the way with creative marketing and initiatives that you know he was one of a kind. He came up with some marketing ideas, like he's the one that wrote the 10-year 100,000 mile warranty that saved a Hyundai back in 1996.

Jim Fitzpatrick:

That's right. A lot of people don't realize that, but he is the one behind that and that really did save Hyundai.

Rita Case:

Well, we went to Hyundai at National and made the proposal on their 10th anniversary and we called it the Big Ten Campaign. Actually, it's in our book Our Customers, our Friends the original proposal to National. We said you're going to save this brand, so let's celebrate your 10th anniversary with a Big Ten campaign. Part of it was $100 down 10-minute approval. Everything had 10, 10, 10. So then when we said 10-year, 100,000-mile warranty, back then 24-24 was the standard.

Rita Case:

They're like oh no, we can't do that. How much is that going to cost? And we weren't able to sell them. So Rick came back and got the local South Florida dealers to do it together. We got an insurance company to help us and write a policy and we proved that we can go from selling 30 cars a month back up to selling 250 cars a month.

Jim Fitzpatrick:

And they said whoa.

Rita Case:

So when the Sonata came out in 98, they they said, hey, we'll adopt it, and history has shown that it worked that's fantastic, wow.

Jim Fitzpatrick:

However, I think most people know the name Rick case. It's synonymous with really Honda, right? I mean, that's how you guys got your start. You're the largest Honda dealer out there.

Rita Case:

Talk to us about that, yeah well, my father's the first Honda dealer in the United States.

Jim Fitzpatrick:

Oh my god, yeah, he's dealer number one, that's pretty and so back in 1959, when Honda dealer in the United States oh my God, yeah, he's dealer number one, that's pretty cool.

Rita Case:

And so back in 1959, when Honda came with the motorcycles, my dad got the franchise. He was a car mechanic with a car independent car shop. My mother and my dad had an independent foreign car garage for like MGs and Austin Healey's and things like that. So Honda came to town in Santa Rosa, california peddling the franchise for the little nifty thrifty Honda sure, sure, who can forget it?

Rita Case:

yeah, so my dad says I'll put those out front and maybe sell a few my what you know, my mom could sell those yeah, so was your mom in the business exactly that's where you get it from that you're.

Rita Case:

You know this driving, no question my mom was the my mentor, she's my hero and she's the one that said, against everyone else, saying a woman should not be a car dealer. She was like really, if this is what you want to do, I'm behind you 100. I was the first person to sell a honda car because you could not sell those cars you might have been.

Jim Fitzpatrick:

Then you sold the first honda in the us.

Rita Case:

In the us yeah, so that's my, that's my start with Honda and I stayed with my dad and I stayed with it. And then, of course, rick, he started selling used cars in 1962 and so he had a used car lot and he heard Honda was coming out with a car and he said, boy, I want to be a new car dealer. So he got the motorcycles and he became the largest volume motorcycle dealer in the world for Honda before the car came out. So from 62 to 68. Incredible.

Jim Fitzpatrick:

Then you know he had a thing for being the largest volume, whatever Whether it was, yeah, he introduced color TVs.

Rita Case:

You know snow blowers. It didn't matter If he thought he could sell something and be number one. That was his goal.

Jim Fitzpatrick:

Yeah, yeah, that's great, that's great In building the company along the way. Did you ever think, did you ever say to him hey, maybe enough is enough, maybe we've got, maybe the group's big enough, maybe we're selling enough cars. Let's just take a little rest here and enjoy life.

Rita Case:

Well, you know what? Rest here and enjoy life. Well, you know what? I don't think there would have ever been time for that conversation because he, before we even finished hitting the number one goal of which we were trending towards, he had another one on the plate.

Rita Case:

No up until his last breath, his goal was to be number one at anything, whether it was raising the most money for the Boys and Girls Club or American Heart, or whether it was building the biggest affordable housing project for Habitat for Humanity. We hold the record for the most Hondas ever sold in one month 1,222. We hold the record for the most Acuras ever sold in one month. The most Honda motorcycles ever sold he was about breaking records.

