A B O U T J O H N D A V I S
After four decades in dealerships, the business isn't new to JD. Your situation is.
John Davis started working with automotive dealers over forty years ago. You've probably heard the saying that once the dealership business gets its hooks in you, it never lets go. In John's case, that's been true.
That's not a sentence about loyalty. It's a sentence about depth. The dealership business is complicated in ways that take years to understand—not just the financial mechanics, but the manufacturer relationships, the family dynamics, and the operational patterns that repeat across stores of every size. John has spent his career immersed in that world.
For more than three decades, John helped build and served as a lead Partner in the automotive dealership practice at DHG, now Forvis Mazars. During that time, he worked alongside dealer principals across the country on financial performance, operational improvement, succession planning, and complex transactions. He also served as Chair of the AICPA Automotive Dealership Conference and has remained active with NADA, NADC, and numerous state dealer associations.
That experience later expanded into dealership buy-sell advisory, where John worked with Haig Partners on significant ownership transitions and transactions.
JD Automotive Advisory brings those experiences together in one practice—providing independent strategic and financial guidance to dealers facing important decisions throughout the life of their business.
What John Believes
The best thing an advisor can do is tell you what's true before the situation forces the conversation. John will tell you what he sees. That's not always comfortable. It is always useful.
He also believes the problems keeping dealer principals up at night rarely start in the financials. They start somewhere specific — a decision, a structure, a relationship, a transition that didn't get planned. Following the problem to where it actually lives is the only way to do anything about it.
Credentials
CPA, nearly forty years exclusive focus on automotive retail
Former Partner, DHG / Forvis Mazars, National Dealership Automotive Group
Key contributor, AICPA Dealership Conference
Former Managing Director, Haig Partners
Hundreds of dealership engagements — transactions, succession plans, operational restructures, and advisory relationships — across the country
Based in Atlanta, Georgia. Available nationally.
The Rest of It
When John is not working, he is on a golf course or being kept honest (and maybe a little bit busy) by his wife, kids, dogs, and one horse!. He will tell you what he thinks. He will not waste your time. He is very likely the most useful person you could put in that room.