Mike: Used Car Sales Keep Me in Business
The owner of Mike's Auto said on Tuesday that used cars sales in recent years have been a key part of his business' survival.
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Mike Holland told the Hamilton Planning Board on Tuesday that he needs to sell used cars to stay in business.
The owner of Mike’s Auto Repair in downtown Hamilton told the board that “we’d be toast” if he didn’t sell used cars in addition to repairing vehicles.
Things all changed for Holland a few years ago when Volvo started selling new cars with full maintenance coverage – except tires - for five years or 50,000 miles.
“You know what that did to me? It killed me,” Holland said, adding that 85 percent of his repair business in from Volvos – Mike’s is known as specializing in Volvo repair.
By the admission of both Holland and his attorney, Jim Kroesser of Hamilton, Holland has been storing and selling used cars on the property since 2008. But it was not until about a month ago that the cars caught the attention of passers-by as balloons and flags were used to decorate the used cars that were lined up for sale along Route 1A, just north of the Wenham town line.
Previously, “there were no flags, no flower pots and no lining up of used cars,” said Planning Board Chairman Peter Clark, who said he fielded several question about it as he worked out at the neighboring Hamilton Athletic Club.
The board spent about an hour and a half reviewing permits from Holland to allow the sale of used cars on Tuesday night.
Almost exactly 24 hours earlier in the same room at Hamilton Town Hall, the Hamilton Board of Selectmen voted to give Mike’s 30 days to remove the used cars for sale that he is storing on the property at 17 Bay Road.
While Mike’s has been issued a Class II car dealers license each year since 2008 that allows him to sell used cars, he is not allowed to store them on his property under the terms of the permit. The Selectmen said it could revoke his permit or vote to not renew it if the vehicles are not removed. Under zoning, he is also not permitted to sell used cars from the property.
“Under his Class II license he can sell cars, he just can’t keep them at that location,” said Planning Board member Rick Mitchell.
He is seeking a permit from the zoning board to allow the sale of 12 used cars from the property and will go before the Zoning Board of Appeals on Wednesday at 7 p.m. at Hamilton Town Hall to begin that permitting process.
On Tuesday, the Hamilton Planning Board was asked to review the site plan for the used car sales and offer its opinion on the application to the zoning board.
One of the board’s chief criticisms was that it could not answer all of its questions based on the hand drawn site plan that Kroesser submitted to the board. It is part of a series of application documents that have been submitted to town officials and are attached to this story as a PDF.
Kroesser said that while the site plan is hand drawn, it was to scale and based on a survey by Frank Hancock. Kroesser noted that site plan review usually consist of the review of new building, parking lots, driveways and lights, among other things. But in this case, he said, no changes were proposed to the site – only to store and sell used cars from the property.
“I don’t think there’s anyone on this board that wants to put Mike’s out of business,” said Ed Howard, a Planning Board member who later added he is in a conundrum “because Mike has a good reputation in town.”
For example, in March, Mike’s was named one of the best car repair garages in the two towns in the Best of Patch Readers’ Choice contest.
And one of Mike’s customers, Richard Malabre, said he saw coverage of the issue on Hamilton-Wenham Patch and came in front of the board to express support for Holland asked the board to treat him fairly.
The worst outcome would be to drive Mike’s out of business, he said. That is what has happened in some cases in Marblehead, where he used to live.
“There are numerous vacant storefronts and it looks very bad,” Malabre said.
As he did in an earlier letter to the editor on Patch, Bob Gray of Bay Road told the board that the used cars for sale lined up along Route 1A “is really not what I would like to see in the downtown.”
Howard, and later Planning Coordinator Kristine Cheetham, suggested that an offer from Mike to continue the existing sidewalk south from Talbots and past Mike’s property as a “form of mitigation” if he were granted zoning permission to sell used cars from the property.
Planning Board members also expressed concerns about how the used car sales may impact an informal agreement Holland reached with Joe Leone, who owns the Black Cow restaurant across the street, for restaurant patrons to park on Mike’s property during the evening.
Clark said the board would want to find out whether the agreement to have Black Cow patrons park at Mike’s in part of the conditions for any of the Black Cow permits. Black Cow is currently closed for renovations and is expected to reopen this fall.