Jim Fitzpatrick:

Sure, sure. I bet it wasn't easy to be one of his kids, Because where are you going with that right? You better get straight A's in school.

Rita Case:

Oh yeah, you know he was a great father. He was a great father Absolutely, but his heart was in building and breaking records.

Jim Fitzpatrick:

Sure sure, so let's. And of course, you were right by his side the whole time. You know when we did research on this. The more that we, the producers, would say, the more we're learning about this. It's as much of an American success story as it is a love story.

Rita Case:

Yeah, absolutely yeah. We, when we met you know how we met was I went to after I graduated from college and I went back and I told my dad you've got to retire because no one's going to listen to me. I've been the DD that's dealer's daughter.

Rita Case:

I've been the DD all these years and until you leave this dealership Honda of Santa Rosa, people aren't going to listen to me, dad. So you've got to retire and you've got to give me a chance to run this thing. And he agreed and so I went to NADA, okay, and I said we need a Honda 20 group so I was able to convince them that I could get 20 dealers, or at least 18 dealers, to sign up around the country. And Rick Case from Cleveland, he signed up and of course I signed up. You know Ray Mungenest, who's a history making Honda dealer. He signed up, you know.

Jim Fitzpatrick:

Ray Mungenest, who's a history-making Honda dealer.

Rita Case:

He signed up, Great car dealers signed up and we ended up starting this 20 group, and that's where I met Rick.

Jim Fitzpatrick:

That is incredible, what a story.

Rita Case:

He was single, I was single and everybody else was married, like those 20 groups are, and their vacation spots.

Jim Fitzpatrick:

So it was even the auto industry that dictated your personal life as well, right yeah, that's amazing.

Rita Case:

So that's where we met and we just were so passionate about learning the business. He was already a very successful entrepreneur and marketer. I was still learning to do that because I was in a small town. He was in a big town. I was in a little small town, santa Rosa so I was just so intrigued about learning from him. He was intrigued about my enthusiasm and three, three years later, we ended up getting together.

Jim Fitzpatrick:

Wow. So there's going to be a lot of people out there that want to know what is the key, would you say, to couples successfully working together, and what I mean successfully not just in the business, but also on the personal side.

Rita Case:

In all of these years, rick and I working together at such an intense level in a very competitive business, the keys to our very successful relationship was mutual respect, number one. We didn't cross over, I didn't cross over into marketing, I didn't dictate his marketing budget and he didn't tell me what to do in my area. So I'd say mutual respect is number one. I'd say compromise is number one. I'd say compromise, super important compromise. And when we really had a disagreement on something, we would put a list together. I would write down why I thought, he'd write down what he thought and we'd try to sell each other.

Rita Case:

It was like a sales and if it was a draw, it was always to Rick. I always said he deserved the right to go forward with it because I knew that whatever happened he would make it successful. So I'd have to say communication, compromise and mutual respect are key.

Jim Fitzpatrick:

Sure, no question. And then staying in one another's lane.

Rita Case:

Staying in one another's lane right. No-transcript. And don't ever say I told you so.

Jim Fitzpatrick:

You all grew in South Florida and in Atlanta and in Ohio very, very quickly over the last 20, 30, 40 years of business. What do the growth plans look like now for the company?

Rita Case:

Well, right now, I'm very happy with where we're at. My goal is to keep our 14 dealerships. Plus, we have four Genesis dealerships that we have not completed that project. So that would be four more independent stores, because right now our Genesis and our Hyundai stores are combined okay. So that's my initial plan for growth would be just to separate my Genesis stores into independent locations. I want to get those awards for excellence right. I want to be known for being an excellent dealer. I want to be known for being an excellent dealer and I want to be known for being a volume excellent dealer. We're the most awarded Honda dealer in the history of American Honda by being a high volume dealer. We were third last year and we're shooting for number one. We always shoot for number one, but we were third last year with American Honda for the year and as a high volume dealer. It's difficult to win the President's Award and we've won that 16 years in a row, which I think is just really an outstanding job.

