“My husband Matt was always the car guy,” explains Corina Diehl, Owner and CEO of Diehl Automotive Group. “I got involved in the business every now and then, organizing charitable programs or in customer service, but Matt was the genius in the car business, and I was focused on our kids. Then in March 2007, Matt broke his ankle in a fall at home. Six weeks later, the healthy, 47-year-old suffered a massive stroke from a staph infection he got while in the hospital. He was brain dead and paralyzed. After three days, the heartbreaking decision was made to remove him from life support.

Reeling from Matt’s death, Corina was left with the monumental decision to sell or take over the dealership. “Our previous partner, Bob was with me at the house. He said, ‘we’ll do whatever you want to do, do you want to keep it, do you want to sell it?’ It took about 30 seconds to make the decision,” she says, “I wanted to take over the business. It was our dream together; it was our dream for our children.”

At the time, Corina’s daughter was 12, and son, 18. They had one location, two franchises. “After Matt died, I was trying to get from day-to-day,” she explains, “I needed something to focus on, but at the same time, I would go into my office, close the door, and cry a lot. I spent those days getting myself integrated into the store with the team we had in place. I learned and I learned and asked a lot of questions. I didn’t get a lot of respect from my co-workers. The OEMs were really tough on me. One of them did not want to give me the franchise because I was someone’s wife.” Then in 2008, the financial markets crashed and the world fell into turmoil as a result. “Those were the toughest times,” Diehl says, “Revenue declined so dramatically. It was truly an insane time. Looking back, I really don’t know how I did it or how we, as a business, survived.”

Navigating the crisis tested every industry. Diehl says auto dealers were struggling just like every other business. She had to make a lot of tough decisions. “Every decision was made to keep the house standing,” she says, “just as I was doing at home in my own personal life, I was making decisions to keep the house standing. And as an employer, you carry a huge burden. You have all of your employees to think about.”

To get through it, she says she became a ‘bulldozer’, using whatever means she could to keep the business going, making tough decision after tough decision. “But I treated people the right way all along, she says, “Even when I wasn’t getting the same back. I had to fight a lot harder for everything because I am a woman.” As the economy recovered, Diehl, with her feet now solidly under her, began acquiring more dealerships and expanded into the collision business.

Fast-forward to 2021. Corina’s two children, now adults, work alongside her in the business. She has five locations, nine rooftops, and three collision centers. “My son is truly my right hand. He’s vice president of the organization. He handles the front side of the business. He is his father’s son, smarter than most and he’s a major part of what we do. My daughter runs one of our offices, so she’s also playing an important role.” At 58 Diehl says she thinks often about slowing down. She says, “I think to myself, I can’t run at this pace any longer, I’m going to cut back, let go, not take on new projects, then an opportunity comes across my desk and I say, let’s look at the numbers.”