For car dealerships, winter storms mean extra work

BANGOR, Maine (WABI) - Many Mainers spent at least a little time cleaning snow off their vehicles Monday, but car dealerships across the state spent a lot of time cleaning off entire car lots.

“This is the snow we like,” said Stanley Subaru Sales Consultant Lynden Westrich. “It’s easy to get off the car, and you can kind of give it a light tap and just falls right off.”

It’s just part of winter in Maine; waking up to see you’ve got a little work ahead of you if you’re heading out. For car dealerships, it can mean a lot of work before, during and after a winter storm.

“We try to be really vigilant about that,” Westrich said. “Watching that weather report that’s coming in and you know if there’s not a lot more weather coming in after that we’ll usually get them all cleaned off and right back into their spots again.”

“The winters that I remember are the ones where we have a new storm every third day because you get everything cleaned up and you take the boots off and before they even had a chance to dry,” recalled Stanley Subaru owner Mark Politte. “The next storm comes in and you’re doing it all over again. So it’s really less about the quantity of snow and more about the frequencies of the storms.”

It isn’t the most nuanced job at a car dealership, but one that does take some teamwork.

“For the most part you just kind of grab the broom and go,” Westrich said. “It’s just kind of second nature now. With a good crew like we have, we could probably get it done within about an hour to an hour and a half.”

It also takes a certain kind of athletic prowess to get the job done.

A lot of upper body strength,” Westrich laughed. “Yes, a lot of chest. Chest day is a big one for sure. Definitely a lot of cardio and weightlifting and all that fun stuff, especially if the snow is really heavy.”

“I will admit, the older I get the less my shoulders like the brooming of the cars,” added Polite. “It’s not a coincidence that there’s a lot of employees at car dealerships in the state of Maine that have Popeye shoulders from brooming those cars.”

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