Spence Young grew up in his family car business. And he will be the first to tell you that he never considered doing anything else.

He learned how to be a lot technician, an oil changer, and a parts department kid. He also managed to wreck a truck along the way and got fired for it. 

But when his father asked him what he wanted to do after his LDS mission in Tampico, Mexico, his answer was easy: sell cars.

His cousin, Oliver Young, took a longer road to joining the family business. He pulled weeds, trained as a technician at Davis Technical College, and worked in accounting and auditing, which he quickly decided was not for him.

Eventually, it came time for Oliver to choose between the family business and his own path; he even lined up job offers at large companies. 

In the end, he realized the best place to pursue his personal mission — helping people build careers that mean something — was right where he started.

Today, Spence is the President of Young Automotive Group, and Oliver is the Innovation Director. 

Together, they have taken their four-generation family business and have grown it to more than 30 stores across Utah, Idaho, and Montana. This year, Young Automotive is being recognized for the ninth time on the Utah 100.

Where It All Started

But the Young Automotive story starts long before Spence and Oliver. It actually starts with their great-grandfather, Jack Olsen, a technician who fixed cars in a garage in Morgan, Utah. 

In 1924, he picked up an Oldsmobile franchise, and in 1925 he added Chevrolet. Today, a plaque outside a coffee shop on Commercial Avenue in Morgan marks the building as the original home of Olsen Chevrolet.

Olsen ran the business straight through the Great Depression. Spence shared stories his great-grandfather wrote down about driving around town in his tow truck until he sold a car, and about guaranteeing loans and then having to repossess the vehicles when customers couldn’t pay. He came out the other side, opened a second store in Layton, and became one of the first multi-point dealers in the country.

And the business has been passed down through family ever since. However, it’s been anything but smooth. 

Spence describes it as a series of resets. When his grandfather Sam Young went through a difficult divorce that left the company in a tight spot for cash, he handed the business to Spence’s father, Spence, at just 27 years old. 

Spence and his brother Seldon raised capital and debt, stabilized the company, and took it over. Spence compares them to the founding partners all over again. 

Now the fourth generation is putting its own mark on the company, and Spence’s daughters, the fifth generation, are already involved. One is the number one salesperson at her store, and the other is managing a warehouse and driving a forklift.

The Culture

If you ask Oliver what sets Young Automotive apart, he’ll say their culture is their differentiator. And he can hold it in his hand. Literally.

You see, every employee carries a card printed with the company’s mission and values. Every meeting starts by pulling it out, reciting the mission, going through the values, and sharing stories that show them in action. 

The mission is simple: deliver an exceptional customer experience while building a fiercely loyal following that loves to think young.

The culture card actually stemmed from a real problem. When Oliver joined the leadership team, the group’s stores operated in silos. Spence, then running the Chevrolet store, admits that he cared about his own store, salespeople, inventory, and little else. 

And Oliver remembers what that looked like. He was selling at their Kia store when a customer spotted a Malibu at the Chevy store. When he brought the customer over, he was basically told to get lost. The Malibu was Chevy’s inventory, and if Oliver sold it, Kia would get the credit.

However, the one who lost out in that scenario was the customer. So, the company changed. 

Today, any salesperson at any Young store can sell any used car in the group. A salesperson in Layton, Ogden, or Montana now has access to about 1,200 used vehicles instead of the 50 on their own lot.

Spence is the first to admit he fought it to death for the first two years. But he’s also quick to credit Oliver for pushing the change through. 

In 2014, when Oliver became chief sales officer, Young Automotive saw a 43% increase in sales and a 29% jump in revenue. Oliver credited several factors, including acquisitions, a stronger shared culture, and a more granular focus on the key indicators that drive results.

He also brought what he calls a “kaleidoscope” approach to marketing, where the mailer is just one piece alongside grassroots events, in-store experiences, and employees asking friends and family for referrals.

The Key to Lasting Across Generations

Cheri Waldron shared a sobering statistic on the show: only about 3 to 5% of dealerships make it to the fourth or fifth generation. And Spence has heard it, too. So, how has Young Automotive kept it together all these years?

The Youngs believe communication is the key. Growing up, Spence’s father held family councils and made sure his kids understood the odds of running a multi-generational business. 