Jim Fitzpatrick:

Oh my gosh, no question about it. And now you've got the second generation of cases in the business, with Raquel and Ryan. Talk to us about that. What's that like and what's your vision for them taking over?

Rita Case:

You have to love this business. You can't force your siblings or your children to take over something like this. So right now they're both, they've been involved in the business. Our son this is 18 years, he's been involved in it. And our daughter's 16. Our daughter's 40 and our son is 42. Great kids, but you know they have to make their way. They're both in the business. But to say that I can say right now that my succession plan is that they're going to run what I've, what we have built and what we're operating today would be hard to say.

Rita Case:

Okay, I still feel like I've got a lot of years left, of course, and you know, I want to believe that right rick died very young and I'm hoping that I can be my mom just turned 91 so you know, she still she still goes to her Honda Santa Rosa every day and opens the mail. So the number one dealer in the country still open and owned by my mom, so she owns a Honda dealership today. She owns the Honda, the number one she's still running that today.

Rita Case:

Well, my younger brother came in after I met Rick and married Rick, okay, and my younger brother came in to work under my parents, came out of retirement, of course, okay, and so my parents, you know, brought my younger brother up.

Jim Fitzpatrick:

So he's the dealer, my younger brother is the dealer.

Rita Case:

Okay, but my mother still drives to the dealership every day and opens the mail and sure that'll be good, right?

Jim Fitzpatrick:

yeah, I mean that'll you know, coming to visit the kids as they run in the store and my family my associates are my family.

Rita Case:

The manufacturers are my family, right? It's like coming home every day, right? Why would I want to know I'm my family is. My customers are my family. My associates are my family. The manufacturers are my family.

Jim Fitzpatrick:

It's like coming home every day, right, yeah why would I want to?

Rita Case:

But, no, I'm hoping that our children will enjoy the business and that, at some size, that they will keep Rick's legacy. That is my goal is that Rick's legacy will continue and continue to be a family owned and operated dealership group. We may be the last lady standing because of the buy sells that are coming out but, that's our goal, that's my goal.

Jim Fitzpatrick:

You mentioned the last lady. You're uniquely qualified to answer this question for sure, and that is this is an industry that typically attracts males into it. It's hard to get a female to come in to retail automotive. Yeah, talk to us about that. What do you think the industry needs to do at the at the retail level to attract more Rita cases that want to come in and see how great this industry is?

Rita Case:

oh, it is the funnest business ever. Who doesn't want to talk about cars?

Jim Fitzpatrick:

right, what's the first? Well, not enough women, I guess. Yeah, what's the first? Toy that people play with is that he is the cars that's right.

Rita Case:

What's the 95-year-old guy do? He goes to the car show to look at the old cars. So I feel that, with my experience and having really dedicated time to recruiting women and understanding why we can't get women into the retail car business, and I just think it's inherently a few traits Now I'm sensitive about talking about this because I don't want anybody to think I'm profiling women because I'm not. I'm talking about my personal experience in taking women and bringing them in, qualified women, into this industry. Number one it's inherently women prefer not to negotiate. The guy goes to buy a refrigerator with his wife. His wife goes I want that one over in the corner. I'm going to go look at the shoes, honey, you know, cause he wants to negotiate, you know, and she doesn't want to be in the scene at all.

Jim Fitzpatrick:

She's uncomfortable with that Doesn't want confrontation of any kind.

Rita Case:

In negotiating. As part of being a car dealer, a retail car dealer Number two, I feel like it's a business that still is unable to control the hours. You walk in to buy a car at 15 minutes to nine. We close at nine.

Rita Case:

She has her girlfriend's birthday party, she's got the bridal shower, she's got appointments. She wants to go on. Most women want to go on with their schedule. And the third, which I say I'm just speaking from experience is that women prefer to know what they're going to make. The fact that they are on commission, 100% commission, and that's management too. Our company pays 100% commission. No one's on a salary, and so that's the way that I've been able to grow the Rick and I've been able to grow the company, get motivated people that are willing to work on commission, and that is inherently not a comfortable situation that I have found in women. They want to know what am I going to make. Give me what I'm going to make and then you know, kickers above it if I do better, and that's just not the way that we compensate to get the maximum performance in our industry.

