Amanda Gordon still remembers being led to the “back forty.”
She was 16, shopping for her first car with her mother and a $5,000 budget. Instead of being treated like a young driver about to claim a new kind of freedom, Gordon said they were directed to the dealership’s less-desirable used inventory and met with a salesperson who made clear their purchase was not worth his effort.
“I don’t really care,” Gordon recalled the man telling her mother when she asked which vehicle would be best for a first-time teenage driver. “I’m not making any money off of this sale anyway.”
Gordon ultimately drove away in “White Lightning,” a 1992 Hyundai Accent with a manual transmission, crank windows, and no air conditioning. She remembers the independence of learning to drive. But, she also remembers the message behind the encounter: a customer’s budget could determine whether they were treated with patience, dignity, and respect.
Years later, she would understand that the back forty was the area where less-desirable, lower-value used vehicles were kept.
That moment became part of the foundation for GoJo Auto, the Denver used-car dealership she founded in 2018. She built her business around a different premise: buyers—especially women, first-time customers, and people working within tight financial limits—should not have to feel dismissed, confused, or pressured into a vehicle purchase.
For many Denver families, a car is not a luxury. It is how they get to work, take children to school and child care, make medical appointments, and keep daily life moving. Gordon knows how quickly that necessity can become a financial burden when buyers do not fully understand financing terms, warranties, trade-in values, or the true cost of a deal.
“I made a promise to myself that no one would ever feel like that leaving our establishment,” said Gordon, 44, who is recognized as Colorado’s first Black woman to own a car dealership.
Her promise has shaped GoJo Auto’s customer-education focus and her broader work to expand access, leadership, and opportunity for women of color in the automotive industry.
A different dealership model
For Gordon, a first car should represent freedom, possibility, and the roads ahead—not the size of a customer’s budget or the profit attached to a sale.
As detailed in her blog, “According to Amanda,” her early car-shopping experience shaped her belief that a dealership can do more than complete a transaction. It can help customers understand the financial decisions involved in buying and owning a vehicle.
GoJo Auto’s online reputation is generally positive, though like many dealerships customer reviews are mixed. GoJo has a 4.5-star rating based on 1,628 reviews on Birdeye and a 4.5-star rating from 274 reviewers on chamberofcommerce.com.
For many customers, particularly women and first-time buyers, vehicle shopping can be pressure filled. Buyers may feel they lack enough knowledge about cars, financing, or negotiation to ask questions or challenge terms that do not serve their interests.
That vulnerability can be costly. A buyer focused only on the monthly payment, for example, might miss the loan term, total amount financed, annual percentage rate, cost of add-on products, or whether the trade-in value is fair.
What transparency means
For many households, a vehicle is among the largest purchases they will make. About 65 percent of U.S. households own their homes, while roughly one-third rent. For renters, a vehicle may be their largest major financial investment.
At GoJo Auto, Gordon said transparency begins with clear, upfront information about a vehicle’s price, condition, fees, and financing terms. The dealership’s “Car Class” is designed to help customers understand the buying process, ask informed questions, and avoid last-minute charges or surprises. For her, consumer education is part of customer service: buyers should understand the financial commitments they are making before they sign—not after a monthly payment, interest rate, warranty, or trade-in value becomes an unexpected burden.
She often hears two questions from buyers: “Why do I need money down?” and “Why can’t I finance an older, less expensive car?”
The answer often involves the loan-to-value ratio, or LTV—the amount borrowed compared with a vehicle’s actual cash value. A down payment reduces the amount financed and lowers the LTV ratio, which can improve a buyer’s odds of approval, reduce lender risk, and potentially lower the interest rate and total interest paid.
Older, lower-priced cars are typically not easy to finance. Lenders may restrict vehicle eligibility based on age, mileage, and value. Bank of America, for example, excludes vehicles more than 10 calendar years old, with 125,000 miles or more, or valued below $6,000. That is one lender’s policy, not a universal lending standard.
For Gordon, explaining these and other factors is part of making financing less intimidating. Buyers, she said, should understand not only what they are paying, but why a lender may require money down or recommend a different vehicle.
