John R. Darvish
Founder and President
DARCARS
It was during a school break in 1962 from the pre-med program at Elon University in North Carolina that John Darvish began to sell used cars at a dealership with his friend in Hyattsville, Maryland. John immediately fell in love with working with people and the automobile business. He continued to be promoted through the ranks of the dealerships he worked for.
John bought his first dealership, Glenmont Chrysler-Plymouth, in 1977 and has steadily expanded to be one of the largest dealership chains in the country. The DARCARS® Automotive Organization operates 34 franchises at 20 locations in 3 states. DARCARS® is also one of the largest private owned businesses in Greater Washington Metropolitan Area and has nearly 2000 employees.
DARCARS®, has set many precedents in the industry including Customer Service, Training and Staff Development, Continuing Education and Community Service, and has its own state of the art training center. John says, “I strongly believe in continuing education as a catalyst for growth and development of our team members and support them as much as possible in the pursuit of continued success that I bear the cost of all certification and course requirements, thereby relieving them of this expense.”
John has received hundreds of industry and community awards over the years, but he says his most important and meaningful “was my first paycheck in the automobile business. That check was for $2.94, and I still carry it in my pocket today.” He says the humble check is a “constant reminder of where I came from and how important my continued commitment and hard work is to maintain the level of success that we enjoy today.”
John and DARCARS® are well recognized as one of the area’s most charitable and civic minded organizations. “Our most important civic achievement has been our ability to establish a solid foundation in the community whereby our members know they can always count on us and our organization in times in need. There are over 30 local charitable and civic organizations that we continue to provide time, talent and treasure to.”
“Community service is not only a priority of mine, but of the hundreds of our employees as well,” John says. DARCARS® employees raise money and provide their personal time and talent. “Together, we have helped raise millions of dollars to support those who really need us in our own backyards.”
John and his entire family continue to put in relentless hours but they thoroughly enjoy every bit of it. He treats all of his employees as if they too were family members and is always there to assist them in any way.
John has always had an “open door” policy to all of his customers and employees. His philosophy is very simple. He tells his employees when working with customers to ask themselves: “What would you do if this was your loving mother that you were dealing with. Whatever is good for her is good for the company.”
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