If ever a business was on the fast track to success, it was Van Bortel Subaru in Victor, NY. Kitty Van Bortel founded Van Bortel Subaru in 1991 and a little over a decade later, Van Bortel is the largest-selling Subaru dealership in the nation and the top auto sales enterprise in the greater Rochester area.

In 1985, shortly after she lost her job as a sales manager at a Rochester area dealership, Van Bortel began selling used cars from the front yard of her home in Victor. In 1991, she secured a loan which she used to start the Subaru new and used car dealership.

“My greatest challenge was convincing the financial institutions that I could do what I wanted to do,” Van Bortel said. “I had a real passion for the Subaru product. I think that helped convince the banks to help me.”

Twelve years later, Van Bortel Subaru has annual sales approaching $50 million. Van Bortel and her brother, Howard Van Bortel, are partners in Van Bortel Ford, also in Victor, which is the Rochester area’s largest seller of new and used Ford products.

Between the two businesses, the Van Bortels employ 100 people.

Despite Van Bortel’s rapid growth, Kitty Van Bortel said her plan was always to build her business slowly but surely from the ground up. By doing that, she knew she would eventually succeed.

“The key to our success was making the decision to build a foundation and not be too concerned with profits, but rather with building a sound reputation,” she says. “I didn’t have to make money right away. I took comfort in that. I was so committed to making this work, to making the sacrifices. I refused to fail.”

Van Bortel says her dealerships are customer-friendly, a characteristic shared by many family-owned enterprises.

“With family businesses, your name is on the building and there’s no clear line where personal integrity leaves off and business begins. When people walk into my business, it’s like walking into my home.”

To that end, Van Bortel has made an effort to make buying a vehicle a positive experience. "We want to take the fear out of buying a car," she says. The company's policy is to disclose up front the dealer's cost and profit from sale, thus eliminating the often uncomfortable process of dickering over price. It’s a policy Van Bortel learned from her father, Howard Van Bortel, who for years operated a General Motors dealership in Palmyra.

Community service is important to Van Bortel who gives generously to local children’s charities.