Her approach also reflects a larger conversation about who has access to ownership, leadership, and decision-making power in automotive retail.
Women remain underrepresented in dealership employment and leadership. Organizations including the National Association of Minority Automobile Dealers and the National Automobile Dealers Association with its Women Driving Auto Retail initiative are working to elevate women’s participation in the industry. Industry reports show that women account for roughly 20 percent of dealership employees.
Building industry access
For Gordon, representation is not merely about visibility. It is about expanding who sees automotive work as a path to a stable career, entrepreneurship, and wealth-building.
That belief is central to the Women of Color Automotive Network, or WOCAN, a nonprofit she co-founded to connect, elevate, and support women of color across the automotive industry.
The organization provides professional community, career resources, leadership development, financial-literacy programming, scholarships, and access to industry networks that can be difficult to enter. WOCAN has grown from four founders and about 25 members in 2020 to more than 2,000 members and 300 allies.
That mission was on display last month at the National Association of Minority Automobile Dealers conference in Miami Beach, where WOCAN held its fifth annual event. The gathering brought together more than 170 women of color and automotive leaders to discuss career growth, entrepreneurship, financial empowerment, and leadership.
WOCAN’s other co-founders include CarNow Executive Vice President of Marketing Kerri Wise, Walser Hyundai Brooklyn Park General manager Erikka Tiffani Wells, and master mechanic and Girls Auto Clinic founder Patrice Banks. Together, they have built a network intended to make automotive careers more accessible for the women coming behind them.
“Building inclusive leadership isn’t just the right thing to do—it’s essential for the future of the automotive industry,” Gordon said.
The group’s work is part of a broader legacy of women reshaping automotive leadership, including Angelique Strong Marks, chief legal officer at Cars Commerce; Lerea Graham, general manager of Hello Mazda in Valencia, California; and Jenell R. Ross, president of Bob Ross Auto Group in Centerville, Ohio.
Ross leads a family-owned company, which operates Buick, GMC, and Mercedes-Benz dealerships. It is identified as the nation’s only dealership group with that brand combination owned by an African American woman.
Gordon said the automotive industry offers strong career options for women, who can bring perspectives that strengthen every part of the business from vehicle engineering and design to service, marketing, dealership operations, and ownership.
Education can be expensive, which is why WOCAN has awarded $100,000 in scholarships to women pursuing automotive careers. Its WOCAN-Bob Ross Legacy Scholarship, powered by Cars Commerce, awards eight $2,500 scholarships to women working in automotive dealership operations.
“WOCAN has helped women level up in terms of education and leadership skills,” Wise shared on the “Lead Like A Girl” podcast. “By sending them to different industry events that they really wouldn’t have been a part of if it wasn’t for WOCAN.”
For Denver consumers, Gordon brings that larger mission home through GoJo Auto. Her approach is reflected not only in who owns the dealership, but in how customers are encouraged to understand the financial choices in front of them.
One of Gordon’s proudest professional accomplishments was being sworn in as the first Black woman to serve on the Colorado State Motor Vehicle Dealer Board. She became board president in July 2022.
“I remember having to plead my case to the board, a board of all white men, to get my license,” she said. “And now, I’m on that board.”
The nine-member board meets monthly to conduct rulemaking hearings, make policy decisions, consider licensing matters, review complaints, and take disciplinary action against licensees.
Gordon said receiving her dealership license became intertwined with a commitment to sobriety and a turning point that reshaped both her life and purpose in the industry.
“I was pretty low during that time, and I was bargaining with God to please give me this dealership license,” she said.
“I heard him say he’d give it to me, but I would have to stay sober. I cussed, but I agreed,” she recalled with a laugh. “I went to an AA meeting that night. I got sober November 2, 2018, and got my license on November 20th.”
Her personal transformation, paired with her professional rise, informs the way she approaches dealership ownership: with transparency, empathy, and a commitment to making space for people who have historically been underestimated or left out.
Her commitment is to never send a buyer to the back forty, literally or figuratively, and ensure that every customer leaves with a clearer understanding of the road ahead.
