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HERMANTOWN — Michael Schintz understands that selling a vehicle begins with listening.
The 26-year-old Kolar Hyundai sales and leasing consultant has emerged as one of the dealership’s leading young professionals by bringing a direct, informed and low-pressure approach to a business built on trust. His job is not simply to move inventory. It is to help customers make one of their largest financial decisions with a clear understanding of the vehicle, financing terms and long-term ownership costs.
“I try to take the path of least resistance from both sides, making it easy on the customer first and hopefully on my managers second,” Schintz said. “I try to keep the sales process fun and no pressure. People buy things from people they like.”
Schintz, a Duluth native and Duluth East High School graduate, has worked at Kolar since November 2021. He has participated in more than 500 vehicle sales during his 4½ years with the company, with a personal best of 16 sales in one month.
His route into automotive sales began at Ridgeview Country Club, where he worked as a bartender, server, pro shop employee and member of the bag room staff. One of his colleagues at Ridgeview was Erik Priley, who later moved to Kolar. Several other Ridgeview members also worked at the dealership, providing Schintz with familiar faces when he made the transition into full-time automotive sales.
Schintz’s connection to the dealership began even before he joined its staff.
“I actually purchased a Hyundai from Erik Priley before I worked here,” he said.
His development has taken place within one of the Northland’s most established automotive organizations. Founded in 1969, Kolar Automotive Group has grown into a major regional dealer representing Hyundai, Toyota, Chevrolet, Buick and GMC, along with used-vehicle, financing, parts and service operations.
Schintz said Kolar’s family ownership remains evident in its daily operations.
“The biggest thing about Kolar that separates us from other dealerships is we are a true family-run organization,” he said. “Jack, Joe and Peter we all see on a regular basis. They invest in tons of charitable organizations and don’t advertise their donations. We just do it to help out our community.”
That established structure gives Schintz access to a broad inventory and experienced support staff. It also places expectations on each salesperson to represent a company that has spent more than five decades building its name in northeastern Minnesota and northwestern Wisconsin.
Schintz has been sent to the Twin Cities twice for professional sales instruction, including training through Joe Verde, a company specializing in automotive sales and management development. The training has helped prepare him for a marketplace in which customers often arrive at a dealership after comparing models, prices, interest rates, lease programs and trade-in values online.
The modern salesperson must be able to answer detailed questions without pushing a customer toward a vehicle or financial commitment that does not fit.
“Kolar has the catchphrase, ‘We don’t want to sell you a car. We want to help you buy one,’” Schintz said. “When you really take it from that perspective, customers enjoy the process more, us employees feel more satisfied and we get better reviews.”
Earning a customer’s trust, Schintz said, often requires establishing a personal connection before discussing specifications, payments or paperwork.
“For earning people’s trust, I think it’s important for them to know a little bit about myself and others around here,” he said. “The cars really do sell themselves, with Hyundai being, in my opinion, the best brand I could work for. Best bang for your buck. Knowing that I drive one, family and friends also drive them, and employees at other dealerships also drive them just speaks volumes.”
Schintz drives a Hyundai Tucson and frequently recommends Hyundai’s SUV lineup, including the Kona, Tucson, Santa Fe and Palisade. He considers those models particularly well-suited for drivers confronting Duluth’s hills, snow and changing road conditions.
“In my Tucson, and ever since I’ve owned one, I’ve never gotten stuck in the snow — one of the biggest things in Duluth,” Schintz said. “I have also seen 40 mpg in my gas model with the right conditions.”
Explaining increasingly complex vehicles has become an important part of the job. New models include advanced driver-assistance and safety systems, connected services, hybrid and electric powertrains and technology packages that vary substantially by model and trim level.
“Hyundai vehicles are some of the best because we are basically a tech brand that makes cars,” Schintz said. “Very sleek designs, some of the best technology, safety and also top reliability. We also do a lot of our business in the U.S. and are one of the largest electric vehicle manufacturers.”
Schintz works with customers through those choices, whether they are purchasing a first vehicle, replacing a family SUV or deciding whether buying or leasing makes more sense. The objective is to identify what the customer needs and find the vehicle and financial structure that provide the best fit.
He said the variety of the work is among its greatest attractions.
“A few things I enjoy about my position is that it is something new every day,” Schintz said. “Either talking to new folks or different challenges for folks are fun to try and overcome. I enjoy getting up and moving and completing tasks away from my desk, but also connecting with people and making sure they love their car at my desk.”
His Duluth roots help him find common ground with customers throughout the region.
“Duluth is the biggest small town,” he said. “Very fun to find out people in common with me or people I know.”
Schintz’s work has earned public recognition. He has twice been named one of five finalists for the Duluth News Tribune’s annual Best of the Best car salesperson award.
“I’ve been nominated as a finalist twice now as a top-five best car salesman in the area,” he said. “While having not won yet, it is always a pleasure to see my name up there.”
The competition also places him alongside an accomplished colleague. Kolar’s Erik Yanda has won the honor six consecutive years and has served as one of Schintz’s professional resources.
“He has been a great source of information and help,” Schintz said. “Always fun to compete with him in the voting as well.”
Schintz said he did not fully appreciate Hyundai’s presence in the regional market when he began working at the dealership. That changed as he started recognizing more of the company’s vehicles on Northland roads — including vehicles he helped sell.
“When I first started, I never really recognized how many Hyundais were on the road,” he said. “Noticing the number increase with my time here has been fun, making a difference in the Duluth area.”
Kolar’s size and history make it one of the Northland’s most recognizable automotive names, but its reputation is tested one transaction at a time. Buildings, inventory and advertising may bring customers onto the property. The quality of their interaction with an individual salesperson often determines whether they return.
That is where Schintz is establishing himself.
He represents a younger generation of automotive professionals working in a more transparent marketplace, where customers can compare prices instantly and publish detailed accounts of their experiences. Product knowledge remains essential, but so do responsiveness, accuracy, follow-through and respect for the buyer’s time.
For Schintz, those demands create an opportunity to build a career around something broader than monthly sales totals.
“Long-term professional goals, I would say, are really just making a difference in Duluth and making buying vehicles easy,” he said. “Eventually, changing processes to streamline time while making it about the customer and how they want to do their purchase.”
Approaching five years at Kolar, Schintz is building a record measured by more than the number of vehicles sold. The larger test is whether customers believe they were heard, treated fairly and properly served.
For Schintz, that remains the standard that matters.
