Paul Dyke was born and raised in St. Louis, Missouri. As a child, his neighbor was big into the auto business, and Paul detailed cars for him. Paul became accustomed to being around cars and grew to love the industry. When Paul turned 18, he sold cars briefly, then opened up his own detail shop. But Paul wanted more.
“Even as a young man, I had goals. I needed to figure out how to move out of Missouri. I wanted to end up in California,” Paul said. By the time he was 21, Paul was working as the used car manager at El Cajon Ford in El Cajon, California. He’s been there for 36 years and currently holds the title of president and dealer.
El Cajon Ford has one location and recently added a Ford Pro Elite Service Center right down the street. The new service center has 30 bays and works on commercial trucks and fleets, which greatly benefits the local business community.
Paul is just beginning his term as the 2025-2026 NCDA chairman. This is the second time he’s served as NCDA chairman; the first was in 2015-2016. We recently had the opportunity to sit down with Paul and learned more about his career, the industry and what he’d like to accomplish as chairman. The following are excerpts from our conversation.
Have you had any mentors along the way, and what did they teach you?
When I moved to California, my first boss was Art Dorin. He was interesting, strong and to the point, but fair. He had an old-school mindset and liked that I was committed to the business, working 29 days out of 30, 12 hours a day. Art is the one who brought me on at El Cajon Ford, where I met my other mentor, Paul Leader. His personality was similar to Art’s. He was grumpy and gruff, but he had a huge heart and was very loyal to his customers.
Under their guidance, I learned how important it was to be loyal to your customers and employees. The number one lesson I learned was that when people screw up, move on. If they screw up too much, well, you’ve got to do something different, but usually they don’t screw up twice if you handle the matter right. Another lesson they taught me was to do things the right way the first time. Things are so much easier that way.
What has been the most rewarding part of your career?
Probably working with my employees, the customers and interacting with the community. We have almost an 80% repeat customer business, which is unheard of. And we’re now selling cars to second and third generation families, which is really cool. We have a very loyal customer base. I am also really proud of the tenure in my store. My sales department averages about 15 years of tenure. The service department’s average tenure is over 25 years. My problem is I have employees who should have retired five years ago, but they’re still hanging on. They have been here for 35-40 years and are incredible mentors to people coming up in the service department. It really works out well. They don’t have to do all the hard work. They make the younger employees pull the engines and transmissions, and then show them how to work. We build our team from within.
It is important to us to support our community. We do a lot for local youth, donating to the Lakeside Boys and Girls Club and the Lakeside Optimist Club. We sponsor just about anything they ask us to do because the money goes right back into the community, where it is needed to help the well-deserving youth.
I have been chairman of the San Diego County Ford Salute to Education Scholarship program for the past five years. The San Diego County Ford dealers have supported this program for 27 years. We have given away $4.7 million in scholarships and 33 new Ford vehicles to graduating San Diego County high school students.
And then of course, with 150 employees, everyone’s got a little leaguer, a cheerleader, a wrestler or a child doing some sort of activity. We try to take care of them and sponsor the teams. And that pays back too. But you know, some of the teams really need the money to make things happen. We have some challenging areas here in El Cajon and Lakeside in East County, and I like to support those areas.
What are the biggest challenges in the industry?
I think it’s dealing with all the laws that California puts out against the dealerships. It makes it really tough to do business in California — many people are leaving California because it’s such a challenging environment to do business in. I hope that at some point, that changes. We can’t handle any more pressure, so something’s got to give.
What goals do you have as chairman, and what can members do to help you reach them?
My primary focus will be on addressing the laws and increasing member engagement.
Each year, we hold Dealer Day at the Capitol, where we meet with elected officials and let them know what challenges we are facing — trying to get our foot in the door with them to help address what is happening. We have a solid group of leadership that always goes, but I wish we could go with a bigger force comprised of our member dealers.
When May comes around for the 2026 Dealer Day, I’d like to have 20+ people to go in addition to the five or six who usually attend. We need to have our message heard. The most important thing for the car business in California right now is for legislation to loosen up on us a little bit. Legislators need to understand what we do in our communities, how many people we employ and the tax dollars we put into California. Sometimes they act like they don’t understand it or see everything we do. That can only happen if we show up and share our story.
Additionally, we could use more support from the dealers. The association does some amazing things. You can meet other dealers and build a network by attending events and actively participating in the association. Having a relationship with other members, where you can pick up the phone and say, “Hey, I need some help here,” is invaluable. I would also encourage members to talk to fellow dealers who are not currently members about the benefits of joining. There is power in numbers.
How do you manage to balance your professional responsibilities with your personal life?
Believe it or not, I work 9-5, Monday-Friday. I trust my employees; they know what their jobs are and what needs to be done. If I go away for a week or two, I know the place is on cruise control and everybody’s doing their job. That’s what’s so nice about having tenure and very little employee turnover.
Please tell us about your family.
I’ve been married for 33 years. My wife, Michelle, and I have two sons. PJ works with me here at the dealership. Justin used to work at the dealership, but he chose a different career path and is doing really well. PJ gave us a grandson a year and a half ago. And then there’s another baby boy coming in December. I am very blessed to have such an amazing family.
What is your favorite way to spend your free time? Do you have any hobbies?
There is nothing I’d rather do than spend time with family, especially my grandson. With one more on the way, grandchildren are going to be a big part of my life.
My son PJ and I race stock cars all over California. In fact, I just became the Southern California IMCA Stock Car Champion, which I am very proud of. I also enjoy boating and fishing. Every year, our family takes the boat to Catalina Island around Labor Day. It’s a fun tradition. Additionally, my youngest son and I go salmon fishing in Alaska once or twice a year.
Any last thoughts?
I feel very lucky and cherish all the people I’ve met because of the car business. Whether that’s employees, other dealers or customers, you’ll often find me sitting on the sales tower welcoming customers, with 80% of our business being repeat customers. I want them to walk in, see me, and then see their salesman, who they had five years ago.