Jim Fitzpatrick:

Sure, how is it getting just anybody, men or women, getting into the business or into the company, into Rick Case? Has it been tough.

Rita Case:

I feel that our organization has a waiting list for people to want to come to work with Rick Case for people to want to come to work with Rick Case and I believe that because we have a culture that instills community service.

Rita Case:

We're a very honest company. I always say we're fair, firm and friendly. We're fair, we're firm, but we're friendly with everyone. That's how we operate with our associates. All of our associates are very well recognized, compensated, trained, shown a career path. You come into our company, you get a career path. We have tremendous longevity in our company. That promotes people to stay longer because their counterpart, they see what's happened to their co-associate.

Jim Fitzpatrick:

Right, in a couple of months we're going to be I don't want to say celebrating, but it'll be four years since COVID hit. Talk to us about some of the lessons learned coming out of COVID, where basically things were shut down. I know here in Florida some of it was, some of it wasn't, but talk to us about that. Must have been tough times for the company during that time.

Rita Case:

Well, actually we're in Georgia as well. We're in Atlanta, Georgia, with five dealerships up there, and then we have the dealerships down here. Both Georgia and Florida were considered an essential. The automobile dealership, including the showroom, was considered an essential business which we, with strong dealer body down here and Atlanta. We lobbied the governor immediately to make not just the service essential, like some states but the sales as well. So we were able to win that a battle, and it was only like three months, and then people you know, yeah, then the car companies came out with amazing incentives.

Rita Case:

It was a deal you couldn't refuse. We had people out front signing the paperwork on the hoods of their car because they didn't want to come in. Because of COVID they were still. So we were delivering cars out in the parking lot because they didn't want to come in, but the deals were so great that the business just went for us just kept right on going.

Jim Fitzpatrick:

In terms of the digital retailing. Everybody in the business got excited about it when COVID hit and said, oh, we can deliver these cars to home and that's going to be the future of retail automotive in the new car sector. What do you think about that today, as you sit here today? Do you think that that's the future of our industry?

Rita Case:

I honestly don't. You know, if it was ever going to really show a future trend, we would have seen it in COVID, but we didn't. The people, even though we could take the car to them, even though we did have all the technology to do it, they still wanted to come in and see the car. They still wanted to see it and I don't see that becoming changing much anytime soon. I feel that if a customer says, I'll take the car, bring it to my house, bring me the paperwork, I know what customer says I'll take the car, bring it to my house, bring me the paperwork.

Rita Case:

I know what I want. I want this gray Civic right here. They don't want to say no once the car gets there. So in their minds they're like I really want to go to the dealership, to where I can say no, that wasn't the color, I thought it was going to be, I thought the interior. They don't want to have the salesperson come with all that paperwork, because they built a relationship online with the salesperson. They're friends. That's right. People don't buy from cars from people they don't like.

Rita Case:

That's right, so they like the guy or the gal yeah. And they don't want to say no. So they say I've got to go to the dealership. What if I don't?

Jim Fitzpatrick:

want that car Right left for the brick and mortar showrooms.

Rita Case:

Absolutely. I don't think people are going to be buying cars from home. I really don't.

Jim Fitzpatrick:

Sure, they might be doing more of the process though, right the?

Rita Case:

sales process.

Jim Fitzpatrick:

They have to Right In terms of credit apps and trade allowances and things like that, but they really want to use the showroom for affirmation and confirmation.

Rita Case:

Yeah, well, we believe, well, we know from the statistics, from the surveys, from the customer surveys, that you know, one of the biggest aggravations is how long it takes to buy the car right. So I, we came up with. I came up with 90 minutes or less, or your first payments on us nice so basically saying is you know we can? We'll deliver your car to you and you'll get your keys and drive away 90 minutes a lot.

