‘Seidles of Clarion LLC’ Used Car Lot Opening Soon

CLARION, Pa. (EYT) – A new used car lot is coming to Clarion along with a well-known name in local car sales.

(Pictured: Bryan Ruth, general manager for “Seidles of Clarion.”)

Seidle’s of Clarion LLC is opening soon on East Main Street at the former Gross Motors site. Phoenix Rehabilitation will continue to operate in the front of the building, and the new Seidle’s will take up the remainder of space with an office, service, and auto repair.

Tom Seidle is the owner of the property and the new car lot.

“We’re going to have a small used car lot and feature late-model vehicles with low mileage,” said general manager Bryan Ruth. “We’ll probably buy most of it from auctions or program cars; it’ll be good quality stuff.”

Ruth, who has lived in New Bethlehem all of his life, learned the car business from owner Tom Seidle for over 22 years, starting in 1998 at Redbank Chevrolet in New Bethlehem washing cars. He also worked in parts and service, but he’s been in sales for the last 18 or 20 years.

Tom Seidle came to Redbank in 1996 after the floods and remained there until he was called back to manage Ron Seidle Chevrolet in Clarion in 2008. Many of the Redbank employees loyal to Tom Seidle also returned to jobs at the Clarion dealership. Ruth worked sales at both locations.

After the Seidle GM Dealership closed abruptly about a year and a half ago, many quality employees were left without jobs, but you will be able to see some of their faces back at the new Seidle’s of Clarion, at least on a part-time basis.

“It’s going to be the same quality of service you got at Seidle’s,” said Ruth. “Mechanic Bill Champion wants to see this happen, and so does Tim Guzzo from the old body shop. Bill offered to help me out for a few months to get started, and he is a great mechanic and will be checking the vehicles out until we find the right mechanic.

“Tim Guzzo has been stopping in a lot, and he’s been helping me get ready in the shop like water lines and air lines. We’re exploring some different options. Tim was the body shop manager at Seidle’s for 28 or 29 years.”

Tom started proceeding with the process of licensing when the family dealership closed.

The process took longer than expected because of work on the building, codes, licenses, and, of course, COVID threw a wrench into the process.

Bryan has been in the building here for a month and a half, working on getting the new business ready. Although Tom is retired and the owner on paper, he is “helping out a lot and making it easier out here to start.”

Seidle’s of Clarion is not far from the old empty family dealership across East Main Street. Ruth acknowledges that the new lot will be on a lower scale than Seidle’s, but it will be the same concept.

918FC604-8D44-4F36-8419-4C8888499F2C_1_201_a

“As far as used cars, there will be new or late model cars with low mileage. They’re going to be checked over just as well as they were at Seidle’s. When a customer buys a vehicle here, they can expect the same quality.

“As Tom Seidle always said, his big assets were his employees, and the second biggest thing was always taking care of them. In the month and a half that I’ve been out here, you wouldn’t believe the people coming through the door here saying how well Tom Seidle always took care of them. And he was always there for his employees.”

At the end of the year, Ruth hopes to have three to five full-time employees and three or four part-timers and hire a mechanic.

“We want to get a feel for how we’re doing with it before we start hiring some people. We don’t want to hire people and not have the work and such, but it’s going to be a little bit of a slow rollout.”

Seidle and Ruth have secured a license, and all that they are waiting for is a dealer identification number that will allow Bryan to purchase vehicles at the auction.

“I could probably start buying cars late next week, and then we go get them and get them cleaned. We want to service them right and make sure they’re good to go. It all starts with service. You can expect to see Buicks, GMCs, and even some Nissans and Toyotas. It’s a little bit of anything, but if there’s something somebody wants and we don’t have it, we’ll look for it.”

Ruth has learned a lot from Tom Seidle over the years, and he also gained a stepfather with the marriage of Tom and Ruth’s mother, Debbie.

Looking to the future, Ruth said, “I think there’s a demand for it. I guess the biggest thing I can tell you is we’re going to do business just like we did it up in Seidle’s and do it the right way, and we’ve always done it.

“That’s the only way I’ve ever known how to do it.”


Copyright © 2024 EYT Media Group, Inc. All rights reserved. Any copying, redistribution or retransmission of the contents of this service without the express written consent of EYT Media Group, Inc. is expressly prohibited.

Comments are temporarily closed. A new and improved comments section will be added soon.