6 THE QUEENS COURIER • QUEENS BUSINESS • APRIL 13, 2017 FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM queens business Photo: Angela Matua/QNS Queens car dealership celebrates 80 years of success BY QUEENS COURIER STAFF [email protected] @QNS Howard Koeppel has been around automobiles for his entire life. His father opened his first car dealership in 1937 – a Chrysler dealership on 79th Street and Northern Boulevard – the same year Howard Koeppel was born. Now, 80 years later, five dealerships along the corridor bear the Koeppel name. “We’re very happy with about the customers we’ve acquired over the last 80 years,” Koeppel said. “I think we must have sold more than 500,000 cars.” Koeppel, who grew up in Brooklyn, went to West Point after high school. He graduated from the United States Military Academy in 1957 and in 1960 he officially joined the family business. Since the first dealership, Koeppel and his father have also opened a Nissan, Volkswagen, Mazda and Subaru dealership. All of them are located on Northern Boulevard or as Koeppel refers to the thoroughfare – “automobile road.” Part of what has kept Koeppel in the business for so long is his love of cars. “I love cars — I find cars more exciting than anything else,” he said. “It’s the great American dream in this country to own a car. It’s always been mine.” Koeppel said he has acquired a number of tips after watching his father run the business for years. One of the most important lessons, he said, is to treat customers “the way you would like to be treated, which is a very good policy and it works.” Their Subaru dealership was purchased in 2010 and since then, the employees have tripled sales. Sabaru also awarded them the Stellar Care Award and the Koeppel branch is the first in Queens to win it. The 80-year-old businessman also surrounds himself with a talented staff, he said. “You can only accomplish so much as an owner but you have to have a lot of help when you sell so many cars,” he added. Koeppel compares his management philosophy to a bicycle wheel – “being the big wheel is fine but if you don’t have good spokes, your general managers, sales managers, service manager, parts manager, used car manager, what will happen to the wheel? It collapses.” In addition to good help and customer service, Koeppel has learned that it’s good to give back. “You can’t keep taking and you have to sometimes give back,” he said. “My father used to be very generous with his money. It was a good feeling for him. As long as I can afford to do that I’m going to keep doing that.” The younger Koeppel was on the board of trustees for the FDNY Fire Foundation and donated money to the organization as well as to Carnegie Hall and AIDS-related charities. For the past 10 years, the Koeppel Organization has also donated thousands to Quality Services for the Autism Community (QSAC). The nonprofit, which has several outposts in Queens, serves children and adults with autism. This year, the Koeppel Subaru dealership has raised $41,488 for QSAC. A portion of every car sale went to one of five charities including QSAC, ASPCA, Meals on Wheels, Wildlife Conservation Society and a children’s hospital. Koeppel also donates a car at the yearly QSAC dinners. He got involved with the organization after an employee’s mother started it to provide better services for autistic children and adults like her grandson. “Koeppel Subaru’s generous support of QSAC continues to have a significant impact on our programs for the autism community,” said Lisa Veglia, QSAC’s acting co-executive director. “Over the past four years, Subaru’s Share the Love Event has raised more than $100,000 for QSAC. We’re grateful for Koeppel and Subaru’s commitment to their community. With their help, we’re touching the lives of more than 2,300 children and adults with autism.” Koeppel just opened a startup Ford dealership seven months ago and shows no signs of slowing down. “I’m very happy in what I’ve achieved and if I can keep achieving the same thing I’ll be satisfied,” he said. “I don’t know whether I’ve been smart or just lucky. I’d like to think I’ve been smart. My father and myself in the last 80 years had very good help surrounding us.”
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