Automotive recycling family businesses are the heartbeat of the industry. Here are stories of how they have thrived through generations.
By Caryn Smith
Successful generational transitions are an important aspect of sustaining an automotive recycling business. It is important that each business make transition plans that consider the family structure. But there are some transitional aspects that are applicable to all businesses. It is highly suggested that if a generational transition is coming in your company that auto recyclers should consider retaining professional assistance to create the right plan, and to get outside perspective.
When done well, transitional change can make a thriving business grow even more abundantly, or it can recharge a business that is floundering with new life and energy. Next-generation owners can bring new ideas to the table, openness to new technology or changes in platforms, and the energy to take the reins to lead the company to new heights. Yet, transitional change can also be a point of contention inside the family if it is not handled well.
We asked companies to share their stories to provide insight into how some have made the transition from generation to generation and thrived.
To submit your company’s transitions story, email caryn@a-r-a.org to receive the questionnaire.
Condon’s Auto Parts
Condon’s Auto Parts is a family-owned auto recycler in operation for over 60 years. Located in Westminster, Maryland, the company services the Baltimore, Washington, D.C. and Northern Virginia region with ROE–Recycled Auto Parts®. Current president Greg Condon is also known for the Professional Salvage Yard Information Forum he runs on Facebook, with a membership of 4,000 recyclers. We caught up with Greg to find out more about the generations at Condon’s. Here is what he had to say.
Automotive Recycling: Tell us about your beginnings.
Greg Condon: Back in 1954, my grandfather Ralph Condon started like many other salvage yard owners. He was working on vehicles. He did mechanical work and then started doing body repairs as well. After some time, the customers would leave vehicles that they didn’t want to repair, and he realized that he could salvage parts from those vehicles to fix new customers’ vehicles. The parts sales quickly became a large portion of his profits and he moved into mostly selling parts. When my father took over, they were completely selling parts and did no repairs any longer.
AR: How was each transition between generations approached?
Condon: My grandfather, as a young child, didn’t have the best family life and was forced to learn things very young. He joined the military for WWII and served in the U.S. Navy. He was a hardworking man, with almost no formal education beyond what we could call middle school today. He just knew how to work, and applied that energy to Condon’s.
When he was ready to retire, he came to my father, Jerry Condon, and his two sisters and presented an offer for the business that someone else had made to buy Condon’s. He gave them a few days to match that offer or he would accept it. My dad was the only one that wanted to take the chance on it, and it worked out great for him. They went to their uncle, had him write up the contract one evening and signed it. My grandfather held the note while my dad took over the business and started to pay it off.
The transition from my father to myself was a tad bit longer and much more prepared. We started speaking about transition about 15 years before it actually happened. We took 10 years to finalize the terms and work on the contracts for many different reasons. The main one was that we were looking to buy another yard and we figured the bank would loan my father the money much more easily than me. So, we held off while we looked at several different opportunities but none of them panned out. In 2021, we finalized our agreement, and I became the third-generation owner of Condon’s Auto Parts.
I couldn’t be prouder to be carrying on the family legacy and growing the business!
It’s a delicate balance between family and business and someone to help guide you would be worth the money spent.
AR: What were the obstacles that you had to overcome in transitions?
Condon: The biggest obstacle we had to overcome with this last transition was the tax and cost implications for moving the business from my father to me. The landscape has become complicated, to say the least, and we were trying to be as fair as possible to both parties while saving the most in taxes that we could legally.
AR: What did each generation bring to the business to continue its legacy and growth?
Condon: This one’s easy. Each generation tries to work smarter, not harder. My grandfather went home with grease under his nails every single night. I, on the other hand, work almost completely behind a computer and rarely turn any wrenches. I do miss the days of getting outside and working, but as the company has grown my role has moved completely into being an administrator.
My grandfather worked HARD. My dad worked hard, but also started to think smarter, not harder. There is no comparison to the physical nature of what they did in the past to what I do currently. The hard nature of what I do is juggling the needs of the business with also creating an environment that people want to come to work in.
AR: What is your advice to those considering a generational transition?
Condon: Do NOT let money come between family. You can always earn more money. You can’t get more family. I have heard some stories that the older generation wants to saddle the next generation with so much debt that it would sink them. I just can’t understand that. If I was the incoming generation I would walk away from the deal before it drove a wedge between you that you could never remove.
