Premier Companies has gone West, something it would do for only one auto manufacturer. The dealership group, based in Cape Cod, Mass., in November acquired a BMW store in Fairfield in Northern California.

“It is the only brand we would go there for,” Joe Laham, president of Premier Companies, told Wards Auto in a Zoom call.

The Fairfield dealership is one of a growing collection of BMW stores owned by the New England-based group. Premier also has a BMW dealership in Cape Cod, Mass., and is in the process of opening a new BMW dealership in Frederick, Md.

It will also in 2026 build a BMW Motorrad motorcycle dealership adjacent to its Plymouth, Mass., Volvo store.

His group has a “great relationship” with BMW, Laham said.

It now owns nine new-vehicle dealership rooftops, including two BMW, two Jeep, two Volvo, an Audi, a Chrysler Dodge Jeep Ram and a Mazda store.

All but the California BMW store are in the Northeast, including seven in Massachusetts and one in New Hampshire.

Big BMW fans

Premier Companies wasn’t looking to grow in California. Then a referral to acquire the BMW dealership in Fairfield came to Premier via its bankers at JP Morgan Chase, Laham said.

It was too tempting to resist because of the brand. “BMW is head and shoulders above the rest,” Laham said. “We think they have a winning attitude.”

He cited BMW’s manufacturing presence in the U.S. – its Spartanburg, S.C. plant is the largest BMW plant globally – and the “extremely great group of people” in the company who understand the retail network as reasons Premier likes representing BMW.

If it looks to expand again, “to be quite frank, we’re really very excited about our partnership with BMW,” Laham said.

That feeling isn’t universally shared. Dealers in the CDG Q4 2025 Dealer Outlook Survey were most enthusiastic about owning a Toyota or Lexus franchise. BMW ranked ninth in the “most desirable to own” category.

Its vehicles are popular, however. BMW sales in the U.S. rose 8.5% in the first three quarters of 2025 compared to the same period in 2024. In the third quarter they surged 24%.

Image compliant plus

Premier Companies acquired the California dealership from Fairfield Automotive Partners, an entity co-owned by Schomp Automotive Group, and Hal Logan, CEO of Third Set Partners LLC. Logan was represented by Bel Air Partners, a buy-sell advisory firm.

Laham said he dealt directly with the Schomp management in negotiations and was satisfied with the price. “I can’t stress to you enough how reasonable, professional and respectful that the Schomp group was,” he said.

The facility was image compliant, which made the transaction more pleasant, Laham said.

Valuing the real estate can be a real issue in a buy-sell negotiation if the building isn’t compliant with the manufacturer’s most recent image program, he said.  Image compliance “in and of itself is a stumbling block when buying a store,” Laham said.

A new general manager will run the California store but other key managers, including the service manager, the parts manager and one of the three sales managers remained after the acquisition.

Premier will hire “a few more” people, Laham said, but it first wants to instill its culture and process at the Fairfield dealership. That includes what the group calls its Premier Pure Promise elements: negotiation-free price, transparency and staff who are not paid on commission.

As for operating a dealership across the country from Premier’s headquarters in Massachusetts, many dealership groups have stores on opposite coastlines, Laham said.

“My family and my team and my corporate team understands what we need to do the get the job done,” he said.

The people are the most important thing, Laham said. If they are aligned with the culture, “the profits will come.”  

Premier has a saying, he said: A proven process produces positive results.