Cox Motor Company

New business sees success

Cox Motor Company may be new to Park Hills, but it hasn’t taken the community long to embrace the pre-owned car dealership.

March was the best month yet for the dealership, which opened last June, and on top of that, they have been named the Parkland’s Best PreOwned Auto Dealership.

“As you see, after the last month, we are sold out,” Owner Jason Cox said of his depleted inventory.

He said most of his business is from referrals.

“Probably 70% of our business is from either repeat customers or friends and family of our customers because they’re happy with the experience,” he said. “They’re happy with the quality vehicle that they’re getting and the overall experience. Here it’s just really different, unique, and positive.”

Cox said their personable approach sets them apart from other dealerships.

“There’s no smoke and mirrors,” he added. “We’re not salesmen by any means. We’re just normal every-day, local people who are selling other normal every-day, local people cars.

“We don’t have anything to hide. We’ve worked very hard to have the nicest cars possible. We probably spend more time and more money on reconditioning than any other dealership around and keep a very high caliber vehicle.”

The dealership was originally located in Ironton, where Cox opened it in 2017.

Once he and his wife moved to the Park Hills area, he decided to move the business, too, and change things a bit.

“We’re keeping different cars than what we had over there,” he explained. “We have a lot of fi nancing opportunities where that was pretty much a cash-only lot. We only kept fi ve cars in inventory over there versus now we try to keep around 15 to 20 on the lot.”

Cox is not new to the car business. Before opening his own lot in 2017, he worked at a few dealerships in the area and then started working at a large franchise dealership in St. Louis.

But the commute and the long hours started to be too much. So he decided to start his own.

“I learned the business inside (and) out pretty well working in the St. Louis market and knew that I could do it on my own,” he said.

His experience running a finance department at one of the dealerships has allowed him to bring on several of the banks to help with financing at his Park Hills business. They offer a credit reestablishment program and a first-time buyers program.

Cox said they mainly offer newer cars with decent mileage that are $10,000 and under. But he does keep a few “exotic” vehicles in stock, such as sports cars, classic cars, and motorcycles.

“We literally sell as many as what we have on our lot every month,” he added. “We’re turning our inventory very fast. Typically a car’s in inventory here about two weeks. That’s on the long end.”

He said the pandemic has made it tough to find cars with many dealerships holding onto used cars longer because they don’t have as many new cars coming in. COVID has slowed down production for many car manufacturers.

Cox said they also buy cars from customers.

He already has plans to expand. He has bought a piece of land across from the dealership to build a service shop that he hopes to open this summer.

“It will be open to the public, as well,” he said. “It’s not going to be just for our dealership cars. We’re going to specialize in oil changes and general maintenance.”

Cox is also a police officer in north St. Louis County, so he said the business is very pro law enforcement. Casey Blumenstock, manager of the dealership and the only other employee, is married to a police officer.

Cox Motor Company, located at 3326 Commonwealth Drive, is open from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday and 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Saturday. But Cox said he is also open to appointments outside of those hours.

Owner Jason Cox and Manager Casey Blumenstock offer fi- nancing options at Cox Motors in Park Hills.

Midwest Convenient Care WINNER 550 Maple Valley Dr., Farmingotn, MO 63640 (573) 454-2466 www.midwestconvenientcare.com

Parkland Health Center Finalist 1101 W Liberty St, Farmington, MO 63640 (573) 756-6451 7245 Raider Rd, Bonne Terre, MO 63628 (573) 358-1400 www.parklandhealthcenter.org

Medical Arts Convenient Care Finalist 1103 W Liberty St, Farmington, MO 63640 (573) 760-8253 www.parklandhealthcenter.org

HOME AND FARM

Air Conditioning/Heating Installation (HVAC)

Koppeis Heating & Cooling WINNER 1585 Farmington Ct, Farmington, MO 63640 (573) 756-1224 www.koppeisheatingandcooling.com

Crystal Heating & Cooling Finalist 141 Busenbark Dr., Farmington, MO 63640 (573) 431-5200 www.crystalheatingandcooling.com

Adams Heating & Cooling Finalist 113 S. Main St. R, Ironton, MO 63650 (573) 546-3915

Apartment Community

Liberty Landing Apartments WINNER 60 Liberty Landing Cir, Farmington, MO 63640 (573) 747-5195 www.sfcrent.com

Arbor Ridge Apartments Finalist 813 Falcon St., Park Hills, MO 63601 (573) 431-0100 www.leemayproperties.com 34 | Best of the Parkland 2021

Icon Communities at Farmington Finalist 1000 Icon Way, Farmington, MO 63640 (833) 817-7558 www.iconatfarmington.com

Appliance Store

Lowe’s Home Improvement WINNER 625 W Karsch Blvd., Farmington, MO 63640 (573) 701-8200 www.lowes.com

Fisher Furniture Finalist 1400 N MO-21, Ironton, MO 63650 (573) 546-6111 www.fi sherfurniture.net/index.html

Menards Finalist 1280 Maple St, Farmington, MO 63640 (573) 756-0032 www.menards.com

B&B

Turkey Holler Bed & Breakfast WINNER 8046 Raintree Dr, Bonne Terre, MO 63628 (573) 518-4752 www.turkeyholler.com

Crown Ridge Tiger Sanctuary Finalist 19620 Crown Ridge, Ste. Genevieve, MO 63670 (573) 883-9909 www.crownridgetigers.com

Nostalgic Place Laundry House Bed & Breakfast Finalist 300 College St, Arcadia, MO 63621 (314) 960-1983 www.arcadiaacademy.com

Contractor/Remodeler

Nichols Construction LLC WINNER 529 Hillsboro Rd, Farmington, MO 63640 (573) 747-5938 www.facebook.com/NicholsConstructionLLCFarmington/

B&N Drywall and Painting Finalist (573) 315-8743 www.facebook.com/bnndrywall/ Handy Matt Solutions LLC Finalist 410 Walnut Dr., Ste. Genevieve, MO 63670 (573) 535-4556 www.handymattsolutions.com

Farm and Lawn Equipment

Rural King WINNER 3967 Bray Rd, Farmington, MO 63640 (573) 747-1107 www.ruralking.com

Flieg’s Equipment Inc. Finalist 13 Chat Rd, Leadington, MO 63601 (573) 431-2820 www.fl iegsequipmentinc.business.site

Midwest Sports Center Finalist 124 Walker Dr., Farmington, MO 63640 (573) 756-7975 www.midwestsportscenter.com

Farm Store

Rural King WINNER 3967 Bray Rd, Farmington, MO 63640 (573) 747-1107 www.ruralking.com

Miller’s Feed & Pet Finalist 629 E Karsch Blvd, Farmington, MO 63640 (573) 756-8608 www.facebook.com/MillersFeed

Peterson Feed & Farm LLC Finalist 2301 Hwy K, Bonne Terre, MO 63628 (573) 358-3292 www.facebook.com/petersonfeedandfarm