Jim Fitzpatrick:

It's a great idea, so we really came up with that, not Rick. Yeah, that's. I wanted to show that I can think of something too. I'm sure there's a lot more in there.

Rita Case:

So what we did is we came up with a green check, so you had to go online and you had to do enough work online to get a certificate that had a big green check.

Jim Fitzpatrick:

Which would allow the consumer then to get out of here in 90 minutes or less.

Rita Case:

Right, because we knew that number one. We had the car that they wanted. We'd already negotiated the price. He'd already decided on the aftermarket stuff he wanted. That's great. The car was ready to go, it was gassed, it was cleaned and all he was doing was coming in signing up, because there's still wet signatures even here. There's still documents for title, the trade and all of that.

Jim Fitzpatrick:

So all of that. So that's how we did it. Yeah, you're a large volume Hyundai dealer and Hyundai and. Amazon came out recently, yeah, and said, hey, we're going to build a partnership here. Not with a lot of details, maybe you know some more than the rest of us, but what is your take on that?

Rita Case:

It's just a lead service.

Jim Fitzpatrick:

OK.

Rita Case:

You know the franchise laws doesn't allow amazon to sell cars. Yeah, so it's. It's like a true car. It's a lead service. Yeah, so a customer will go on. They'll be able to pick the dealership, they'll be able to pick the price. We load in the price they agreed upon price. They're not dictating what price we're going to sell the car at.

Rita Case:

We're the ones that say that we'll sell it to you for that price okay and if they don't like our price they can go to another dealer that's on the, that has been approved and has signed up with the Amazon lead service for Hyundai. Amazon's not gonna deliver the car. The customer's still gonna do business with the franchise dealer.

Jim Fitzpatrick:

Okay, okay. The industry is obviously going through a tremendous upheaval right now with EVs. You know it started out everybody was so excited about EVs, but the EVs seem to be the ones that are gaining age on dealers' lots and dealers that I've talked to around the country have said, eh, we maybe need to pump the brakes on this. What is your take on the EV situation?

Rita Case:

Well, I have first of all remember I'm in Atlanta and I'm in Florida, which driving is the only you've got to drive distances, and it's going to take you a while.

Jim Fitzpatrick:

It's going to take you a while.

Rita Case:

So I, from the very beginning, have felt that there's so much else that has to be done to change in order for EVs to take hold. And what we're seeing is the administration forcing the manufacturers into making significant investments and research into models and research and development and plants and everything to try to chase an administration's requirements. And I just think that it's now come to head Our oldest units in stock day supply, our oldest aged units and the turndowns of which we try never to turn down a car For any of our manufacturers are the EVs.

Jim Fitzpatrick:

Affordability is such a factor out there, right Among OEMs as well as dealers, with the average price of a new car being almost $50,000. Is that a concern of yours?

Rita Case:

Well, you know people aren't going to give up their car. Nobody's going to be walking anytime soon, Right? So the consumer's going to have to find a way that they can afford a car. And there's another reason why I want EVs to slow down because the manufacturers are putting costs into the ICE cars in order to cover their expansion in the EV requirements. Sure, so I believe that. Well, no, I don't believe that there's going to be any problem selling cars. Okay, I believe 2024 is going to be a great year. I'd like to believe that we're going to get up to 16.5 this year.

Jim Fitzpatrick:

And people are going to buy cars. I mean, they need cars. There was a study, I should say a column, that was written by an economist a couple of years back that he predicted. He said you know, in the next 20 years, the auto industry, we will see about 80% of the dealerships out there owned by about 20% of the large groups because they're zapping up everything lithium, autonation and Asbury and Sonic and and others. Yes, what's your take on that? Do you think that the future of the of the smaller dealer groups? It's okay.

