Used-car sales to return to Minnesota Avenue lot

Aug. 2, 2019

The Minnesota Avenue property that used to be The Auto Group and Autoland before that will return to selling cars next week.

New business owner Scott Johnson is calling his used-car lot The Lot.

He said his business will operate with a “very low overhead” and will offer financing and service contracts for its vehicles. The focus is on selling cars between $7,000 and $15,000, with a handful as low as around $1,500.

“We’ll specialize in affordable cars with easy payments,” he said. “It’ll be a one-stop deal for our customers.”

Johnson has been in the industry since 2007, when he started selling cars at the Billion Buick in Watertown. After two years there, he transferred to the Billion Chevy in Sioux Falls when his wife got a job here.

He was promoted to a finance manager at the West 12th Street dealership in March 2012, a position he held until he decided to open up his own lot this year.

“I knew a gentleman who had car lots, and he was spread a little thin, so the opportunity came up for me to open my own,” he said. “I talked it over with my wife, and we decided that it was the right time for me to do this.”

While Johnson plans to host a grand opening of his location at the end of August, he will be open for business Monday. He is heading to a car auction in Des Moines this weekend, where he hopes to buy as many cars as he can to increase his inventory. His goal is to have 50 cars on the lot in the next few months and 70 by the end of the year.

“We’re definitely getting through the growing pains of the logistics,” he said. “But I’m excited to get up and running soon.”

Earlier this year, The Auto Group returned to its original site near the Tea exit on Interstate 29. Before that, Autoland, which had been there for several years, moved to a new 6-acre site at 2500 N. Maple Lane, west of the I-29 and Russell Street interchange.

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Used-car sales to return to Minnesota Avenue lot

The Minnesota Avenue property that used to be The Auto Group and Autoland before that will return to selling cars next week.

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