Volume 10, Issue 45, Week of November 11, 2013
Saskatoonʼs REAL Community Newspaper
Meeting
Ens
Long-time car dealer driven by family values
D
anny Ens believes he was destined to become a car dealer. “As a teenager growing up in Osler and then for two years of high school at Tech, I was thinking of pursuing an education in accounting or dentistry at the University of Saskatchewan,” said Ens. “I took a summer job at Saskatoon Motor Products (SMP) and liked it so much I stayed with them three years. Then I became an independent car dealer. And the rest is history.” And what a piece of history he has carved in Saskatoon. He started as a used-car dealer 59 years ago. He acquired the first Toyota dealership in People Saskatchewan 44 years ago. He landed the first Lexus dealership in Saskatchewan 23 years ago. He estimates his companies have sold 30,000 used cars, 30,000 new Toyota models and 1,500 new Lexus models. At 82 years of age Ens is making another move. If construction stays on target, Ens’ dealerships will move in March to Saskatoon’s Auto Mall. “After being in the location on Venture Crescent since 1985, we’ve outgrown our facility. Lexus also wanted a separate identity. Now we can accommodate all of that on Brand Road. We can have 17 cars in the Toyota showroom, 28 service bays and an 18-vehicle, three-lane service double drive-through. A Scion franchise will also be located there. In the Lexus building we will have eight cars in the showroom, eight service bays and a three-car drive-through,” he said. He thinks he acquired some of the business sense from his father, Aron. “Dad ran the store in Osler for 30 years, many of those years during the Depression. On the weekends Dad would be involved in auctioneering or selling and trading horses. I really think I acquired a built-in business sense from him.” Ens was never afraid to take chances. “When I was working with Harold Mann at SMP, I saw he was consigning some of his used cars to rural dealers. I asked if he’d consign some cars to me if I opened a lot. He gave me the cars on a 30-day consignment. “When I opened up I sold three cars on each of the first three days. The first full year I was in business I sold 300 cars.” That was the beginning of Ens Older Cars, where the advertising motto was: “If You Can’t Make Ends Meet, Meet Ens.” Ens was selling cars on a lot across from the Industrial Acceptance Corporation (IAC) when Toyota Canada representatives came to Saskatoon looking for a potential dealer. “I had been doing a lot of business with IAC. When the Toyota people made inquiries, a friend at IAC pointed to me across the street. I rented a Royalite service station, bought nine cars,
NED POWERS
Danny Ens’ dealerships will be moving to the Auto Mall this winter (Photo by Sandy Hutchinson) $5,000 worth of parts, $5,000 worth of equipment and hired a mechanic. “Nissan was already in the Saskatoon market, but we made an impact with Toyota. “The gas crunch was on and Toyota vehicles were getting 40 miles to a gallon. You could get a four-speed, two-door Corolla for about $1,995 with just $100 down. I think the comparable American cars were already up around $2,500. “Customers wanted assurances about whether the Toyotas would last, would they be covered by warranties, and where could they get repairs. We provided all those answers. We sold seven cars in May 1970, 18 the next month and 167 by the end of the year. The second year, we sold 300 new vehicles. And now we are averaging 1,000 a year.” The acquisition of Lexus “gave us the royalty in a family car.” The location at Venture was chosen by Ens with Toyota’s approval. He recalled “one summer a Toyota representative came from California, looked at the placement of the facility near Warman Road and near the freeway, and said that if people can see your facility they’ll drive right in.
I think people will be able to see us in the new location just as easily.” Ens says the company reaches 97 per cent in customer satisfaction, and repeat business averages about 65 per cent. Another unique venture was plunging into the Toyota industrial Land Cruisers which have become the new and high standards for underground mine vehicles in Canada. “With the growth of the mining industry the operators were looking for a better vehicle. We decided to convert a Land Cruiser on speculation, and then we ordered another 12 the first six months. There are now more than 2,500 units in Canadian mines, and about 30 of them have gone into Mexico. We sold 76 in 2012.” The next mission is the conversion of the cruiser to an electric unit. The company has won many honours from within. Another significant honour was the victory as Macleans Dealer of Excellence Award, received in August 1994. It was based on a judgment by industry peers. Family values have been important to Ens. His father and mother (Helena) raised a family of five boys (Carl, Bill, Henry, Danny and Jake) and three girls
(Helen, Martha and Margaret). Jake, Margaret and Danny are the survivors. Danny and his wife, Karen, have a family of three — son Josh and daughters Judee and Erin. Josh is now the Ens company president. Erin and her husband, Jeff Rohlicek, are on the board of directors. In his younger days Ens was active in softball, playing mostly for the Osler Monarchs, who won the provincial men’s title in 1953. He remembered one year “where we had four Ens brothers and four Braun brothers on the Osler team.” He preaches the same kind of teamwork within the company. Sixteen of his employees have been there 20 years or more. Another 20 have been there 10 years or more. “You keep employees with good department structures, good product, good pay and pension plans. And from the beginning I’ve always tried to surround myself with very good help,” said Ens, who along with his wife, usually spends the winters in Fountain Hills, Ariz. “I look back now and say there was a lot of luck involved, and I just happened to be in the right places at the right times.”