Rita Case:

Well, I'm not sure about the 80%, I can't speak to that, but the concept that you're mentioning I do agree with. I think there's going to be less dealers because, as the cars can now be driven for so much longer before oil changes and services, that connectivity that they can fix them from remote like you can your computer when you call in for helpline, I believe we're going to need a lot less dealers in these rural areas. So I think there'll be a concentration of dealers in the industry has proven to the hedge fund managers and the investment firms that this is a good industry to invest in, which really is quite new. That is like a 15, 20 year concept that Dell that Michael Dell would get into or that Bershaw Hathaway would get into the car business. So they're all saying, hey, this car dealership, the retail car dealer, they make more money than all these other stock companies as far as a percentage of sales to gross and net and all. So they're investing in it. So that's going to improve the buyouts, I think.

Rita Case:

I also think that the succession planning is. There's a lot of dealers in the country that are of the age that they don't see a succession plan, with their children possibly, and they're like this is the time to get out. I'm never going to get more money than I am right now. So this is going to be, I believe, a huge year, this year and next year by sales, because people are thinking, oh my God, it's going to drop, I better grab it now, and the manufacturers are going to be closing points where they don't need them, because it's expensive for the manufacturer to maintain a point in a town that has 30,000 people.

Jim Fitzpatrick:

So I do agree with you. I do agree with you.

Rita Case:

But I do still think that there'll be family-owned businesses like myself that are in major markets, because we do provide a an alternative yeah, yeah, for sure.

Jim Fitzpatrick:

Rick was known, as you mentioned, as such a marketer. I mean, other dealers, you know, tip their hat to him and was just wow, this guy knows how to sell cars, that's for sure in the marketing. Where does that stand today? What, what kinds of things are you doing to do marketing? Doing, obviously digital marketing and obviously digital marketing and things like that, maybe some social marketing. But what does the marketing plan look like for Rick Case?

Rita Case:

Well, you know we learned a lot from Rick. I was mentored by him. We were married over 40 years, so I mean I got a lot of information and learned a lot from him about marketing. So we're keeping those trends because people still buy cars the same way payment money down, availability that that is not going to change it's been the same for years.

Rita Case:

So payment buyers, but the way that we're marketing today, and I always want to come up with a different tag, like I did with the 90 90 minute guarantee and we've got the car wash for life and we've got the rick case rewards card and've got the Rick Case Rewards card.

Jim Fitzpatrick:

Talk to me about the Rick Case Rewards card, because when we pulled in here to set up for today's shot at your Honda store, you've got gas pumps out there, yep yep, talk to me about that, you don't normally see that at a dealership.

Rita Case:

Right well over 20 years ago, when the frequent flyer miles came out you know Rick goes you know we should come up with a way that we can get points for our Rick Case customers, because we have, you know, the different franchises here in town and you can buy cars and get points and service. So we came up with the Rick Case Rewards Card and with that card we built a gas station so you can use that card. It's not a credit card, you do not make payments, it's an activation card so it activates the gas pump and you can buy gas at cost with a Rick case so that brings that consumer back to your store to be buying gas.

Jim Fitzpatrick:

I mean, what could be better than that, right, I? Mean we offer the gas as a, as an amenity for being a Rick case customer, as we do our free car wash for life which you probably had to go through the car wash line, even though though it's a little bit rainy today, people are still washing their cars.

Rita Case:

So that's an activation card for our car wash. We have car washes at our dealerships that are free for our customers, and then you get points and you can use those points for service discounts car discounts.

Jim Fitzpatrick:

We hear so much about first-party data and that's really at the core of that. To bring the customer back in, right about first party data, and that's really at the core of that to bring the customer back in right.

Rita Case:

Well, you know, we we've always had that philosophy. This dealership here that we're in today is the largest voting precinct in Broward County okay we have two precincts, so we have over 4,800 registered voters.

Jim Fitzpatrick:

They come here to this showroom for every single vote for every single voting time.

Rita Case:

Rick said we got to get people to our store.

Jim Fitzpatrick:

So just kind of closing out here. I have only a couple more questions and then I'll let you go, and I appreciate all the time you've given us. It's been fantastic With Rick looking down. What would his take be on your running the stores over the last three years?

Rita Case:

He would be saying honey, you're fulfilling your promise to me. Yeah, you, he's saying, honey, you're fulfilling your promise to me. Yeah, you know. Because when he was passing away, the day he was passing away, I was like, hey, listen, honey. I said you know, I said I'm going to break your records. I'm going to break your records because you know we always break records.

