ORLANDO, Fla., Feb. 13, 2010 – Dan Wilder, Principal of Wilder Toyota, a Toyota and Scion dealership in Port Angeles, Wash., was named the TIME Magazine Dealer of the Year from Washington.
Wilder was chosen to represent the Washington State Auto Dealers Association in the national competition. The award is sponsored by TIME Magazine in association with Goodyear, and in cooperation with NADA.
“Working in the car business has brought great blessing to me and our family,” says Wilder. “Building a great reputation in our community and being known as an honest and reputable auto dealer brings me great joy.”
Wilder graduated from Hiram Johnson High School in Sacramento, CA, in 1969. But he’d already begun his auto career two years earlier at Sacramento’s Lasher Volkswagen as a Parts Delivery Person, eventually working his way up to Parts Specialist. “The General Manager then asked me to sell cars on a 90-day trail basis, and in my first month I sold 20 cars,” explains Wilder. “I told the GM that I didn't want to go back to Parts.”
In 1970, Wilder moved to Salem, OR, for four years to study marriage and family counseling at Western Baptist College. While there, he worked fulltime selling cars at Eyerly Volkswagen, achieving the VW Sales Guild, Volkswagen’s volume achievement award level, three times. In 1974, Wilder went back to Lasher VW as Sales Manager after rising to General Sales Manager. In June 1977, Wilder purchased his first dealership, completing his climb from Parts Delivery to Owner in just 10 years. Today, Wilder is joined in the family business by his son Dan Wilder Jr., who is General Manager of the entire auto group, his daughter and son-in-law, Tami and Dale Rose.
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