I would absolutely hire a professional to help make the transition. You might even hire a few, including a tax professional brought in early in the process to make sure the company is set up properly, to move from one generation to another without a large tax burden. A lawyer will make sure the paperwork is all filed and leaves no one out. I would suggest a lawyer on both sides. Remember, while this is a family transaction, the money is one side, and the family is another. While you don’t want money to come between families; you also don’t want one side to dictate terms to the other.
I could also see a consultant to work with the family to help them understand how long it will take and the emotions that you are going to go through while working together. There will be happiness, sadness, anger, fear, joy, and everything in between. The selling party might not want to let go of the baby they have built. The buying party wants to make sure they are protected as well. It’s a delicate balance between family and business and someone to help guide you would be worth the money spent.
Dom’s Auto Parts
Dom’s Auto Parts was founded in 1964 and has been thriving under four generations of the Vetere family. They are located on over 75 acres of property just 30 minutes east of Toronto. They offer free delivery within the GTA and can arrange shipping nationwide outside of their immediate area. They also operate a Parts 4 Less U-Pull-It in association with Dom’s Auto Parts. We asked Carly Masters, a fourth generation Vetere, to compile the story of how this recycler has thrived through generations, and a fire, to become a premiere auto recycler in Canada.
Automotive Recycling: Tell us about your beginnings, and generations.
Carly Masters: Dom’s Auto Parts was opened in 1964 by Dominic Vetere Sr. (pictured above) and his son Mickey Vetere, as equals. Mickey started to take over most responsibilities when Dom Sr. fell ill in the early 1970s and passed away from cancer in 1975, and Mickey became the sole proprietor.
Dominic Vetere Jr. came on after college in 1984, returning Dom’s Auto Parts to its former status as a “father-son business.” Mickey and Dom ran the business together as equals until around 2008, when Mickey began to cut back his hours and move toward retirement. In 2013, Mickey had an unsuccessful procedure that led to his passing later the same year. Mickey had fully intended to return to work after this procedure, so the sudden transition came as a shock to Dom.
Dominic Vetere, now President/Owner, headed the company alone from 2013 onward, with his children Dustin Vetere, Sales Manager, and Carly Masters (née Vetere), Accounts and Administration, working under him on-and-off both part-time and full-time since the early- to mid-2010s.
Since 2022, Dom has been cutting back his working hours and passing responsibilities onto his children, with Dustin covering sales and customer relations, while Carly handles office management and administration. This has been the first generational transition that wasn’t brought about suddenly out of necessity.
As mentioned, our previous transitions were sudden due to illness, meaning there was a lack of preparation. When the need arose, we found a way to carry on, but that came with the challenge of the next generation being thrown into sole ownership with little or no access to their mentor.
AR: What are things that were done successfully in transitions
Masters: Despite the sudden transitions, the time spent working under a predecessor long-term prepared the successors, to an extent. The current fourth-generation transition is the first time there has been more than one successor; this was handled successfully by allocating separate responsibilities within the organization based on their personal strengths, allowing them to flourish independently while still working together.
AR: What did each generation bring to the business to continue its legacy and growth?
Masters: Each generation brought a higher level of education and new views to the industry:
• Dom Sr. (first generation): 8th grade education, street smarts from working in a variety of jobs before starting his own business, experience in the automotive industry dating back to the 1930s, and the initial investment in the company.
• Mickey (second generation): 10th grade education, co-founded the business at the age of 26, founded the Canadian Auto Recyclers Association (CAR) that later led to the creation of the Ontario Automotive Recyclers Association (OARA) and served as its first president, introduced the Hot Line and the Roadrunner Transport System.
• Dom (third generation): College education, continued family legacy by working alongside his father at the age of 21, past president of the Ontario Automotive Recyclers Association (OARA).
• Dustin (fourth generation): University education, current Canadian representative to Automotive Recyclers Association (ARA).
• Carly (fourth generation): University education, heading new marketing committee within the Ontario Automotive Recyclers Association (OARA), with past experience from Toronto marketing and design agencies.
AR: What is your advice to those considering a generational transition?
Masters: Keep an open line of communication, have patience, and get involved in associations to help understand the future of the industry and how that will affect the next generation. Also, have a plan in place well before you think you’ll need it – life is unpredictable and it is no easy feat to restructure a business while you’re grieving.
AR: Share some details on the business growth and ownership.
