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Business View Magazine
The Price Simms Auto Group
The right vehicle at a competitive price
“The big part about auto dealerships is: you don’t
get another one, unless you’re doing well in one. . .”
That truism was recently voice by Mike Shum, General
Manager of Toyota of Sunnyvale, and a Partner in the
Price Simms Auto Group. And Shum should know. He
has seen PriceSimms grow from one struggling Toyota
store, to a network of 14 successful auto franchises
spanning 21 auto manufacturers’ brands in 11 differ-
ent locations throughout the San Francisco Bay area
and Northern California.
The Price Simms success story begins with the part-
nership of Tom Price and Adam Simms, two auto in-
dustry veterans who decided to purchase a Toyota
dealership in Sunnyvale, Calif., in 2003. Price began
his career working for the Ford Motor Company and
a San Francisco, Lincoln-Mercury store, before buying
an Oldsmobile dealership in 1976. Over the next sev-
eral years, Price grew First American Automotive into
a 30-dealership enterprise with a revenue of $1.6 bil-
lion. In 1991, the company merged with Sonic Auto-
motive, America’s third largest automotive retailer. In
2001, Price sold out to a group of investors, re-estab-
lishing his entrepreneurial independence.