Today, the family still holds quarterly council meetings. And with cousins and an uncle in the business, they’ve had to work through plenty of challenges together. What has helped them the most is recognizing that everyone has their own talents, and finding a role where each person can contribute to the business.

The family also holds a shared belief about titles. 

“I might have a title, but that doesn’t mean anything,” Spence said. “We’re owners. We will sweep, we’ll pick up garbage, we’ll sell cars.” 

And they’re honest when they say that it isn’t easy. When asked if they have it all figured out, both brothers answered with a quick “no.” As Spence put it, “Everybody’s making it up as they go.”

Putting People Over Capital

The most important advice Spence ever heard came from his father. He asked him what matters most in business, and he said, “capital.” But after some years had passed, he came back to tell Spence how wrong he’d been. 

You can always find a way to raise capital, but it’s the people that make a business run.

And Spence has seen that play out again and again. If you change one leader at a store, it can go from losing money to making a lot of it. 

Oliver’s version of the family’s wisdom is goal setting. Growing up, the family sat down every quarter to review goals, and to see whether they had passed or failed. But Spence didn’t realize until entering the professional world that not everyone had been taught to do the same. 

Spence’s own leadership style shows this people-first approach in action. When he became president in 2014, his father handed over the reins and gave him autonomy to run the business his own way. 

Where he had watched his father clash with manufacturers and banks, Spence set out to befriend them. This built him a large network of partners. 

Oliver credits that network with opening doors to acquisitions. Where he once spent years knocking on doors looking for opportunities, so many people now want to sell to Young Automotive that they don’t need to knock at all.

Growing Through Challenges

Young Automotive’s move into power sports started almost by accident. During the 2008 financial crisis, the group had five stores, including two GM stores and a Chrysler store. Both GM and Chrysler went bankrupt. 

Spence remembers sitting in a conference room with his dad and the general managers, not knowing whether or not a cancellation letter was coming. 

It never did, and the company never lost money or a franchise. But they learned that relying on a small number of manufacturers was risky.

Their response moving forward was to diversify, both across brands and vertically within the business. They started knocking on the doors of dealers who were aging out of the business and became a succession plan for them, bringing on their families and employees. 

They also built a major wholesale parts operation serving collision shops across the West, mostly serving collision shops that can now call one number and get parts for any make. They also built a fleet operation that has been among the top 10 in the country for many years.

In 14 years, they went from five stores to more than 30: roughly 22 to 23 auto stores and 10 power sports stores. Spence notes that this didn’t happen overnight. It was 14 years of grind.

And the move into power sports has a good story behind it. In 2015, at a groundbreaking ceremony in Burley, Idaho, a stranger walked up with a financial statement and asked Spence to buy his power sports store. Spence accepted, and it prepared him for the real thing. 

In 2019, his father-in-law was ready to retire his lots, and Young Automotive became his succession plan. Now the group runs a 115,000-square-foot power sports store in Centerville, a place Spence calls “the Cabela’s or Bass Pro Shops of power sports.”

When it comes to the company’s growth, Oliver is clear about one thing: it is always centered on their people. Creating local ecosystems in each market — with a body shop, a couple of auto stores, a power sports store, and a truck and trailer store — gives employees room to build long careers close to home.

Young Automotive does business in three states, but Utah is home. And both leaders are grateful for it. 

Spence sees an entrepreneurial culture and a network of people “doing it the right way.” Oliver points to a strong talent pool of operators who care. 

Spence has friends running dealerships in other states who say there’s little progression where they live. But he notes that in Utah, a place you visited five or ten years ago can be unrecognizable today.

Utah continues to give Young Automotive new ways to grow as they push forward with family, friends, and good connections.

Doing Good, Doing Business

Community involvement is also a major part of Young Automotive’s culture through Young Caring for Our Young.

It all started with Oliver and a business lesson. When he was running marketing, a $10,000 mailer would bring in about 100 people, and everyone would celebrate. 

So he tried something different: partnering with a school district and paying $5 for every coloring page a child brought in. Thousands of families flooded the dealership until he had to shut it off when the $10,000 ran out. 

Instead of sending money to a mail company in Chicago, the check went to a school district, and the whole school board applauded. His takeaway is that doing good for your community is still good for business, and everybody wins.

