Our Team - Michael Lesley
Michael
Lesley
Finance Manager
He Answered an Ad for a Weekend Receptionist.
In 1998, Mike Lesley answered a San Diego Union-Tribune ad for a weekend receptionist at Bob Stall Chevrolet. During the interview, the General Manager and the Finance Director asked him a question that wasn't on the job description: had he ever considered selling cars? He accepted the offer not entirely sure what he was getting into. He calls it one of the best choices he's ever made. Twenty-eight years later, he's still here.
Mike is originally from the Bay Area - born at Children's Hospital in downtown San Francisco - and moved to San Diego in 1982. Through his mid-20s, any time he wasn't in school he was back up north with family. San Diego won out. It's been home for 43 years.
Ask Mike why he's stayed nearly three decades and he doesn't talk about comp plans. He talks about the Stalls. Owners John and Tom are at the dealership regularly and know most employees by their first name. Mike was around long enough to know their father, Bob Stall himself, who did the same. That family-owned culture - where the people at the top still learn your name - is what keeps Mike here.
He started on the sales floor and moved into finance, which means he has sat in both seats of the transaction. That's the background customers feel when they get to his desk: he understands the whole deal, not just the paperwork at the end of it.
"My approach is simple: get the loan funded and make sure the customer has a positive experience that brings them back to Bob Stall for future transactions."
- Mike Lesley, Finance ManagerIt's a long-game philosophy, and the proof is in his customer base - buyers who have come back to Mike for deal after deal, some of them since his days on the sales floor. People don't return to a finance office unless the last visit went well.
Finance Is Where He Landed. People Are Why They Come Back.
Mike is an AFIP-certified F&I professional - the recognized credential for doing the finance-and-insurance side of a car deal correctly and ethically. But the part customers actually notice is the relationships. Many of the people who sit at his desk first met him when he was selling cars, and they've followed him to finance and kept coming back. After 28 years at one dealership, that's a referral network built one good experience at a time.
Credentials & Background
- Structures financing, protection, and warranty products
- Entire automotive career at one dealership
- Started in sales, moved into finance
- With Bob Stall since October 1998
What Customers Get
- Financing structured to actually get funded
- Someone who understands the full deal, not just the signing
- Clear, no-surprises paperwork
- A relationship built for the next car, too
Why People Stay Loyal
- Repeat customers going back decades
- Many followed him from sales to finance
- Long-game approach: take care of you now, see you next time
- A reputation built over decades in one community
What You Get When Mike Closes Your Deal.
The finance office is the last stop in a car purchase, and it's the one that decides whether the whole experience felt good or got soured at the end. Mike has spent 28 years making sure it's the former. Here's what that looks like when you sit down with him.
"Get the loan funded, and make sure the customer leaves wanting to come back."
Because Mike came up through sales before moving into finance, he reads a deal from the customer's side of the desk, not just the lender's. He structures financing that actually gets approved and funded - no last-minute surprises - and he walks you through the protection and warranty options without turning the desk into a pressure cooker. His AFIP certification means it's all done by the book.
The real proof isn't a slogan - it's the loyal Bob Stall customer base that keeps coming back to him, deal after deal, year after year. Mike treats every signing as the start of the next relationship, which is exactly how a family-owned dealership is supposed to work.
Bay Area Born, San Diego Made.
Mike has lived in Casa de Oro - on the south side of Mt. Helix - for 17 years, with his wife and two daughters. After growing up under Bay Area overcast, he doesn't take San Diego's weather for granted: a year-round average around 72 degrees that makes outdoor living the default, not a special occasion. His commute to the dealership and back runs about 12 minutes, which after 43 years in the county he counts as another small daily win.
One standing tradition: he and his oldest daughter hit the San Diego Zoo at least three times a month.
When customers new to the area ask Mike where to go, he's got a ready list. La Jolla Cove, Coronado Island, and the Cabrillo National Monument in Point Loma top it. The San Diego County Fair is a June must-do. And for dinner with a downtown skyline view, he points people to C Level and Island Prime out on Harbor Island.
Working out of La Mesa keeps him close to home and central to customers across East County and beyond.
Favorite Local Spots
- La Jolla Cove & Coronado Island
- Cabrillo National Monument, Point Loma
- San Diego County Fair (a June must-do)
- C Level & Island Prime - Harbor Island views
Where He's Based
- Lives in Casa de Oro, south of Mt. Helix - 17 years
- Bay Area native, born in San Francisco
- 43 years in San Diego
- About a 12-minute commute to the dealership
Golf, RC Cars, and a Padres Fan Since '83.
Outside the finance office, Mike keeps it outdoors: golf, exercise, and taking his RC cars out to Fiesta Island to run them. He went to his first Padres game in 1983 and has been a true believer ever since - through every up and down the franchise has put its fans through. Go Padres.
And yes, he drives what he sells. There's a Tahoe and a Traverse in the driveway - a couple of bow ties at home, as he puts it. Family is the center of it all: his wife and two daughters, and a standing Zoo date with his oldest.
- - Bay Area native - born in downtown San Francisco
- - Padres fan since his first game in 1983
- - Started as a weekend receptionist - and never left
- - Knew Bob Stall, the founder, personally
- - Runs RC cars out at Fiesta Island
- - Visits the San Diego Zoo 3+ times a month with his oldest daughter
- - Drives a Tahoe; family Traverse too - "a couple of bow ties in the driveway"
Say Hi to Mike
Financing your next Chevrolet and want it handled right? Mike Lesley has spent 28 years at Bob Stall making the finance desk the easy part. AFIP-certified, customer-first, and backed by a loyal base of buyers who keep coming back. Ask for Mike when you're ready to make it official.
Michael "Mike" Lesley is an AFIP-certified Finance Manager (F&I professional) at Bob Stall Chevrolet, located at 7601 Alvarado Road, La Mesa, CA 91942. With 28 years at the dealership - his entire automotive career, since October 1998 - Mike structures vehicle financing, secures loan approvals and funding, and guides customers through protection and warranty options with a no-pressure, customer-first approach. He came up through the Bob Stall sales floor before moving into finance, and is known for a loyal, repeat customer base. Originally from the San Francisco Bay Area, Mike has lived in San Diego for 43 years and currently resides in Casa de Oro near Mt. Helix. He serves customers across La Mesa, Casa de Oro, El Cajon, Spring Valley, San Diego, and the surrounding region. Call 619-460-1311 to reach Mike at the Bob Stall Chevrolet finance department.