Sonoma Chevrolet sold

Dan Roseland estimates that he worked more than 40,000 hours in the 12 years he owned Sonoma Chevrolet. That's almost 65 hours a week, more if you take out vacations (which Roseland didn't, in fact, take).

He still sounds pretty traumatized when he talks about trying to keep Sonoma's last remaining car dealership alive during the recession and watching so many of his competitors go under.

“I still feel worn out from those years,” he said. “It's time for me to finally scale back.”

A few months ago, dealership owner Scott Silveira called Roseland for a customer who wanted a specific Chevy model. The two men had known each other for years, and Roseland had always admired Silveira's like-minded community focus up in Healdsburg.

Silveira mentioned that he was looking to acquire a Chevy store so that he could offer the full Buick-GMC product line.

After turning down several large chain operations over the years, Roseland realized that he had finally found a buyer who he trusted to take over his business.

“We think this is a great fit,” said Denise Silveira, who runs human resources and marketing for the couple's Healdsburg dealership. “Like Sonoma Chevrolet, we are a small town car dealer, and we are very like-minded in terms of our community focus.”

On Wednesday, the dealership was renamed Silveira's Chevrolet Sonoma.

Located at 687 W. Napa St., Sonoma Chevrolet was owned for decades by Bob Nobles, and then briefly by Karl Esposti, before Roseland, 62, purchased it in 2006. Sonoma's local Ford store closed in fall 2009, leaving Sonoma Chevy as the only franchised dealership in town since that time, and Roseland as a central figure in the community.

“We are inspired by all that Dan has done for Sonoma over the years and look forward to learn more about how we can get involved,” said Denise.

She expects they will continue to invite the community to conduct car wash fundraisers on the property and that they will lend vehicles to the Sonoma Valley High School homecoming parade, but she also has a few new ideas for helping local groups to fundraise.

“We are big supporters of youth programming,” she said. “The people are what make a community amazing,” she said.

Denise said that she hopes Roseland's current staff will all stay on.

“We are only as good as our employees. They work hard for us, and we work hard for them,” she said, adding that her job is to make sure their employees are happy.

“We're strong believers in paying a living wage,” she said, and she mentioned that the first thing the Silveiras will do is add a 401(k) plan, with matching employer contributions for staff.

The couple, who are both in their 50s, live in Santa Rosa. Scott commutes north to Healdsburg and Denise expects to work full-time in Sonoma. They have six children between them, two of whom currently work for the company.

Three generations of Silverias have owned and operated the Healdsburg outpost, now located at 985 Healdsburg Ave., since 1954.

Roseland says that he and his wife Diane will never leave Sonoma Valley. He said he'll spend the next several weeks introducing Scott and Denise around town.

“Dan knows everyone in town,” said Scott. “His are tough shoes to fill, I know that.”

The sales price for Sonoma Chevrolet was not disclosed.

Email Lorna at lorna.sheridan@sonomanews.com.

In 2017, Dan Roseland explained why he loves doing business in Sonoma.