By ROD LEE

That his family was destined to make its mark in the automotive business was apparent early on, Paul T. “Tim” Hare of Harbro Auto Sales & Service said on August 26th.

“When I was eight or nine, my brother and I took an engine out of a 1955 Ford,” Mr. Hare said, while seated at a picnic table at the waterfront cottage on Northwest Main St. in Douglas that he shares with his wife Jane as a seasonal retreat.

 Above, brothers Dave and Tim Hare, who started Harbro Auto Sales & Service in 1973.

A friendly and engaging man, he spoke reflectively about the nearly half century Harbro has been in operation but also with the sunny disposition that he is known for. He even shared a printed historical timeline that dates from 1973 when Tim and Dave Hare rented space at 110 Linwood Ave.—where Crothers Tire is now located—to 1995 when Tim purchased “Harbro Auto Service” from Dave and noted, prophetically at it turned out, a desire then to buy “a new-car franchise if one becomes available in the Blackstone Valley or Webster area.” Which is exactly what happened. The Webster facility on Rt. 12 opened in 1985.

Much has happened in the thirty-seven years since, of course. The “history of business” will have to be updated.

From the outset, Harbro (named thus for obvious reasons) was a venture the two brothers split right down the middle in terms of their respective responsibilities.

The Harbro store on Providence Road in Whitinsville.

The business was incorporated in 1976 with Tim owning fifty shares and Dave owning fifty shares. In 1978, the company was divided into two divisions, Auto Sales and Auto Service, with Tim managing the Auto Sales and Dave managing the Auto Service. “Each division to be a separate profit center with (each manager) having full control and compensation of profits.”

A bicycle division and Depend-A-Car Rental were added in 1981. Auto-glass replacement was added in 1988, computerized accounting and office systems in 1989. Also in 1989, Harbro was granted variances from the town of Northbridge allowing for the placement of a sixty-square-foot sign on the property, and permission to place eighty-six unregistered vehicles on the lot.

  In 1990, auto detailing was introduced; in 1991, state inspections.

  The growth continued, as it does to the present day with younger members of the family now involved.

  In 1991, Harbro began a wholesale operation “to buy and sell used cars and trucks on the wholesale market, and to dispose of trade-ins which do not meet our quality standards.”

  This emphasis on quality, and a conscientious, faith-based approach to providing outstanding customer service, has been a hallmark from the beginning—as evidenced by the contemplation of a then-revolutionary “30-day buyback program.” Under consideration, the history of business document notes, because “the biggest negative about buying a ‘used car’ is getting a lemon, and fear of warranties and ‘used-car dealers.’” Hence thought given to “[investigating] the feasibility of offering 30 day ‘satisfaction or we will buy it back’ guaranty.”

  This was subsequently implemented. “We have never promoted it properly,” Tim says. “My hope when I put it in place was that it would change the industry.”

  Tim Hare recalls that by April of 1973, drawing on their mutual interest in automobiles, he and Dave Hare were doing “just gas and repairs” on Linwood Ave., at the address Crothers now occupies. Shortly thereafter, they relocated to Providence Road, which at that time was so quiet a stretch of highway that “you could play baseball in the middle of it,” Tim said with a smile and a twinkle in his eye.

“We started out as service only. I worked for J&S as a teenager, Dave worked at Farrar’s in Hopkinton, building fire trucks. I asked him if he wanted to go into business. Jane and I got married in 1974 and I wanted to sell cars. She had a 1972 Chevy Malibu that was paid off. ‘If you let me sell your car’ I said to her...I sold it for $2200 and I bought her a car for $1000. I lost money on that first car.”

With mentoring help from Gordon Hathaway—“and he was my competitor,” Tim points out—the Hare brothers took a chance on the Providence Road site. “It was a cellar hole and a barroom,” Tim says. “We saved the original foundation. I had an inspiration in the early 80s that every town needed a car dealership like ours but I didn’t want to do it if work consumed me. I had a young family.”

This devotion to family has stayed strong down through the generations. “At one time, seventeen family members worked at Harbro. My sister June worked there for years,” Tim says.

Through the years, he said, “I’ve seen a lot of ups and downs.” One of these came right away, in 1973, when the OPEC oil crisis hit. “The EPA controlled your allocation…in a day we were out of the gas business.”

In 2008-2009 “there was a big shortage of used cars.”

More recently there was the Covid-19 pandemic.

Today, as Tim’s son Mike Hare notes, Harbro remains true to the business’s core principles. This explains why Mike and Mark Hare are carrying forward the tradition of brothers owning the business and shouldering the workload equally.

But they are not alone. Despite the loss of Dave Hare, who died earlier this year, family members are active in the dealership. “My Uncle Dan, my mom’s brother, still works with us,” Mike Hare said. Mark’s daughter Leah, Mike’s sons Jonah and Emmet and Abram and Mike’s nephew Jude (my wife’s sister’s son) all have roles.

“Other than mom and dad,” Mike Hare says; can’t forget Tim and Jane.

“I have thirty-two nieces and nephews and most of them have worked here,” Tim Hare says. “This is the next best thing to a family farm. I am very thankful about the way it’s worked out.”

Harbro’s golden anniversary will be observed with appropriate fanfare next spring.

Contact Rod Lee at [email protected] or 774-232-2999.