Serra Automotive to purchase Marsh operations

Bill O'Brien, The Record-Eagle, Traverse City, Mich.
·1 min read

Jan. 4—TRAVERSE CITY — One of the country's largest auto dealerships will purchase the Bill Marsh Auto Group in a transaction that will close this spring.

Serra Automotive, headquartered in Fenton, which broke into in the northern Michigan auto market in 2015, is purchasing the Bill Marsh Auto Group dealerships in Traverse City, Kalkaska and Gaylord plus other parts of the Marsh Auto Group operations, the Marsh family confirmed today. The purchase price was not disclosed and the ownership transition is expected in early May.

The Bill Marsh Auto Group is a family-run organization started in 1982 by the late Bill Marsh Sr. when he took over operation of a Traverse City Buick dealership, and quickly become one of the top-selling auto dealerships in the region. It's now operated by his sons Bill Jr., Jamie and Mike Marsh, and has approximately 300 employees. The Marsh brothers met with their employees on Thursday to inform them of the sale and introduce them to brothers Joe and Matt Serra, owners of the Serra Automotive Group, along with Serra Traverse City partners Jerry Zezulka and Jim Tuohy.

"It was a very considered decision," Jamie Marsh said Wednesday. All Marsh employees will be retained as part of the transaction, he said.

"Really, not much of anything will change, certainly in the short term," Marsh said.

See Friday's Record-Eagle for more information.