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By Carey Reeder | Managing Editor

In 2024, Chad Tillery added to the long history of Ellison Auto Sales’ involvement with the Alabama Independent Automobile Dealers Association by winning the Quality Dealer of the Year Award and will compete on the national level in June. Tillery was named the AIADA’s 2024 Quality Dealer of the Year with more than 800 independent automobile dealers in Alabama voting on the winner.

“This is a bigger award for the dealership (as a whole),” Tillery said. “This is not about me, and they are the ones that things run. It is a team effort, and without them it would never have gotten here anyway.”

Along with Cameron and Colton Ellison, Tillery runs the day-to-day operations of Ellison Auto Sales and keeps the family-owned business in Jemison going. Tillery does a lot of the buying for the dealership where his expertise in the industry since 1995 comes into play.

“That is where he is best and that is what he does,” Cameron Ellison said. “We want a car that is going to last the duration of the note, we want something that we can put out front and be proud of and that starts on the buying end.”

Ellison Auto Sales was started in 1987 by Lynn and Ronnie Ellison. The dealership had two lots at first — one in Calera and one in Jemison, and it added a salvage yard later on that was short lived. The dealership has now moved back to just the sale of used cars at the single location in Jemison.

In 1995, Lynn Ellison called Tillery and asked him if he wanted to come work for him selling cars, and Tillery gave him a quick ‘No.’ However, Tillery gave it a shot, enjoyed it and turned in his notice at the lime plant to jump into a 30-year career at Ellison Auto Sales.

“When I first came here to work I thought ‘I will just work here until I can find something better,’” Tillery said. “Here I am (still). Once you get involved you realize that this just is not a pass-by job, it is a livelihood.”

Tillery was a lot manager for Ellison Auto Sales and continued to work his way up while earning the trust of his colleagues and the customers. The dealership joined the AIADA in the early 1990s and Lynn Ellison held positions on the AIADA board and worked his way up to the President’s seat of the association. Ronnie Ellison also served on the board and worked his way to the President position. Tillery attended meetings with Ronnie Ellison to learn about things in the AIADA and keep up with the changing laws and guidelines in the state.

The dealership continued to grow and flourish, and in 2000, Ellison Auto Sales was No. 10 in Alabama for sales with over 700 cars sold that year. In 2009, Lynn Ellison won the AIADA Quality Dealer of the Year Award, the dealerships first time winning the award.

“It has been cool to sell to this group of people and then their kids, their grandkids … Some families we sell to three generations,” Tillery said.

Tillery got familiar with the AIADA attending meetings with Ronnie Ellison, and he became an AIADA board member and served on it for five years before a colleague on the board asked him about joining the association’s Executive Board. Another quick ‘No’ followed from Tillery. Similar to his ‘No’ to Lynn Ellison in 1995, Tillery did join the Executive Board and worked his way up to the President’s role just the same as Lynn and Ronnie Ellison before him. While most Presidents of the AIADA serve one year, Tillery served multiple years from 2018-2021 with circumstances arising during the COVID-19 pandemic. Tillery visited Washington D.C., met with senators on Capitol Hill and had other experiences as President.

“I had a lot of good experiences through that organization,” Tillery said. “It allowed me to see different places, meet different people and hear different ideas to bring back here for the good of the dealership.”

When it comes to running a successful used car dealership, Tillery believes customer service is the utmost important thing to sustaining success in a field that sees a lot of failed businesses. Repeating referrals, especially at a buy-here, place-here dealership like Ellison, is key. Ellison also offers outside financing options and cash as other options for customers, giving everyone the most opportunity to get into a new car.

Lynn and Ronnie Ellison established a motto in 1987 when they started the dealership of ‘Help at least one person each day.’ Over 7,000 vehicles sold to customers in the area since then, that motto is still rich for the dealership today.

“We just keep it going,” Tillery said. “It is one of things where if they will take care of us we will take care of them, and vice versa.”

Tillery is attending the National Independent Automobile Dealers Association’s Convention and Expo on June 23-26 in Las Vegas, Nevada to compete for the National Quality Dealer of the Year Award.