2025 TDOY Nominee

Kevin Grover is one of a select group of 49 dealer nominees from across the country who will be honored at the 108^th annual National Automobile Dealers Association (NADA) Show in New Orleans, Louisiana, on January 25, 2025.

The TIME Dealer of the Year award is one of the automobile industry’s most prestigious and highly coveted honors. The award recognizes the nation’s most successful auto dealers who also demonstrate a long-standing commitment to community service. Grover was chosen to represent the Oklahoma Automobile Dealers Association in the national competition — one of only 49 auto dealers nominated for the 56^th annual award from more than 20,000 nationwide.

“For the last 37 years, we have poured our heart and soul into this business, community, industry, and our employees to make a positive impact in the lives we touch daily,” nominee Grover said. “I don't feel like I have ever worked a day in my life because I love what I do.”

Grover, who earned a B.S. in business administration at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville in 1982, knew he wanted to be a car dealer from the time he was a child. He loved spending his days at the Shell station that his father, Phil, owned and later at the dealerships his dad managed and acquired in Janesville, Wisconsin.

“You might say that I was born with gasoline in my veins,” he said. “The highlight of my life at age 12 was to clean the service department floors every Saturday at my dad’s Toyota store. I was paid $10 for each Saturday and saved up enough money to buy a Schwinn bicycle, which I still own and ride today.”

Grover applied that same goal-oriented energy when he started selling Toyotas during high school. After college, he worked in sales at a Pontiac store in Tulsa, Oklahoma, then came back to Janesville and his dad’s dealership as sales manager. After five years, his wife was homesick for Oklahoma, so they moved back in 1988, and he was hired at a small rural Oldsmobile and GMC store in Wagoner.

“It was the hardest decision of my life to move away from my family and leave the dealership I had planned to own one day,” he said. “But I came to a store that needed help, and I was able to turn it around.”

Grover rose from sales manager to general manager to minority partner to full owner by 2003. He lost the Oldsmobile franchise when General Motors (GM) discontinued the brand in 2004, and he added Buick in 2016. Recently, he sold Buick back to GM because of its plans to have an all-electric vehicle lineup, which doesn’t fit with his market’s needs.

Today, Grover oversees Kevin Grover GMC and has confidence his business will continue to grow with a single brand.

“I watched how my dad operated his business and treated people with love, respect, care, concern, integrity, and generosity, which I emulate,” he said. “He was my mentor before I knew what a mentor was. With his example, plus a dedicated team of employees and a loyal customer base, we can overcome any adversity.”

An active member of the Oklahoma Automobile Dealers Association, Grover has served on the group’s board as chair, chair elect, vice chair, zone chair, and board member. During his time as chair, he implemented zone meetings to connect directly with dealers statewide and consolidated two major metro dealer groups into the state association.

“I believe it is very important to give back to our industry,” he said. “Our association has also been instrumental in passing new legislation in the state of Oklahoma which strengthens franchise laws and protects the dealer investment.”

A member of the Rotary Club of Wagoner for 36 years, Grover is a three-time Paul Harris Fellow, which is an award presented to members who contribute funding at a designated level. The group is very active in the local community, providing dictionaries to third-grade students in three area elementary schools and awarding two $2,000 scholarships annually to outstanding students for their continuing education. In March, Kevin Grover GMC was presenting sponsor of the Wagoner Rotary Club Color Run 5K, which raises funds for various Rotary Club projects.

Another dealership initiative is the annual Porter Peach Festival, a three-day event sponsored by the Lions Club in Porter, Oklahoma.

“We are one of the presenting partners and our team staffs a root beer float stand at the festival, with the proceeds donated back to the community,” he said. “The last two years, we have used the funds to help a local team compete in the Special Olympics Oklahoma.”

Other groups Grover supports include the Tulsa Area United Way, St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, Wagoner Education Foundation, Wagoner Chamber of Commerce, and a new Boys & Girls Club in the area, to name a few.

Grover was nominated for the TIME Dealer of the Year award by Peter Hodges, president of the Oklahoma Automobile Dealers Association. Grover and his wife, Debbie, have two children.