Rita Case:

And he says well, if anybody can, you can. And I promised him I'd keep him number one at the top and all of our franchises are right up there at the top five. Wow, and I said I will make sure that your name is synonymous with community foundation, with community, you know, support, Sure, and that we will be a founding father of Broward County, even though we weren't here when they Broward opened. I want to be remembered in the next hundred years from now. Yeah, They'll say hey, that Rick Case man. He was a founding father that Rick Case operation, for all that we're doing for community support and community service. So he would be very proud that.

Rita Case:

I haven't gone off of our goal of treating every customer as we would our best friend and keeping our culture and longevity of our company.

Jim Fitzpatrick:

That's great. Talk to us about the charitable giving. I mean, you guys started early on with the bikes for kids and just so many things, but touch on that. Why was that such an important part of the whole operation moving forward?

Rita Case:

Well, it's just, it's just who we were, it's who we are. You know we were. We had the largest bicycle stores in the United States, in Ohio. We, we, we got the bikes for kids going because these kids would come in and they go. I wish I could have a bicycle and we're like why don't we just ask the community to bring in bicycles? They no longer need that. Their kids have outgrown. They've outgrown that are in the corner of the garage and we will match them up with a child that couldn't afford or have a bicycle.

Rita Case:

Anything that has to do with education is also one of our visions. So if it's scholarships, I'm Horatio Alger, I'm honoree. So I'm a member of Horatio Alger, which is a scholarship program. We have the Boys and Girls Club. Our goal at the Boys and Girls Club is to get the child to the next grade on time. That's the key.

Rita Case:

Okay, Get from fifth grade to sixth grade, from fourth grade to third, you know the next grade sure anything that we can do to help our residents have a better, a better community, a safe place to live, a a a great lifestyle, and that's what's important to us it's synonymous.

Jim Fitzpatrick:

There are customers right, that's right. Why wouldn't we want to?

Rita Case:

give back to those that have made us successful, that's right?

Jim Fitzpatrick:

so there's probably going to be a few dealers that want to know what does rita case do in her know? What does Rita Case do for fun? What does she do in her spare time? She's always at the store. I know this is your passion, right? There's some fun facts that I'll share if you don't about you, that most people don't know. But tell us what is your passion outside of the auto industry.

Rita Case:

I'll tell you.

Jim Fitzpatrick:

My real passion, and it has been since I was 16 years old because my parents were hobbyist pilots.

Rita Case:

That's what I was going to mention. Yeah, my dad was a hobbyist pilot with World War II planes.

Jim Fitzpatrick:

You know he was like instead of collecting cars.

Rita Case:

He liked the old World War planes.

Jim Fitzpatrick:

So you like to fly in jets right now?

Rita Case:

right. Yeah, I do, I got my license Not fly, not drive Right, exactly. That's why I'm glad I you fly. You fly these planes, yes so I've been a pilot since I was 16 and I got the first Honda Jet in the United States. I had the first order. So you know I've been flying a Honda Jet and now I'm flying a Phenom 300E, which I have for the last two years. That's amazing. So I love the fact that we're in Atlanta because I can take my team there.

Rita Case:

So no, that's my favorite hobby, besides all the work I do for the community, which I love and warms my heart, and running this business, because I really appreciate my associates and they appreciate me. That's a secret weapon. I'm involved in my company. I'm, you know, through all the departments. They all know me. So my third hobby would be flying my jet and looking for places to go. That's right. That's right. They're very happy. So my third hobby would be flying my jet and looking for places to go. That's right.

Jim Fitzpatrick:

That's right, they're very happy. Rita Case, yes, I am, I'm very happy, passionate, and I really appreciate you taking the time to allow me the opportunity to share my story.

Rita Case:

We are honored to be here, so thank you so much for all the time it's my pleasure.

Jim Fitzpatrick:

Thank you, thanks, thanks, thanks. Thanks for watching the executive profile exclusively on cbt news.