History

In the ten years since Town & Country Ford opened its fledgling dealership in Bessemer, the United States has weathered the 9/11 attacks, fought wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, suffered a 47 percent increase in the unemployment rate, and endured a long-term bear market. More recently, the economy has weathered a severe credit crisis growing out of the depressed real estate market.

Through all that, Town & Country has prospered by following a few basic principles:

• Value. We keep large inventories of new and pre-owned vehicles and sell them at great prices.
• Choices. Whether it’s our inventory of vehicles or our financing options, we believe in providing a wide range of choices to our customers.
• Service. We realize nobody looks forward to bringing a vehicle in for service, so we do everything we can to make it a positive experience. A clean waiting area (with hot coffee and popcorn), a friendly smile, and an accurate estimate are all parts of this positive experience.

“These bedrock principles have driven our business from the time we opened our doors in 1999,” said Steve Watts, who co-founded Town & Country Ford with Bill Sain and investors Hank Tyler and Don Holmes.

Watts, Sain, Tyler and Holmes understood from the beginning that the business would have to operate in all types of markets. Economies fluctuate. Consumer tastes change.

But we’ve always believed that if you pay close attention to the fundamentals of treating people right and taking care of your customers, the rest would take care of itself.