this article appears to have a close connection with its subject . it may require cleanup to comply with wikipedia s content policies particularly neutral point of view . please discuss further on the talk page . july 2015 learn how and when to remove this template message dave smith motors type car dealership industry automobile founded 1965 headquarters kellogg idaho united states area served idaho washington montana and usa key people ken smith ceo products chrysler dodge jeep ram chevrolet buick gmc cadillac pre owned vehicles slogan hassle free buying website davesmith.com dave smith motors is a car dealership in kellogg idaho that attracts customers from all over the country . 1 the dealership has a reputation for being the world s largest ram dealer . 2 contents 1 history 2 community contributions 3 ownership 4 see also 5 references history edit dave smith motors started in january 1967 in wallace idaho . he purchased the small chevrolet dealership from mort keane . at that time the chevrolets were sold mainly to miners loggers smelter workers and local businessmen in northern idaho s silver valley . five years later he moved the dealership to kellogg idaho . today dave smith motors carries chrysler general motors and nissan products according to the dave smith website citation needed dave smith.com . idaho s silver valley was founded in the 1800s silver boom and is one of the richest silver mining regions in the world . the community is located along interstate 90 in northern idaho s shoshone county . the valley thrived for decades as one of the nation s greatest mining regions . then in 1981 the bunker hill mine in kellogg closed . 3 over 2 000 jobs left with the mine sending the area into an economic downturn . 4 the region also lost a lot of jobs in the timber industry . 5 the population of the valley plummeted and car dealerships were losing the battle to stay in business . dave smith nearly lost the dealership . as other dealerships were going out of business in the valley dave smith bought up nine other new car dealerships and sold all the brands under one roof . 6 he also cut prices in an attempt to make up in volume what was lost in mark ups . 6 at any given time the dealership has more new vehicles on lots in town than the population of kellogg . 7 dave smith motors was one of the first car dealerships to take advantage of the internet . in the late 1990s when many dealerships saw the internet as a threat 8 dave smith embraced the internet and used it as a tool to increase sales . since the beginning of the list dave smith motors has ranked high on ward s auto e dealer 100 list . 9 dave smith motors uses the internet to reach beyond the geographic confines of their remote location in kellogg idaho . the internet changed the playing field for dealerships because chrysler corporation now daimlerchrysler allocates more cars to dealerships that sell more a policy that rewards dealers who are able to boost their sales . 10 despite the concerns of competing dealerships chrysler continued to ship even more vehicles to dave smith motors and assured other dealers that they could increase sales by improved customer service and referrals . 8 the other dealerships were not pleased . in 1998 twenty five chrysler dealerships in five states threatened to boycott chrysler corporation if they did not reduce the number of cars they allocated to dave smith motors . 11 the federal trade commission considered their boycott illegal 12 and the group settled the charges before the boycott began . community contributions edit dave smith motors is one of the largest employers in shoshone county 13 14 and the largest private company in kellogg . 15 ownership edit in april 2015 dave smith motors was acquired by rfj auto partners inc. of plano texas . 16 see also edit list of companies based in idaho references edit jackson kathy 17 february 1997 . dealership salespeople pushed aside by internet . automotive news . retrieved 19 june 2013 . brixey marcia 28 december 2011 . buying a new car painlessly . forbes . retrieved 19 june 2013 . preusch matthew january 2008 . a mining town with a bleak past starts to blossom . the new york times . retrieved 19 june 2013 . bunker hill mining company records 1887 1984 . the records of the bunker hill mining company were donated to the university of idaho library by the company in june 1991 . they were processed by judith nielsen between october 1993 and october 1994 . university of idaho . retrieved 19 june 2013 . ritter saunders emilie february 12 2012 . car sales are big business in one rural idaho county . stateimpact . retrieved 19 june 2013 . a b dave smith leads world in dodge chrysler jeep sales . the spokesman review . january 6 2007 . retrieved 19 june 2013 . http www.spokesman.com stories 2007 jan 06 dave smith leads world in dodge chrysler jeep . the spokesman review . 6 january 2007 . retrieved 19 june 2013 . external link in title help a b bradsher keith 30 january 1998 . a new era of wheeling and dealing ; rising competition squeezes car sellers . the new york times . retrieved 19 june 2013 . gordon mac . e dealer pros sharpen their game . wardsauto . retrieved 19 june 2013 . wallace bob 3 september 1998 . car dealers yield sales to internet . cnn . retrieved 19 june 2013 . garner rochelle june 1999 . sales and marketing management 54 61 of 151 . missing or empty title help auto dealers settle charges of boycott . the new york times . 6 august 1998 . retrieved 19 june 2013 . spotlight on the silver villey . state of idaho department of commerce . retrieved 19 june 2013 . pupovac jessica . private vs. public who writes more paychecks in your county . boise state public radio . retrieved 19 june 2013 . dave smith motors building large kellogg lot . the spokesman review . 1 july 2004 . retrieved 19 june 2013 . rfj buys dave smith auto . automotive news . retrieved 5 july 2016 . retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title dave smith motors & oldid 732462440 categories companies based in idaho1965 establishments in idahoauto dealerships of the united stateshidden categories cs1 errors external linkspages with citations lacking titleswikipedia articles with possible conflicts of interest from july 2015all articles with unsourced statementsarticles with unsourced statements from july 2015 navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools what links hererelated changesupload filespecial pagespermanent linkpage informationwikidata itemcite this page print export create a bookdownload as pdfprintable version languages add links this page was last modified on 1 august 2016 at 04 06 . text is available under the creative commons 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