Bergstrom repeats as Automotive News’ No. 1 workplace

Rachel Kroeger

Staff

August 24, 2026

WISCONSIN – Bergstrom Automotive is making a habit of being No. 1.

For the second consecutive year, Wisconsin’s largest car dealership group has been named the No. 1 Dealership to Work For in the United States by Automotive News, topping the publication’s list of 150 dealerships.

“Every year, Automotive News surveys almost 18,000 dealerships in North America, and we’ve been on the Top 150 list probably for a decade now with a number of our dealerships,” CEO Tim M. Bergstrom said. “Last year…, we were No. 1 in the nation as well, but we really didn’t publicize it.”

With 39 Bergstrom dealerships holding positions in the Top 150 list both years, Tim M. said this time around, the company wanted to make it a point to celebrate its team across Wisconsin.

“We were really proud,” he said. “When your team is having a good time and guests come in, they feel welcome, they feel the good energy and it helps them have a better experience, too.”

An empowered team = satisfied guests

As a second-generation CEO, Tim M. said he “started in the dealerships washing the floors” as his father and uncle, John F. and Richard Bergstrom, built the company.

“I don’t love cars,” he said. “I like cars, but I love the people who work in this business. That’s what sucked me in.”

Tim M. said it’s Bergstrom’s people that likewise earned the company its back-to-back recognition.

“We have 2,500 teammates, and early on in our growth, the teammates and the leaders who were closest to Dad understood our culture,” he said. “As we’ve grown, we’ve had to figure out how to replicate that across all the dealerships.”

With Bergstrom dealerships making up nearly a third of Automotive News’ Top 150 list, Tim M. said he can confidently say the culture has been successfully replicated throughout the company.

However, he said this was not accidental – it required years of intentional resource allocation and future planning.

“Several years ago, we started working with Jadin Jones – they’re a leadership group, and they’ve helped us be very intentional,” he said. “I think that’s really a key word.”

Tim M. said Bergstrom has successfully created a positive working environment in an otherwise high-stakes, competitive industry by focusing on hiring right the first time and giving its employees the support they need to deliver high-quality service.

“We’ve been very intentional in making sure those who we have on the team are good people with good ethics,” he said. “Then, we lean into having them do the right things for each other… and to lift each other up.”

A recent example of this culture in action, Tim M. said, can be found in Bergstrom employees’ response following the July 27 EF3 tornado in the Fox Valley – where the company is headquartered.

“It’s amazing to see the number of our teammates who are affected directly by it… being supported by the ones who are stepping up and saying ‘how can we help?’” he said. “They’re running 50-50 raffles, they’re showing up with chainsaws at people’s houses and they’re bringing food and dropping it off – it’s good people caring about each other.”

Finding it difficult to “train character,” Tim M. said ensuring a potential new hire is the right fit prior to onboarding is essential.

However, he said Bergstrom’s “best recruiters” are its employees.

“One of our greatest successes is when you enjoy coming to work,” he said. “When you’re sitting at the family dinner table or at the campfire [and] you’re talking about your job, smiling and saying you enjoy it, it’s easier to have your kids, friends or family come work with you [compared to] people who hate their jobs.”

Telling employees to “be the culture” they want to see, Tim M. said, is a good way to remind the Bergstrom team they’re in charge of building the workplace they want.

“There’s a lot of empowerment in all of our dealerships [and] departments,” he said. “Our staff and our team [know] they are empowered to do the right thing to take care of guests and to take care of their fellow teammates. They create the culture, so if they have a problem with it, they’re kind of looking in a mirror, too.”

Empowering Bergstrom’s workforce to deliver the quality of service its reputation is built on, Tim M. said, is the secret sauce to their success.

“You have to empower your team so they make sure when guests leave, they’re more than satisfied [and] had the experience they would want to receive,” he said. “We push hard, we train hard, we communicate hard [and] a lot of our store leaders are just amazing trainers… who are not only training, but staff are good examples for their staff.”

A ‘win-win-win’ business model

Several years ago – “well before COVID-19” – Tim M. said Bergstrom decided to depart from the traditional dealership business model.

“We moved away from negotiating several years ago…, and we used to pay on commission,” he said. “That was an interesting world, where not only did you have to take care of the guest, but you got paid on how much you made with each guest.”

Finding a contradiction between the high-pressure sales environment and the experience Bergstrom wants to deliver to its guests, Tim M. said the company decided to start paying its employees wages instead of commissions.

“Enabling [a] move to we’re going to run a volume, but high touch, high care [and] low cost, has worked really well because now our team gets paid a salary, and their only incentive is to help people,” he said. “They get rewarded [for] the more people they help and the more cars they sell, but not for the margin on each vehicle.”

Tim M. said this move was not only right for the company, but for its team and guests.

“You have this ability to feel good about what you’re doing because there’s an automotive need, and you’re trying to fill it in an ethical, honest and low-cost way,” he said. “We don’t ever want to sell to you once. That’s a terrible business model for us. We’re playing the long game – helping you buy from us every time.”

Though he admits the “commission model is not a bad model – it runs a good business” – Tim M. said Bergstrom’s current strategy offers its team a steadier income.

“Then, as they perform better, helping the guest, they get rewarded for it,” he said. “Our Green Bay Ford store is No. 1 in the state for volume, our Appleton Kia store is No. 1 in the state for volume, our Cadillac store in Madison is No. 1 in the state for volume… and we get a lot of awards from the manufacturers that [exist] to encourage great guest treatment so they keep coming back and stay loyal to the brand.”

With Bergstrom representing “every brand sold” in Wisconsin and the U.S. – except for the boutique, luxury-car market – Tim M. said the customer experience in terms of sales and service is especially important to the dealership group’s success.

“I think the biggest thing to really share is it’s really bringing out a win-win-win situation,” he said. “It’s good for our manufacturers that our guests are continuing to come back and choose us and want the same brand. Our team is doing really well because a healthy company allows us to provide more and do good things there. And the guests are treated fairly and keep coming back.”

The Bergstrom team’s dedication to the company and to each other, Tim M. said, directly translates into the quality of their work.

“Our parts managers are all in training together, and they’re learning from each other,” he said. “They’re all in the same room, talking about best practices – what came up, what they’re dealing with with a manufacturer, how they’re solving it – and they have this power of their fellow teammates, too.”

Tim M. said many of Bergstrom’s technicians “are nationally ranked” – with one in particular recently being named No. 1 in the nation for the manufacturer they specialize in.

“We also have a couple who are in the top 10,” he said. “To have them in our dealer group is pretty neat.”

‘We don’t manage the dealerships’

Having 39 Bergstrom dealerships on Automotive News’ Top 150 list, Tim M. said, “doesn’t seem real – but they’re doing it.”

“It would be a farce to think it was because of… me or Dad or something like that,” he said. “It’s because we empower our team and intentionally give them what they need and the support to do the right thing and to grow this business with us.”

Despite his formal title being CEO, Tim M. said he doesn’t see himself “heading” the company – describing their organizational structure as an “upside-down pyramid” or an ecosystem of support across both its sales and service departments.

“The reality is, we don’t manage the dealerships,” he said. “We support the culture, we support the team and we have guardrails out there for them, but they’re the ones making it a place people want to work and people want to buy from.”

For more on Bergstrom Automotive, visit bergstromauto.com.