Marion Auto Mart relocates to Main Street
Staff writer
Marion Auto Mart is now located at 1111 East Main. The firm moved its offices from 1501 Lori Lane, just off U.S.-56, to the new site recently and was open for business there May 27.
Leland Heidebrecht is the general manager. Tim and Marlyn Karstetter of McPherson have owned the business since November 1998.
Karstetter is an attorney. He and his law partner, John Klenda, have offices in both McPherson and Marion.
"We're happy to be back in town, after being out on the highway," Karstetter said Monday.
The owner sold the building on Lori Lane, Karstetter said.
"I'm pleased with the activity and the traffic, so far, after one week," he said.
"We're going to do some more remodeling work."
Heidebrecht said the office has been partitioned, and "we're fixing it up so we can have a detail shop in the back."
The old gasoline pumps of the former C-Mart store that was on the site are to be removed soon.
"We usually have about 20 vehicles on the lot," Heidebrecht said. "We also sell cars for people, for a fee."
Matt Karstetter, Tim and Marlyn's son, who is attending college, works at the store sometimes on weekends, when he can, Heidebrecht said.
Marion Auto Mart is open for business from 8:30 a.m. to noon and 1 to 5:30 p.m., Monday through Friday, and 8:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Saturday.
The phone number is 382-8928.
Tim Karstetter said, "Not only do we sell vehicles on the lot, but we also have a vehicle locator service, via computer. Customers tell us what they want and how much they can spend, and we try to match them up with what they want."
He goes regularly to sales of used vehicles in Oklahoma City, Okla., he said. The sales firm posts its inventory for upcoming sales on its Web site.
The OkC firm sells about 2,000 vehicles per week, Tim said. By looking at the Web site, he knows the lot number and the number of the vehicle or vehicles he may wish to bid on and buy, and bring back to Marion for resale.
