Auto Industry in Helena/SW MT (Kalispell: sales, home, job market)

[Servo]

My wife and I are considering moving from Denver to Helena next year. I've read through the threads about how soft the job market is, and it's the one thing holding us back. I am somewhat of a Honda specialist. I see that Honda has a dealership in Helena (Grimes), but I cannot find out much information about it.

I would be interested to hear any thoughts/experiences with Grimes or the auto industry in general. Is it a good, honest dealership? Do people even buy Hondas in MT? Is there any aftermarket/motorsports following for non-American cars at all?

Also, does anyone know about the local SCCA auto-x chapter?

[luckyman]

www.grimesmotors.com Decent dealer as dealers go. My wife and I have bought 3 cars from them over the years (all second hand Buicks) and been happy with the sales & service. I would say they are probably the best dealer in town.

[RudyS2MT]

Purchased it from Grimes and have had a fine relationship with them and their very good (though expensive) service dept..

[Servo]

Thank you for the responses. I'd still be interested to hear from others.

[nlburgess]

My question for you, is are you a specialist in selling or mechancial....it is going to make a difference in the pay. I do believe that they were hiring mechanics and that they were paying relocation expenses. Right now I cant remember the site, but when I do Ill let you know.

[Servo]

Wow! City-Data just sent me a response notification today...
Sorry for the months of delay.

I am on the mechanical side, although very capable of both. If you happen to read this and know who is paying relocation expenses, I would be very interested. Thank you.

[lorelei2873]

I previously worked at Grimes as a car salesperson, and it is known as an honest dealership. Hondas are extremely popular in Helena. Grimes is a very well-established dealership that has really become more agressive in its pricing and promotions in the past few years. It has a lot of regular customers with established sales folks though, so it might take a while to build up your clientele. For a long time, it was a family owned business, and in the last few years, it came under new ownership, but I've heard generally good things about it. It's more of a quality-oriented dealership...they don't do shady, crazy, low low low prices commercials, although they do some direct mails to that effect. However, in the sales department, it's overstaffed.

[horsepoweraddict]

I live(d) in Helena for 7.5 years. I'm at college now but still consider it my home even though my parents moved to Denver. I raced autocross there and I can tell you that it is a very strong and healthy chapter. There are three chapters in the state and Helena has an awesome chapter. The track is considered the best in the state and many inter-chapter races are held there. It is at the airport and includes a very large square of pavement as well as road course sections that go off of the main square. If you go to Mapquest and find a map of the Helena regional airport and then click on the aerial image tab the course is on the north-east corner of the airport. Another noteworthy fact is that Helena is a stop on the North Pacific solo divisional series. There are tons of great guys there and I know if you got in with them you'd love autocrossing up there.

[jimj]

If you'd consider Kalispell a brand new huge honda dealership was just (yesterday) opened. State of the art, they even heat the place burning the waste oil they drain from the cars.....