With annual sales close to $7 million in parts, service, and sales, his dealership is ranked in the top 50 of 1,000-plus across the country. His dealership has 27 percent of the TriState market for motorcycles, up from 16 percent several years ago.
“The people who work here are the best in the industry,’’ said Hedrick, a Turpin High School graduate. “I feel I’ve been blessed. I’ve made my hobby my career.’’
Last fall began a $1.1 million renovation of both the interior and exterior of his 23,000 square-foot operation. Work included installation of a new roof, updated plumbing and HVAC, accessible restrooms, a full LED lighting package and a redesign of the building’s interior and exterior.
The improvements feature the Honda silver, red and black color scheme and follow Honda Powerhouse branding – a requirement to be listed as a Powerhouse dealership, the top of five categories.
“I’m all about selling the product and the customer service. We do really well in the sales part,” Hedrick said. “That’s what we’ve been centered around for 20 years.”
Focusing on the customer overall experience was a big part of the criteria used to raise Hedrick’s dealership from level four to five, said Cory Findlay, department manager for sales support for American Honda Motor Co.
“We’re super excited for them. We got to see their progress through the whole (renovation),” Findlay said.
“Powerhouse dealers deliver the best Honda experience a customer could want. It takes a huge investment.”
Among criteria are space requirements, sales of only Honda products, variety of product, customer service and modeling the dealership after national design standards.
Honda of Fairfield sells a variety of products that include motorcycles, off road vehicles, generators, lawn mowers, helmets, branded clothing, and power equipment.
Owning a Honda dealership was not in Hedrick’s career path. He’d been riding motorcycles his whole life – starting on the back of his dad’s motorcycle as a kid – and his plan was to become a police officer.
He went through the police academy and earned a degree in criminal justice technology toward that goal, working at Beechmont Motorsports as a teenager. His plans got derailed when he lost hearing in his left ear, making it almost impossible to get a job as an officer.
That’s when he began working in dealerships, opening his own in 2005. Since then his volume has doubled.
“When I first started, I was sweeping floors and building motorcycles out of crates,” Hedrick said.
“I had big dreams. It’s taken an unbelievable amount of work. This is a big deal for us. I’m so happy we made the (Powerhouse) list.”
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