Brookfield Chrysler

A Hometown Success Story!
The moment you walk into Watervliet's Brookfield Chrysler Dodge Jeep you know you've arrived not at the usual car dealership, but a rare place where hometown values and upbeat styling combine to become a modern day success story.

The story of Brookfield starts back in 1946 when its original owner Sheldon Bridges and his son Dick built a new building at its present address, 544 North Main Street in Watervliet. The business was known as Bridges - Chevrolet - Olds - GM - Buick

In 1983 Robert Brookfield of Hartford and his son, Don Brookfield of Hartford took over ownership of the dealership and a success story was born.

The business was called Brookfield Chrysler - Plymouth - Dodge in the 1980's then in 1990 Jeep was added on.

Don Brookfield said that the 80's were a bad time for car dealerships. After the first Arab oil embargo things were rough, then, in 1980 after the second embargo dealerships started going out of business right and left. But, somehow, Brookfield held on. It not only held on, Don reports, but it "survived and soared". It became the only dealership in Watervliet. "For some reason," Brookfield said, "manufacturers felt small towns couldn't survive, but they recognized the potential of Brookfield."

From 1983 to 1993, Don said, there was a "decade of change" at the dealership. Brookfield purchased four buildings surrounding the dealership and expanded the operation. "We not only completely remodeled the dealership," Don said, "But we went from four employees to as many as twenty. We had to know what we were doing and we had to have people committed to their jobs."

Don said the vision of the dealership is "to improve the level of service to customers and let them know that the quality of service they can get here will not take a back seat to any other dealership." The "Brookfield Edge" guarantees our customers the level of service they are looking for.  Trust, Confidence, and Respect are our core values that we use everyday with every customer.

Our entire customer base knows larger communities "don't do it any better, this dealership is absolutely not second to any other dealership in Southwest Michigan."

Don said that the business has gone "from 25-30 cars, with an outlook for the future, to more than 100 cars in stock.  We're using and maximizing every inch of the building."

Brookfield reports that a lot of activity is going on with the business. The parking lot area will be adding new lighting and will include paving more of the lot and adding landscaping to the north side of the parking lot. It also will include upgrading the façade of the building and adding 4,000 square feet to the building over the next two years.

He also said that a lot of time and money goes into training his people. This year alone he has spent almost $20,000 in training his sales staff and technicians and maintenance people. Brookfield also remarked that the dealership had made almost $7,000 this year in good will contributions.

Brookfield's has the pleasure of having some very long-time employees in its service. Judy Brooks the Office Manager has been with the company for 23 years; Sally Sexton Business and Finance Manger 12 years; Dana Bryant Service Manager 11 years; and Kurt Fleming Master Technician 9 years.

Don said "these are more than professional people, they are good people with a wealth of knowledge."