Today, Young Caring for Young has four pillars:

  1. Conquer Hunger: During the first days of COVID, when food pantries were running out of food, Young Automotive employees drove through neighborhoods on motorcycles and power sports vehicles, in masks and gloves, to pick up donations from doorsteps. Today, the annual pantry campaign feeds about 25,000 to 30,000 children.
  2. The KIND Fund: This app lets teachers anonymously submit a request for a student in need. Volunteers fulfill the request using a $150 gift card, and the teacher stays the hero. The program started with $15,000 to serve 100 kids, and ended up serving 1,200 children in its first year. Today, it is close to reaching 10,000 kids in just three years.
  3. Educator Support: Young Automotive recognizes educators making a difference in their school districts with one-year car leases, plus gas and insurance.
  4. Homeless Teens: The company helps to support teen centers across Utah with hygiene kits and other essentials.

Internally, the company also runs hardship grants that help employees get over a hump during difficult times. These are just a few of the ways the company strives to give back to a community that has supported them through so much growth.

AI and Human Touch

As AI reshapes the automotive industry and the way businesses operate, Young Automotive is figuring out where technology can help — and where the human element still matters most. Oliver joked that they’ve got it all figured out when it comes to artificial intelligence. In reality, they have a lot to learn. 

“When there is turbulence, everybody has to change, which means there’s opportunity,” Oliver said. Spence noted that work that used to take hours — like preparing for acquisitions or combing through bank contracts — now takes minutes.

But they also see AI making the human side of business more valuable. 

Spence and his wife visit their power sports store every Saturday to be with people smiling and excited to be there. It feels like people are craving human-to-human connection, and the challenge is finding the balance between what AI can improve and what should stay human.

For Spence and Oliver, the opportunity is finding the right balance: using AI to improve productivity while protecting the human-to-human experiences that customers still value.

Lessons for Entrepreneurs

Spence and Oliver’s story has plenty of takeaways for founders and business leaders. Here are a few to take with you:

  • Invest in people before capital: There are ways to raise capital, but the right people are what make the business run. One strong leader can change the trajectory of an entire store.
  • Build a culture you can hold in your hand: A mission and values card, reviewed at every meeting, turned Young Automotive’s culture into a daily practice.
  • Use a crisis to diversify: The 2008 financial crisis pushed the Youngs to expand across brands and build vertical operations that made them more resilient.
  • Doing good is good business: Community involvement has brought more customers through the door and made employees feel connected to the company.
  • Set goals and review them regularly: Quarterly goal reviews have been passed down through the Young family for generations and keep the company accountable.
  • Balance AI with the human touch: Use technology to save time, but protect the personal connection that customers are looking for.

Looking Ahead

When it comes to what’s next for Young Automotive, Spence and Oliver have been open and honest. The Youngs have had the chance to sell. 

They were approached multiple times, and could have cashed out for a large amount of money. After thinking about their people and the core group they had built together, Spence and Oliver decided that wasn’t who they wanted to be. 

They decided to keep going for another hundred years.

Spence believes the next three to four years will be the best they’ve seen. What drives him now is creating opportunities for people. 

“It’s amazing to see guys that started as lot technicians. Now they’re running stores, making wages that a doctor makes,” he said. He likes to joke that he doesn’t have a college degree, but he does have a PhD in dealership ownership.

Oliver shared their vision for power sports. They want to own the Intermountain West corridor, arguably the best riding in the country. 

In auto, they want to build markets with three to five stores and a body shop. Their upfitting business is growing fast, and they build most of UDOT’s snowplows. 

As for EVs, Oliver isn’t worried: “We sell transportation. We get you from point A to point B and help you ‘think young’ while you’re doing it.”

When we asked them what being recognized on the Utah 100 for the ninth year means to them, Spence called it an honor that feels like validation. Oliver described looking up from years of hard work to realize they had built something special.

The past century for Young Automotive has just been the beginning of their story. Spence and Oliver have big plans. And they can’t wait to make them happen in the next 100 years.

Want the full story behind Young Automotive’s journey?

Listen to the complete MountainWest Capital Network Podcast episode, where Spence and Oliver share the family story behind their business and how it has lasted four generations.

[Listen to the full episode here →]

Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/a-century-of-thinking-young-how-young-automotive/id1818372923?i=1000793842856 


Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/4ljgPy7KorUeSmVIAI6EUU?si=MouPmunMQlqOFs5TrepxZg 

Connect with Spence and Oliver Young and Young Automotive: