About Us
About us
Bud Clary Auto Group: with you for the miles ahead.
A car is the means. The memories along the miles ahead are the point. We’ve been showing up for those miles since 1959, when Bud Clary and a partner bought a Chevrolet dealership in Longview, and today we’re 14 dealerships in five Washington towns, still family-owned.
- 1959Family-owned since
- 3Generations of the Clary family
- 14Dealerships
- 5Washington towns
What we mean by that.
Most dealerships sell cars. We sell what cars are for.
We’re talking about heading up the mountain with lift tickets on the dash. The trip to the coast and the first stop for gas and snacks. Your first summer road trip after all the rain. Your kid’s first car. The drive that turns into the memory.
Everything we do exists for that: the warranties, the programs, the hours in the service drive and the people we hire. Life doesn’t wait, and we don’t think you should have to either.
Five moments. One promise.
The miles ahead look different for everyone. Here are five we know well.
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01 The 4:30 AM start
Monday morning. The truck has to start.
We sell the kind of trucks that already know job sites and work deadlines don’t stop, and we service them like the work depends on them. Because it does.
Shop new trucks about Monday morning. The truck has to start.
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02 The 6 AM trailhead
Coffee in the cup holder. Maps started for the route ahead.
The car was loaded the night before, and the drive that turns into the memory starts now. We do the part that keeps it running five years from now: technicians trained by the factory on your vehicle, and a parts department with genuine OEM parts.
Parts departments about Coffee in the cup holder. Maps started for the route ahead.
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03 Golden hour in the orchard
Truck loaded. Light going gold across the rows.
Harvest doesn’t care about banking hours. All credit types are welcome, and our Auburn, Moses Lake and Yakima stores offer ITIN financing, because every working person who has earned a fair shot deserves one. Real answers, no runaround.
Fresh Start Financing Program about Truck loaded. Light going gold across the rows.
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04 The Saturday run
Three stops, four kids, one dog, and the thing has to work, every time.
Costco, soccer, grandma’s, then soccer again. A summer road trip with all four. The third row is in use, the cargo area is full and somebody is asking for goldfish from the back. We sell the rigs that handle it, and when one needs service, our courtesy shuttle gives you a ride while we work on it.
Shop new SUVs about Three stops, four kids, one dog, and the thing has to work, every time.
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05 Tuesday on the service drive
The part you don’t see in the ad.
Six years in, a sensor goes, and the check engine light comes on in the kind of way that ruins a week. This is the moment most dealers stop showing up, and it’s the moment we built the whole company around: service you can book online, somebody who answers the phone, service and parts financing so a repair never has to wait for payday, and Clary Repair Protection, a 2-year / unlimited-mile warranty on qualifying repairs. It excludes regular maintenance and warranty work.
Where this comes from
Longview, 1959: a handshake, a mill town and decades of not selling out.
Bud Clary started this in Longview, a working town, the kind of place where a handshake is still a contract and a reputation is still currency.
He bet on something simple: treat every person who walks through the door like they’re going to come back. Most of them did.
The family still runs it: Bud, then his son Jim, and now the third generation, Kelly and Bryce. One Chevrolet store became 14 dealerships.
What didn’t change, and what the family kept refusing to let go of, is who this is for: people who work for a living, families being raised in our towns and people making memories along the way.
Bud Clary history, 1959 to today
From one Chevrolet store on Vandercook Way to 14 dealerships, with photos from the Bud Clary archive.
- 1959Bud Clary and his partner, E.O. Westby of Spokane, buy Ralph Masterson Chevrolet at 1313 Vandercook Way in Longview. By the next year, Bud is the sole owner.
- 1967The Clarys build a new dealership on Commerce Avenue, where Bud Clary Chevrolet still is today.
- 1979Bud’s son, Jim Clary, takes over the business.
- 1985Bud Clary Chevrolet buys Ivan Thornley’s dealership on Vandercook Way. Oldsmobile and Cadillac join Chevrolet on Commerce Avenue, and Thornley’s showroom becomes home to Subaru, AMC, Jeep and Renault.
- 1988Oldsmobile names Bud Clary Chevrolet-Oldsmobile-Cadillac to its Oldsmobile Elite, for its record in customer satisfaction and quality of service.
- Over the yearsBud Clary grows beyond Longview to Moses Lake, Union Gap and Auburn, and Westlie Ford in Washougal joins the group.
- The third generationKelly and Bryce Clary own the group today.
- Today14 dealerships in Longview, Moses Lake, Auburn, Union Gap and Washougal, selling 11 brands, and still family-owned.
What “with you for the miles ahead” actually means.
The proof, not the pitch.
When you’re buying
Bought used and we got it wrong? You have 3 days or 300 miles to exchange it. That’s not marketing, that’s the policy.
- 3-day / 300-mile exchange on used vehicles
- 3-month / 3,000-mile limited warranty on every used vehicle
- 137-point inspection on every used vehicle before it reaches the lot
- Free CARFAX report on every used car
- 2 oil changes and 2 tire rotations with every used vehicle purchase
- All credit types welcome, credit union direct lending alongside traditional financing, and ITIN financing at our Auburn, Moses Lake and Yakima stores
- Vehicle Upgrade Program: move into a newer vehicle near your current payment, depending on incentives, credit and rates
When you’re selling or trading
We buy your car even if you don’t buy ours.
- Free appraisal, no obligation
- We pay off your loan or lease with your lender directly
- We handle the DMV paperwork
- Lost title or missing a key? We work with what you have
- Trade-in tax advantage: trading in lowers the taxable price of your next vehicle, so you pay less sales tax
When you’re servicing
This is where “with you for the miles ahead” gets proven, over years.
- Clary Repair Protection: a 2-year / unlimited-mile warranty on qualifying repairs. Excludes regular maintenance and warranty work.
- Factory-trained technicians, genuine OEM parts and the right tools for your vehicle
- Pay over time: service and parts financing, so a repair never has to wait for payday
- Courtesy shuttle: drop your car off and we’ll give you a ride, then pick you up when it’s ready
- Book service online with your store’s own scheduler
- Body and collision repair at the Bud Clary Collision Center
- Medium and heavy duty truck service at the Bud Clary Commercial Truck Center in Auburn
Five towns. 14 dealerships.
Every town has its own roads, its own work and its own weekends. Here’s where you’ll find us.
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Where this started
Longview
A mill town with a longshoreman backbone, families who go back generations and a relationship with the river that doesn’t need explaining. Home of the squirrel bridges and Squirrel Fest. We do things a bit differently around here. Bud Clary’s roots are still planted here, with Chevrolet, Ford, Hyundai and Subaru.
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Big distances
Moses Lake
Rural, agricultural, big distances: hauling, towing the boat to the lake and getting harvest in on time. Several of our staff speak Spanish, and you can catch us at the Moses Lake Roundup, fishing, camping or out at the sand dunes. Five dealerships: Chevrolet, Chrysler Dodge Jeep Ram, Ford, Honda and Toyota.
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The agricultural heart
Yakima and Union Gap
Apple country, hop country, wine country, work-truck country. Family Sundays. Walla Walla may be known for its onions, but this valley has a U-pick farm for almost everything. Real Pacific Northwest, not the coastal version, and home to the Confederated Tribes and Bands of the Yakama Nation. Our Toyota dealership is in Union Gap, just south of Yakima.
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South King County
Auburn
The weekend that starts when the workweek ends: day trips to the mountains in a rig that already handled the I-5 commute all week. Working-class pride and suburban scale side by side, within reach of Seattle, and just close enough to SeaTac that everyone who lives here gets asked for airport rides. Three dealerships: Chrysler Dodge Jeep Ram, Hyundai and Volkswagen.
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Westlie Ford
Washougal and Camas
At the edge of the Columbia River Gorge, just over the bridge from Portland, Camas and Washougal are tight-knit towns where the bedroom community is the point. Westlie Ford serves them under its own name, with its own line: small enough to know you, big enough to serve you.
The people on the floor are real.
More than 600 people work across our 14 dealerships. They live in these towns and drive their kids to the same schools your kids go to. Some of them have been here longer than the cars they sell have had Bluetooth.
We hire for four values: customer obsessed, good people, purpose driven and team oriented. The moment you realize the person across the desk is a real human, the whole visit gets easier, and that hasn’t changed since 1959.
What a family business owes the towns it grew up in.
We do a lot in these towns: food bank runs, youth sports sponsorships, school partnerships and fundraisers held right on the showroom floor. Listing all of it like a trophy case isn’t the move, so here are the most recent.
- Community House
- Humane Society of Southwest Washington
- Cowlitz County Black Bears
- Life Works
- Youth Family Link
- Kessler Elementary
- Wallace Elementary
- Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA)
- National Wildlife Federation
- Perfect Attendance Creates Excellence (PACE), a program we ran in Cowlitz, Grant and Yakima counties
Questions people ask
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Who owns Bud Clary Auto Group?
The Clary family. Bud Clary started it in 1959, his son Jim took over in 1979, and today Kelly and Bryce Clary, the third generation, are the owners. -
Where did Bud Clary Auto Group start?
In Longview. In 1959 Bud Clary and his partner, E.O. Westby of Spokane, bought Ralph Masterson Chevrolet on Vandercook Way, and in 1967 the Clarys built a new store on Commerce Avenue, where Bud Clary Chevrolet still is today. Moses Lake, Union Gap and Auburn came later. -
Is Westlie Ford part of Bud Clary Auto Group?
Yes. Westlie Ford in Washougal is one of our 14 dealerships, and it keeps its own name.
We’re already here.
You don’t have to take our word for any of this. Come see us about the next car you’ll make memories in, or service the one you already cherish. We’re with you for the miles ahead.