InsuranceRisk ManagementWe can help you get covered.Zurich HelpPoint is here when you need more than just insurance.For more than 85 years, Zurich has remained committed to developinginnovative solutions that provide the coverage your company needsand peace of mind you deserve. With the stable financial position ofZurich in North America*, our insurance products – such as Unicover ® ,one of the most extensive lines of automotive business coverageavailable – are frequently recognized by national automotive organizationsand associations. And so is our reputation for delivering when it matters,with one-day response times to all claims inquiries and onsite assistancefor most major losses within 48 hours. This all helps explain why 80 percentof our customers renewed their automotive insurance policies in 2008.Visit www.zurichna.com/zdu to see how we can help you.Here to help your world.Call Spencer Steere800-622-2660Regional Sales ManagerInsurance coverages and non-insurance products and services are underwritten and provided by member companies of Zurich in North America, including Universal Underwriters Insurance Companyand Universal Underwriters Service Corporation. Certain coverages, products and services are not available in all states. *For information about the ratings and financialinformation of Zurich American Insurance Company, access the ratings section on www.zurichna.com.© 2010 Zurich American Insurance Company10-1623 TXADA DC Mag ad.indd 1 5/12/10 10:51:37 AM
Celebrating Fifty Yearsof Excellence in theCar BusinessToday, the original Chevrolet store inGranbury now known as Classic ChevroletBuick GMC of Granbury, celebratestheir 50th Anniversary. Classic Chevroletin Grapevine has grown to be the largestvolume Chevrolet dealership in thecountry, leading the nation in Chevroletsales for four straight years. Recentlyhonored for this spectacular accomplishmentby executives from General Motors,Tom Durant and his team received theirfourth consecutive trophy as the Nation’s#1 Volume Chevrolet Dealer. “We had tobuild a bigger trophy case,” joked Mr. Durant.And if that was enough recognitionfor our own hometown Chevy Dealer,Classic Chevrolet has just recently beennotified that Tom Durant will be namedas the 2011 Time Magazine Dealer of theYear for the State of Texas. Mr. Durantwill receive this distinguished award atthe NADA Annual Convention in SanFrancisco in February of 2011.The key of Tom Durant’s success issurprisingly simple, “We’re the numberone Chevy dealer in the nation becausewe’re honest and fair. Eighty percent ofour customers are repeat of referral. Wegive them a reason to keep coming back.”The year was 1960, Eisenhower was President, Chubby Checker recorded “TheTwist.” And a young couple, Julian and Opel Durant, together with their twosmall boys, ran their modest business, The Durant Construction Company in theagricultural town of Granbury, Texas.In an effort to make ends meet, theDurant’s also opened a wrecking yardbusiness behind the family home. Fromthat wrecking yard, Julian Durant, a manwith a third grade education, founded TheDurant Automobile Business.Sheer determination led Julian Durantto expand the small automobile business,purchasing a local Chevrolet dealership inGranbury, and renaming it Durant Chevrolet.With his sons Tom and Jerry at hisside, the family business flourished. Thenin 1972, Tom Durant bought the smallGranbury from his father. Sixteen yearslater, Tom purchased another dealershipin downtown Fort Worth, a space formerlyoccupied by Century Chevrolet and in1992, Tom Durant’s visionary instinct thathas led to much of this success, told hometo move the dealership to Grapevine. “Noone was out here but Payton Wright Ford,”remarked Mr. Durant, “Chevrolet told meI could build a 2.9 acre, 20,000 square footfacility. Instead, my wife Susan and I builta 45,000 square foot facility on 11 acres.All seven of Tom and Susan Durant’sGM dealerships share a common slogan,“Relax and Enjoy the Difference,”originally developed for the flagship store,Classic Chevrolet in Grapevine. And thatdistinct difference is evident from themoment a customer enters the dealership.“Our goal from day one has been toremove the confrontation form the salesprocess,” explains Mr. Durant. “We havea laid back, open, relaxed environmentwhere our customers can enjoy the buyinga car again. That’s why our dress code isjeans and boots in the winter and shortsin the summer.Times have changed since the openingof a small Chevy dealership in Granburyfifty years ago, but the honest friendly servicethat customers have come to expecthas never wavered. Congratulations onthe 50th Anniversary of Classic ChevroletBuick GMC in Granbury and continuedsuccess to the Durant Auto <strong>Group</strong>. n2010 FALL ⎢25