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Dealer Profile


Small Repair Shop Benefits from Parts Arrangement


Jeff’s Small Engine Aluma trailers.


Brent Wilder owns and operates Ace MotorSports, a repair shop he opened two years ago in Luck, Wis. He repairs ATVs, motorcycles and snowmobiles and sells used equipment. Wilder says buying parts through a fellow dealer like Jeff’s Small Engine is important for his small business. “You have to be so big before some places will deal with you for parts.” He had met Jeff Kruse, owner of


Jeff’s Small Engine, through friends and approached him about buying parts. “There are not a lot of people will- ing to give you a chance when starting out. Jeff has helped me out tremen- dously. I would have had to order at retail prices and not get the kinds of deals that Jeff offers,” Wilder says. Ace Motor Sports has grown to the size where Wilder is now ordering some parts on his own. However, he says he expects to continue to buy some parts through Kruse.


“I think I’ll always do some business through them. He’s been good to me.”


A turning point for his dealership came when they moved from a loca- tion at his dad’s home and built a new store on a state highway on the edge of Milltown, a city with a popula- tion of about 900. The new loca- tion includes a main building that is 3,200 square feet and a ware- house that is 4,000 square feet. The new location pro-


“Trustworthiness and reliability are as important as equipment expertise …”


vides greater visibility to recreational customers headed to the area’s many lakes in northwestern Wisconsin. Kruse says he does have competition from John Deere and Case IH dealers in his region, but there are few service dealerships like his in the area. The family dealership now includes Kruse’s wife, Karyn, and daughter, Brittany, who both help with the deal-


ership’s financial management and son, Andy, who helps with repairs and technology. Other long-time employ- ees include Jon Christensen, Kyle Filip and Dane Olson. Christensen’s son, Luke, also works part-time.


“Everybody does everything. They do whatever needs to be done and are a huge part of our suc- cess,” says Kruse. That might mean servicing


equipment, selling and stocking parts, or working with other stores.


Parts Business Adds Profit Kruse says the parts segment of his business brings in about $200,000 in revenues to the dealership.


“It may not be a big dollar amount,


but it gives us a bigger profit margin compared with selling equipment,” he


Visit RuralLifestyleDealer.com/RS and indicate No. 130 24 RURAL LIFESTYLE DEALER  SPRING 2013


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