Appleway Seeks Help From State Auto Dealer Turns Up Heat In Squabble With Toyota

In a collision of two companies that once were friends, the Appleway Group in Spokane has gone to state authorities to force Toyota Motor Sales Inc. to approve the sale of Appleway to a national dealership chain.

Appleway, a group of eight dealerships along Sprague Avenue in the Spokane Valley, Monday asked the state Department of Licensing to resolve a delay that has kept Appleway in limbo and possibly cost its owners more than $1 million in stock.

Appleway owners Tim and Brad Pring in June agreed to sell the company for $42.6 million in stock to Republic Industries Inc., a Florida-based company that is building a nationwide chain of dealerships. Fearful that Republic was gobbling up dealers too fast, Toyota has refused to give its consent to the sale of Appleway and several other dealerships across the country.

“The time has come and gone that Toyota should have given us an answer,” Tim Pring said. “We want to play by the rules, but we need a response.”

Pring said that, with the exception of Toyota, all other manufacturers who supply Appleway with vehicles have given written or verbal approval to the sale.

In its petition to the state, Appleway said Toyota opposed Republic’s expansion to keep an “iron grip on its dealers.” Under Washington law, the licensing department must hold a hearing on the matter within 120 days.

Jim Press, senior vice president at Toyota, said the company is protecting consumers from the greed of Republic, a company controlled by billionaire Wayne Huizenga.

“Toyota’s name is not for sale,” Press said in a statement. “We cannot stand by and let Republic turn hometown Toyota and Lexus dealerships into part of a mega-store conglomerate.”

Pring said Toyota continues to supply Appleway with cars and trucks and vehicle sales have held steady.

But delays in the sale of Appleway to Republic may have cost the Prings more than $1 million.

Rather than pay cash, Republic plans to give the Prings stock worth $42.6 million. After announcing the Appleway sale, Republic’s stock fell to a 52-week low of $19.875, which would have given the Prings 2.14 million Republic shares if they had exchanged the dealership on that day.

But by Tuesday, the stock had rebounded to $23.4375. The difference between Tuesday’s price and the 52-week low was enough to have pocketed the Prings an extra $1.1 million.

“We haven’t closed yet, so technically we haven’t lost any money,” Pring said. “But by the same token, the stock has moved up and down.”

With 340 employees and annual sales of $160 million, Appleway is one of the Inland Northwest’s largest dealers. It includes Appleway Chevrolet/Geo; Appleway Toyota; Appleway Mitsubishi, Subaru, Volkswagen and Audi; and Lexus of Spokane.

, DataTimes