In This article
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Mike's Auto Repair
17 Bay Rd, South Hamilton, MA -
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The Hamilton Athletic Club
300 Main St, Wenham, MA -
Hamilton Town Hall
577 Bay Rd, South Hamilton, MA -
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Talbots
31 Bay Rd, South Hamilton, MA -
Black Cow Tap & Grill
16 Bay Rd, South Hamilton, MA
richard boroff
7:27 am on Wednesday, June 6, 2012
The suggestion of putting a sidewalk in front of the property, while an interesting compromise, would be a waste of time, money and space.
There is no where to come from or go to with a sidewalk there. There is no reason to walk on that side beyond Talbots or the liquor store. People will not park in Talbots to go to Henderson's and vice versa. And people coming and going to the train station will pass through the Talbot's or Henderson's lots and immediately cross the street to the sidewalk that already exists.
The planning board needs to withdraw that idea.
Richard Boroff
Ron Powell
8:42 am on Wednesday, June 6, 2012
It seems like that if the cars were not even noticed for four years -- even by Bob Gray, then the obvious compromise is to limit the number of cars that Mike's Auto may sell on the lot and not allow it to place balloons or flags to attract attention to them.
RC
9:02 am on Wednesday, June 6, 2012
This is all very unfortunate. I love our downtown, and I'd hate to see any business driven out. However, I also think the cars lined up in front with flags on them take the asethetics of the area down a notch. If Mike has been "storing and selling used cars on the property since 2008" perhaps he can simply revert to the setup he had previously been using to make the cars less noticeable? No one had any complaints about it then!
Rich
10:24 am on Wednesday, June 6, 2012
I guess we need to tell Mike about being diverse if he wants to survive.
I've never heard of an auto repair guy not having enough repair work,
have you? theres more than just Volvo's breaking down..
I'm sure selling cars is an easier job for sure...
but back to the repair biz...
get your facts straight
11:20 pm on Thursday, June 7, 2012
are you in the automobile business? I know of dealers (new & used) laying off very talented mechanics on a daily basis. new cars are very easy to get low financing rates of which makes them very affordable with full warranties. maybe the next bank bail out will be all the repo's coming in because of such...it's already happening to. quite possibly it's also why Stutz Volvo after decades in business sold out to a very large group and was moved out of Salem to Danvers........ask yourself about the huge uproar over the right to repair action... it was only to protect people such as yourself...and by the way, when was the last time you noticed a broken down car on the side of a Hamilton street????
Jeff Landis
11:37 am on Wednesday, June 6, 2012
@Regina - I'm sure if Mike's sale of used cars was lucrative, he would have no problem reverting to the prior arrangement. But in today's economy, one has to be able to adapt and be flexible or risk losing their business.
With that said, I urge the Planning Board and Selectmen to take a look at the unsightly lot of Asbury Street Motors with it's collection of old damaged cars. Not only is it a mess to look at (just one block from the main thoroughfare through town) but poses a major accident risk to cars blinded by traffic trying to enter Asbury Street from Willow Street.
Bob Gray
2:20 pm on Wednesday, June 6, 2012
Actually if a sidewalk were installed in front onf Mike's it would be used by many people coming from Henderson's and the other shops there to get to the crosswalk by Talbot’s. Right now you have to cross through Mike's lot to get there. Not very safe...
Also... previously there were never as many cars in the lot like there is now and that's why it is so noticeable. At last count there was 15 cars in the lot...way to many for that small lot and it makes it very dangerous trying to pull out from Henderson's onto Bay road because the view is blocked by the cars lined up there.
Again... no one wants to hurt Mike and his business. If he wants to keep 2 or 3 cars on his lot to sell I doubt anyone would care but to have a full fledged used car lot with flags and balloons smack in the middle of our downtown is not what most people want to see.
richard boroff
11:12 am on Thursday, June 7, 2012
Perhaps it would make more sense for the towns to put a crosswalk directly from Hendersons to the other side of the street.
It is not Mike's responsibility to provide safe auto access from Hendersons. His cars are back a bit off the street and do not really block the view. Maybe cars should be prevented from parking too close to the edge of the drive from Hendersons so cars exiting can have a better view.
