The Register-Herald, Beckley, West Virginia

Money

November 6, 2009

Beckley Honda dealership under new ownership

Jessica Farrish

Earehart Honda of Beckley is now under new ownership.

Larry Lafon, a co-owner of the new enterprise, said the name of the operation is Beckley Honda, but the location hasn’t changed.

Lafon and his partner, Bill O. Tracy, purchased the Honda dealership from Mike Prunesti and Gus Farris on Oct. 29.

Tracy and Lafon also own Advantage Toyota in Barboursville and Huntington.

“We retained about 90 percent of (Earehart’s) past employees, so the service department will have the same faces,” he said. “They have a very well-ranked service and parts department.”

Lafon is also co-owner of L&S; Toyota in Beckley, but L&S; is a separate business from the Honda operation.

The sale had been in the works since Prunesti decided to branch out into an entirely different line of business.

“Mike and Gus called me and asked me if I’d be interested,” Lafon said. “I’m their neighbor because of L&S.;”

Both L&S; and Earehart are located on Robert C. Byrd Drive.

“I’d bought out Howard Earehart at the Toyota store,” he added. “When I relocated (from Ragland Road to Robert C. Byrd Drive), I bought out Tommy Earehart and his sisters.

“So I had a relationship with the Earehart family.”

Lafon said he also knew the late Earehart Honda founder Bill Earehart — the father-in-law of Prunesti and Farris.

“He was a consummate gentleman in the business,” Lafon said.

Beckley Honda has been open since Oct. 30.

Plans for Beckley Honda include building inventory of both new and used vehicles, Lafon stated.

“We have to be aggressive because the Beckley market has some strong competitors on both sides, so we have to get very competitive and very aggressive to earn the business back,” he said.

Lafon has 38 years of experience in the car dealership business, and he is a native of Logan.

Tracy is originally from Bluefield.

— E-mail: jfarrish@register-herald.com

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