Dealership owners Jose Cazares and Lee Schreiber on Oct. 31, in their first joint venture, bought Reichert Chevrolet-Buick in Woodstock, Ill., from John Reichert.
Reichert plans to retire, Cazares and Schreiber told Automotive News. The Buick brand will cease operations at the store in up to 120 days, per a termination agreement with General Motors as part of the duo’s buy-sell approval, Cazares and Schreiber said.
They renamed the store Woodstock Chevrolet. Woodstock is northwest of Chicago.
Schreiber’s grandfather ran a Ford dealership for more than 50 years, and his father co-owned two dealerships, including Bull Valley Ford in Woodstock, Ill., where Cazares and Schreiber were colleagues from about 2011 to 2015.
Cazares bought his first dealership, Freeport Ford in Illinois, in fall 2021. Around the same time, Schreiber, who already owned Sterling Chevrolet in Illinois, was buying his second dealership, Dixon Ford-Volkswagen in Illinois. He bought that store Oct. 1.
During the sales, the friends and former colleagues commiserated.
“We went through the process together, and we collaborated on the whole process,” Cazares said. “We decided that if want to grow in the future, we should try to do it together.”
The duo plans to merge all their business operations in the next year or so, including Cazares’ store in Freeport, and the stores now under the Schreiber Automotive umbrella.
“Like Jose said, we collaborate and work well together,” Schreiber said. “We’re both relatively the same age, so it works for us.”
The owners said they kept most of the staff and plan to modernize the Reichert Chevrolet-Buick building, including adding more service stalls and new equipment to increase efficiency.
Both Schreiber and Cazares, who say they share similar goals, values and growth strategies, said they’re looking to grow and diversify in the future, including expanding beyond Illinois.
“Wherever the opportunity arises,” Cazares said. “We will take it out of state if an opportunity presents itself.”
