Karl Chevrolet has been doing business out of New Canaan since 1927—using the same phone number since before the 9-6-6 telephone exchange came to be.
It’s impossible to write about New Canaan—community events, businesses downtown, history—without reference to Karl Chevy.
What we didn’t know as we sat down to create this new directory listing with Steve Karl, the dealership’s vice president, was how central the Chevy Suburban model has been to the success and durability of the business.
A 1980 New Canaan High School graduate who raised his four boys in New Canaan with wife Tracey (the youngest, Thomas, entering his senior year next month), Steve Karl tells us that he himself was a New Canaan kid carted around in a Suburban.
“It’s a generational use of that vehicle because it fits families,” Karl said. “We still have families who come back as grandparents and buy a Suburban to take their grandkids around, and when you see that you see that, you start to understand why that model has been the bread and butter, so to speak, of this business. Yes, there are Corvettes and Equinoxes—all these models have been great models to have, but the long-term success of this business has really been the Suburban.”
In many ways, since it’s a family-run, local business that supports so much in the community, Karl Chevy’s success has been New Canaan’s. Karl himself said the number one way that he gives back now is by serving on the Town Council. He’s been on the group for seven years, the last four as vice chair.
“The amount of time involved is more than anyone would ever realize,” Karl said. “You think it’s one meeting a month but it’s much, much more than that.”
A past board member of New Canaan Library, Karl also coached as each of his boys came up through New Canaan Baseball and volunteers with the All Sports Booster Club.
No wonder Karl, who has always lived in New Canaan, often feels like he—literally—never leaves.
“Months go by, since I live and work in town and since I support local businesses, I go to dinner in town,” he said. “You sort of blink and say ‘Wow, I haven’t been out of town in a month or two.’ People say, ‘Where are you going this summer?’ I say I’m going to the nicest place you can possibly imagine. Right here.”
Read more about Steve Karl—including something about him that locals may not know—and about Karl Chevrolet here in their NewCanaanite.com directory listing. If you’ve had an experience with the dealership and/or repair business as a customer, give them a rating and write up a review for other local people to find.