Richard Boroff
richard boroff
11:14 am on Thursday, June 7, 2012
Cars parked on the street is what I mean that should be parked away from the exit at Hendersons. Not cars parked in Mike's lot.
Richard Boroff
get your facts straight
11:01 pm on Thursday, June 7, 2012
then this would do away with the parking in front of mike's. good. there has not been a sidewalk there....ever............let's do away with all the parking on 1A..as you can read it's a sight problem from Henderson's anyways.
get your facts straight
11:28 pm on Thursday, June 7, 2012
as you can read by the comments..........its Henderson's creating the mess....why don't they get a "special permit" to advertize on Hamilton property for their business in Wenham. just a question for you Bob. or take down the mess next door creating the line of sight problem. and a sidewalk would eliminate the parking in front of Mike's.....good. no parking on 1A .... let's keep the idea going...I like it.
get your facts straight
11:38 pm on Thursday, June 7, 2012
I fully agree with the other comments. Let Wenham worry about the patrons at their own shops. Wenham should install a cross walk...oh that's right...the "dirt" sidewalk and choas in front of a Henderson's place doesn't allow that......too much riff raff of signage and BALLOONS hanging from trees!! isn't that what got Mike's in so much hot water..??? maybe they should ask Mike to borrow some of his flags...
Michelle Bailey
2:40 pm on Wednesday, June 6, 2012
According to the article the Planning Board is complaining about new flower pots at this location. Didn't the town meeting just approve a sum of money to install flower boxes in the downtown? Hard to tell which way is up here.
I don't understand how the cars in the lot block the view any more than the cars parked along the street. Should we make 1A a no parking zone to improve the line of sight pulling out of Hendersons?
richard boroff
3:56 pm on Wednesday, June 6, 2012
Actually they are not flower pots but very large, strong looking raised plant beds. They are maybe 3-4 feet high. They can be seen in the picture above, and are very good looking.
The planning board wanted that area to become a sidewalk, and also was concerned that people would move a car being looked at directly out into the street. Looking at the pictures shows that the raised beds will do a very good job of blocking cars being moved incorrectly.
Mary
7:46 pm on Wednesday, June 6, 2012
Hmmm, I wonder if Mike had Mercedes, Jaguars, Bentleys, etc. lined up, would everyone then be happy? It's no wonder our towns have the reputations we do.
richard boroff
2:14 pm on Thursday, June 7, 2012
Having just pulled out of the drive from Hendersons onto Bay Road, it is obvious what the problems of sight are.
Looking left toward Wenham, there are various signs put in place by Henderson businesses, plus cars parked on the street blocking the view of traffic.
Looking right into Hamilton, there is the Hendersons cart announcing that Hendersons is open, plus again cars parked on the street.
There was no sight problem caused by the cars for sale on the Mike' lot.
The sight problems are all Hendersons.
Richard Boroff
get your facts straight
11:07 pm on Thursday, June 7, 2012
where is the "special permit" of signage to allow on hamilton property a sign that advertizes a Wenham business? just a question of "zoning" that sign is a hinderance...thank you very much for being observant...by the way, the flower boxes in front of Mike's have been there for YEARS..............i like them to....they are nice and upkept at an expense of Mike's for along time. Interesting that the town had to allocate funds to create more of those.
Marc Fortier
12:38 pm on Friday, June 8, 2012
>>“You know what that did to me? It killed me,” Holland said, adding that 85 percent of his repair business in from Volvos<<
I'm not so sure it's Volvo's Warranty program that's killing the business.
I gave a call to Mike's late last year to get a price for switching over to winter tires. The winter tires were already mounted on rims so it it was just a simple 10 minute job - jack the car up on the lift and swap the wheels. I also indicated that he could pick up the car at his leisure any time of day from from the train station parking lot.
The price quoted was vastly higher than any other quote I received. I'm not a miser, I'll pay for convenience, but this struck me as flat out gouging. I think it was ~$90 if I remember correctly.
Regarding the permit: It's was conditional for a reason. This isn't the Lynnway, nor should it look like it.
get your facts straight
8:32 pm on Friday, June 8, 2012
yeah Marc,
that's why he was voted number 1!