When Jeff Wyler opened his first car dealership business in 1973, there were two things he wanted to accomplish.
‘’I didn’t figure out how much money I wanted to make,” said Wyler. “I just said, ‘If we can create happy customers, and happy employees, I’ll bet I’m going to wind up being very happy.’ And I’ve followed that path for the past 52 years in this business.”
Wyler’s original location in Batavia had trouble breaking through in those early years. So he undertook a savvy marketing campaign.
“GM would not permit a dealer outside of the market to advertise in Cincinnati newspapers,” said Wyler. “But I could use the radio and television, which covered my market as well as Metropolitan Cincinnati.”
He picked up a slogan that tied his dealership’s location to value – especially relevant amidst the oil crisis of 1973: “Cars, like eggs, are cheaper in the country.” He’d borrowed that turn of phrase from a car dealer friend in Columbus.
“I said, ‘Bob, would it be all right if I used it in Cincinnati?’’ said Wyler. “And he said, ‘I guess so – I stole it from somebody in Pennsylvania.”
It worked. The commercials were a hit on local TV and radio. Ironically, in the late 2000s, Wyler’s pal from Columbus called him up, offering to sell him his dealership in Canal Winchester. (Wyler said yes.)
Born in Cincinnati, Wyler’s family roots in the Queen City stretch back over several generations, but his formative years were nomadic, spent in Ohio and the Southwest. Wyler returned to Cincinnati after graduating high school, briefly attending Ohio State University, then junior college in Colorado for a year and then back to Cincinnati. He attended the University of Cincinnati, where he would eventually graduate with a degree in finance. Wyler ended up paying his own way, demonstrating the hustle that is part of the Cincinnati ethos.
“I was actually working 40 hours a week on three part-time jobs, and then I wound up getting a job in the ticket sellers’ union,” said Wyler. “In those days, the union sold all the tickets for the Reds, the Symphony, what was the Cincinnati Gardens in those days, the basketball Royals. If you bought a ticket to see a show at the Taft or Music Hall, the Beatles, you bought it from a union ticket seller – I actually sold tickets for the Beatles concerts.”
He ended up selling tickets for the Cincinnati Reds for six years, even after he graduated college with a degree in finance and started a professional job with the Chevrolet Division of General Motors.
“I got off [work] at five, and I had to be at the ballpark at six at Crosley Field,” said Wyler. “It paid like $5 an hour in 1965 – that was a ton. It was usually a buck and a quarter an hour.”
Before he stopped selling tickets, he was making just over $900 a month. Chevrolet hired him at $565 a month. Inside the Milford headquarters of the Wyler Family Automotive Group is a museum dedicated to the company’s history – including a replica of Wyler’s old Crosley Field ticket booth. And long before he was a Reds ticket seller, Wyler was a Reds fan. His uncle took him to his first game when he was six, and he fell in love – so much so that he wanted to become a baseball player. That was not to be, but the Reds were still in his future.
“40 years later, Mr. Castellini called me up and said, ‘How would you like to be a part of the ownership group of the Cincinnati Reds?’ I jumped on that in a heartbeat,” said Wyler.
The Jeff Wyler Family Foundation was established in 2009 and grants over $1 million annually. Wyler has been deeply involved in the University of Cincinnati community and has volunteered for and served on several local boards, including as chair of the UC Board of Trustees and on the Cincinnati Art Museum board.
Today, the Jeff Wyler Automotive Group is among the largest car dealerships in the U.S., ranking #24 out of the top 150. The company’s expansion is due in part to major acquisitions; Wyler also adopted the automall concept early on to great success. The company has weathered highs and lows over the years. Economic turmoil. Ballooning interest rates. The pandemic. He credits his son David, the CEO, and son-in-law Scott, the COO, with reinvigorating his zeal for his enterprise when they came aboard. Wyler lives with wife Linda in Hyde Park and has four children and 10 grandchildren – two of whom recently joined the family business.
“[David and Scott] helped create that empire, and it’s a legacy for them and the next generation,” said Wyler. We plan to be around for a long time.”