Masters: Dominic Vetere Sr. and his son Mickey Vetere opened Dom’s Auto Parts in March 1964. Starting with only six employees and a small west-end yard in Toronto on McCormack Street, Dom’s Auto Parts was rapidly growing and looking to expand. In 1967, Dom’s Auto Parts purchased Motor City Auto Parts’ 65 acres of property in Courtice, which is where we operate today. In 1975, Dominic Vetere Sr. passed away leaving son Mickey and son-in-law Gino to run the family business. In 1976, the Toronto location was closed and our current location in Courtice became our sole location.
About a decade after Dom Sr.’s passing, Dominic Vetere Jr. joined his father at the Courtice facility in the mid-1980s, returning Dom’s Auto Parts to its former status as a “father-son business.”
On March 11, 2003, Dom’s Auto Parts experienced a devastating fire that leveled the main office and garages. Just over two years later, through hard work, employee dedication and industry-wide support, our new state-of-the-art facility was opened.
Over the years, Mickey Vetere had been considered a pioneer and innovator in the recycling industry. He was one of a small handful of visionaries who looked at the auto recycling industry and thought that it could be better than it was; not just for his own business, but for every facility that wanted to progress and provide superior service to their customers. His son and his grandchildren have actively carried on his legacy; Dom’s Auto Parts continues to be a leader in the auto recycling industry in Canada after 60 years in business.
In the last decade, Dom has continued to stay on top of industry changes such as the rise of electric vehicles as well as the benefits of having both full-service and pull-your-own-parts yards.
Dustin and Carly are currently trying to formalize our business in a very informal industry, including incorporating more rigorous safety standards and HR practices.
AR: Did the business get outside help or consulting to make transitions?
Masters: No, aside from speaking to other local recyclers that were also multi-generational.
AR: What is the current ownership’s view of the industry’s future?
Masters: The future of automotive recycling is moving into the space of hybrids and EVs as well as focusing on sustainability and environmental responsibility that the industry has naturally shifted towards.
AR: What inspires the next generation to want to continue in the family business?
Masters: “In short, the legacy. When I think about the fact that my great-grandfather, a man who was long gone before I was born, created this empire that I walked into … it’s mind-blowing. It makes me want to keep Dom’s going as long as we can because you don’t see a lot of 60-year-old family businesses in this day and age. I’m really proud of my family for that.”
Dustin Vetere: “I think a big part of it for many in our position is that we don’t really know how to do anything else. I basically grew up here, so for me, going to work means going to a place I’ve known for my whole life. That nostalgic aspect of it is inspiring to me on a personal level.”
Rocki Top Auto Recyclers
Rocki Top Auto Recyclers is a second-generation, family-owned business with third-generation employees. Owners Katy (Nawrocki) Joles and her brother Jake Nawrocki have owned and operated Rocki Top Auto as partners since 2009.
The official beginnings of Rocki Top Auto date back to 1984, when the founder, Robert “Bob” Nawrocki and his wife Holly (pictured on page 41) decided to sell their cows and scrap salvaged cars full time. Prior to that, they had been milking about thirty cows and homesteading the land. The dream had started when the young couple moved from the Chicago area to northern Wisconsin, with dreams of living off the land and being free from the constraints of urban life.
The early years were tough as Bob and Holly lived in a small tar paper shack and made a go of the country life. It took time and a lot of hard work, as well as some help from the neighbors that welcomed the two “crazy kids” into the local community. In the early 1980s, Bob started taking in a few junk cars and scrapping the metal to supplement the farm income. On occasion, he was also selling parts to people who stopped in.
It didn’t take long for Bob to realize two things: Selling scrap was easier than farming and there was a demand for used parts in the area because the nearest auto salvage yard was more than an hour away.
With the last name of Nawrocki (pronounced ‘nuh-rocky’), and Bob’s love of bluegrass music including the song “Good Ol’ Rocky Top,” it was only natural that the name of the business became Rocki Top Auto Recyclers.
By 1984, it all became official, and Bob and Holly even had a good start on an affordable labor force by having seven kids. When folks would ask about kids, Bob liked to tell them he had one and a half dozen. At one point or another over the years, each of the kids took their turns working in the family business.
The beginnings were humble. The old milkhouse was converted to a makeshift office complete with a barrel stove and an old pinball machine that worked once you got the room warmed up. The barrel stove was the first waste oil burning stove that was used at Rocki Top. It had a copper pipe with a valve in it that dripped oil into the wood fire. How it never burned the place down remains a mystery to this day. Salvaged parts were stored up in the old hayloft, and the boys – Adam, Jake, Matt, and Andy – all spent time dismantling transmissions for scrap aluminum. “To this day, the smell of burned transmission fluid or gear lube really takes me back to the early days in that barn. We dismantled hundreds of transmissions and we all got really good at it,” says Jake.
