Carter Myers Automotive
CARTER MYERS AUTOMOTIVE (CMA) IS CELEBRATING
CLOSE TO 100 YEARS IN BUSINESS.
Selling and servicing cars, while supporting associates, customers and the community, have always been top priorities for CMA. But in recent years, they have expanded their philanthropy in community, customer and employee investment programs, demonstrating their deep commitment to moving lives forward.
“Two years ago, we really focused efforts on clarifying the mission of our company, for our associates, for our customers and for our community,” notes Liza Myers Borches, President and CEO of CMA. “Our mission is ‘Moving lives forward.’ This is the mission that drives everything we do. Customers come to us for a vehicle that will take them to a job, get their kids to school, they have a passion for driving, or their family is expanding. Our customers are going somewhere in life and we are there to move them forward, to help them get where they want to go.”
The mission focuses heavily on moving CMA employees’ lives forward, too. “As part of our ‘Moving lives forward’ mission, we asked ourselves, ‘How do we help our sales and service associates? How do we help them move their lives forward and gain financial freedom?’ We already offer employee stock ownership, and our general managers are equity partners in our business. So, with our mission of ‘Moving lives forward’ in mind, we started a CMA scholarship to help associates pay for the cost of college,” says Myers Borches.
In the community, CMA has done a great deal of work in partnership with local nonprofi ts. Recently, Myers Borches spent time with United Way and other nonprofi ts thinking about meaningful ways the dealership could help in the community.
“We focused on families in need, those who are trying to move out of poverty. The issues surrounding childcare, housing security, and employment were being addressed to a great extent, but there wasn’t a solution for transportation," notes Myers Borches. "They were using public transportation or unreliable cars. So we said, ‘How can we solve this problem?’ That is when we began developing our Driving Lives Forward initiative. This is a new nonprofi t under the umbrella of United Way. Families are nominated by the nonprofi t and through this program they can obtain loans at the very best interest rates and purchase vehicles at the lowest price point."
Another area of focus in the Driving Lives Forward initiative is service. “We’ve always done United Way campaigns and matched contributions, but we wanted to ensure our philanthropy would be most impactful, so we created a new service fund,” explains Myers Borches. “Now we match every dollar contributed to our service fund. Families can apply through the fund to get their vehicle repair covered.” This program has launched in one location and CMA plans to expand in another location.
“Our teams are proud of what we are doing. Rallying around this mission and continuing to grow it helps us make the greatest impact for our associates and our community,” says Myers Borches.
Carter Myers Automotive (CMA) is a fourth-generation family and employee-owned business.
CMA originated in 1902 as Stockdell-Myers Hardware Company, located in downtown Petersburg, Virginia.
CMA now operates 15 dealerships and 17 franchises in Central Virginia.
12 DEALER PRINCIPAL