In Memoriam: Ron Hope, 1944-2024

Visitation and funeral services will be held this week for Ron Hope, 80, the CEO and Board Chairman of CARS Recon, Inc., who passed away peacefully at his home on June 21, according to an obituary distributed by the National Auto Auction Association.

Visitation is Friday, July 5, from 4 pm to 8 pm, and funeral services will be held Saturday, July 6, 2024, at 11 am at The Church of the Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1100 Gray Fox Lane, Franklin, Tennessee 37069, the obituary reported.

Ron Hope worked in the automotive auction industry for over 50 years and was the founder of Capital Automotive Reconditioning Service (CARS Recon, Inc.), a national vehicle reconditioning company for auction operations, which has been in business since 2003.

Since its founding, CARS Recon has reconditioned more than eight million vehicles for auctions throughout the U.S. and has grown from 12 employees to more than 200 full-time employees at shops throughout five states across the country, in addition to a presence in the United Kingdom, according to the company's website.

Hope became the CEO and Board Chairman of CARS Recon on July 1, 2022, when the company restructured its senior management team. In that role, he stepped down from direct involvement in the company’s daily operations.

His daughter, Becky Anderson, became president of CARS Recon and since then has been responsible for daily operations while overseeing the company’s strategy and planning.

Hope and Anderson in recent years have been fixtures and active participants at remarketing industry conferences and events, including the National Auto Auction Association’s annual convention, the Automotive Remarketing Alliance’s Summer Roundtable, the Conference of Automotive Remarketing, and Used Car Week. Hope also was an associate member company of the NAAA.

Anderson graduated in Class 8 of the Auction Academy on Sept. 27, 2024, during a ceremony in Chicago. She also was one of three winners of the Maria Acuna Essence Award.

According to the obituary:

Born on June 16, 1944, Ronald Wayne Hope served in the U.S. Navy and had a great passion for and was involved in motorsports racing.

Although he had a love for racing and with his rebuilt dragster “Rat Trap,” his biggest pride was his family.

Hope is preceded in death by his parents Harold and Margaret Hope and his sister Patricia Aldrich. He is survived by his wife of 53 years, Dianne, and his children Wendy and Todd Landsiedel, Brian and Rebecca Hope, Virginia and Keith Veal, Rebecca and Brian Anderson, Deborah and Richard Wright, Jeneal Whitmore, his brother Steven Hope, sister Sherry King, 18 grandchildren, and one great-granddaughter.