Everybody Drives a Used Car

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Everybody Drives a Used Car

Three generations of the Elliff family are active in Elliff Motors.
Three generations of the Elliff family are active in Elliff Motors.

At Elliff Motors, great-grandsons of Luther Elliff are now working in the used car dealership he founded in 1944. For over 60 years, the slogan “Everybody drives a used car” has kept an upmarket spin on Elliff’s pre-owned vehicles. Each generation of the Elliffs appears to have the gene that makes them avid car dealers, who seem to have a good time while they’re working.

“Some families don’t get along real well. We get along fine,” said Bill Elliff, 47, third generation spokesman. “We bump heads every once in a while, of course. But we all know our roles and agree that it’s not worth shutting the business down over an argument. We move on. That’s the reason it works.”

Bill Elliff and his brother Joe bought the business from their father Larry in 2000 and have co-managed the company since. Yet Larry Elliff, 79, still works at the Harlingen office every day, and he remarked that the used car market, in this recession, is the strongest he has seen in 57 years in the business.

“He is a wealth of knowledge,” Bill Elliff said. “I have had the great fortune of having two good teachers, my dad and my grandfather. When I was little, I spent just about every weekend and the whole summer with my grandfather washing cars and working on them while Dad traveled to buy cars. They both were instrumental in Joe and me staying in the business.”

Bill Elliff talks with a customer in his office.
Bill Elliff talks with a customer in his office.

After 25 years gainfully employed, Bill Elliff remains enthusiastic about his career choice. “What’s so great about this business is that there is something different every day. No two used cars are the same; they’re in different conditions. We really enjoy it. Joe loves to buy and sell.”

The retail side of the business has kept growing and is typically strong during economic downturns. Over the last 20 years, the family has purchased adjacent properties, torn down buildings and expanded the lot. “We’re always crowded,” noted Elliff, surrounded by sparkling clean, late model vehicles. The company has its own on-site, service department which tests all vehicles being retailed and brings them up to roadworthy standards. The facility stays busy because it is open to the public. Elliff vehicles, which range from $40,000 to $4,000, are sold either under factory warranty or a 90-day dealership warranty.

Elliff Motors is still trying to overcome one misconception that persists about independent used car dealers. “We have competitive interest rates.”  The company can tap into retail financing from about 10 different sources, besides financing some items in house.

Read more of this story by Eileen Mattei in the November print edition of Valley Business Report, out now.

Freelance writer Eileen Mattei was the editor of Valley Business Report for over 6 years. Her articles have appeared in Texas Highways, Texas Wildlife Association, Texas Parks & Wildlife and Texas Coop Power magazines as well as On Point: The Journal of Army History. The Harlingen resident is the author of five books: Valley Places, Valley Faces; At the Crossroads: Harlingen’s First 100 Years; and Leading the Way: McAllen’s First 100 Years, For the Good of My Patients: The History of Medicine in the Rio Grande Valley, and Quinta Mazatlán: A Visual Journey.

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