At some point in the early 1990s, Bob bought a homebuilt aluminum smelter that burned propane gas and could liquify about 200 pounds of aluminum at a time. The thing was dreadfully dangerous, and definitely not something the EPA would approve of. Eventually the smelter went away due to environmental concerns.
A few years later, an addition was added to one end of the barn. It was a small two-bay garage, but what made this different from other garages in the area was that the bays were one in front of the other, not adjacent. This was done with car dismantling in mind. The cars would come in one end, and leave out the other – something that has now become a very common method in the industry.
From the beginning, Rocki Top Auto has always and continues to look for a better way to do things; and we embrace that philosophy.
As the years went by, the business grew slowly. A handful of individuals were employed by Bob at one time or another, while the Nawrocki family continued to do the bulk of the work. In 1997, the second generation officially entered the business when Jake became a part owner along with his dad after graduation. They worked together until 2006 when Katy also joined as a part owner.
In 2009, the family agreed that Jake and Katy would buy out Bob’s share of the business. This change came about pretty abruptly, but the transition was relatively smooth since Bob and Holly were willing to finance the purchase.
Jake recalls, “Not having to go through a bank for such a large purchase made buying dad out very simple. We came up with a valuation and had an agreement drawn up. When all was said and done, I showed up to work the next week, half-owner of the business instead of a smaller fraction, and we hit the ground running!”
There were some difficult learning experiences along the way as the business philosophy changed. We went from a mostly “buy junk cars, sell what you can, and crush the rest” mentality – to “buy later model vehicles and try to sell more parts” model.
“Probably the hardest lesson for me came shortly after we had mom and dad paid off. With a large monthly payment eliminated, it seemed only natural to take that same amount and put it towards buying inventory. I calculated backwards how much of a loan I could get with that payment and went to the bank with my proposal. At the time we were operating on the plan of whatever you pay for a car, gross sales will be about 300 percent of whatever that car cost. To me it seemed too easy, so why not? Very quickly we bought a lot of cars and trucks. The problem was, we had so many more than we could process. The feeling of having spent so much money on inventory, combined with a delay in getting cars processed and some poor buying decisions, really hurt. It’s a ‘student loan;’ I’m still paying it back,” Jake said.
Early on, Rocki Top sold parts on eBay, because it was clear the local sales potential was very limited. A lot of hard lessons came through eBay but Jake and Katy say that the lessons learned from the most difficult customer in the world have made them exponentially better. “We learned a lot about quality control and presentation of our salvaged parts. You can’t have enough pictures or communication with the customer about a part’s condition,” says Katy.
In 2010, Rocki Top switched their yard management system from an obscure no-name system to Hollander. “It became clear to us that eBay was working very well, and in the first year it nearly eclipsed all of our other sales. We wanted to scale that up, and until then we had been listing every part manually on eBay. Hollander offered an eBay listing tool that would help automate our listings. It was definitely the right decision for us,” states Katy.
In 2002, Rocki Top added a three-bay dismantle shop. The growth was so abundant that in 2022, a five-bay dismantle shop was added, and is currently running at near full-capacity. The next steps to keep up with growth are leading towards housing more parts in a building instead of in the vehicle shells. The reason for this is twofold: We can increase quality control (we expect fewer damaged parts from weather and loaders) and the speed with which we can ship and deliver. eBay demands it, and other shops, customers, and salvage yards really appreciate it.
Rocki Top Auto currently has ten full-time employees, an ever-changing number of part-time employees, and some temporary summer help doing projects around the property. Both Jake and Katy will quickly tell you that the people working at Rocki Top Auto make the difference, and that none of this would be possible without them. They get ALL the credit for the success of the business.
Rocki Top has started to consider what the next generation of leadership might look like. Both of Jake’s kids have worked in the business full time at some point, and one of them is planning to return this winter. Katy’s kids are counted among the part time help.
Jake remembers, “All of us kids grew up at the salvage yard learning how to work and really appreciate the opportunity and lessons learned. Katy and I both feel strongly about investing in the next generation and, as much as we are able, giving them that same opportunity. We have just started working on plans for succession. When the time comes, we want the transition to the next generation of ownership, no matter who they may be, to go as easily as it did for Katy and I. We have so much to be thankful for, and we are truly grateful.”
Caryn Smith is the editor of Automotive Recycling magazine, and has been covering the industry for over 20 years. She is a freelance writer for industry publications, such as Recycling Today.
