shakalaka's House of Supercars

[shakalaka]

I am not even joking. Considering the amount of cars I go through, I sometimes think that I should get into the automotive business somehow. Something like what Kulu, or August Motor Cars in Kelowna has built up. Not only would you be making money so the wive's can't be pissed, you'd be driving sick ass cars every day. Would be literally my dream career.

I've floated the idea by some friends last year and it started little traction but then I impulsively decided to build a 7 figure home and that brought everything to stop. If someone else is thinking how I am thinking and feel there's potential, hit me up. An operation such as this would need at least a few investors/partners I feel.

PS: The idea is back awake in my head now after I discovered this local Edmonton guy who owns a Huracan, i8, Range Rover and a McLaren of some kind and have had them for a while now. But now suddenly he has a high-end automotive repair shop and an exotic car rental company where he rents out his own exotics. Just reminded me of one true but neglected dream once again to be involved in an automotive business.

[Buster]

sounds like a good way to turn millions of dollars into thousands of dollars.

[shakalaka]

Really though, you think so?

How is then that places like Kulu, Avangarde, August, House of Cars, and lot of cheaters even like that father and son team with tons of GTR's keep raking big bucks? Then on Netflix if you watch massive dealerships doing crazy good and families like Dilawri etc. Must be a reason - I am sure if done right it must be able to churn something.

[Buster]

I was just joking.

I think it's possible to pull a Kulu, but hard. It's different than just liking cars and a business like that would take a ton of networks and connections. The repair shop is probably okay, but I know nothing about that. Renting is crazy hard to make money at.

[shakalaka]

I feel the network and connections you expand on once you're in the industry. You need some capital to begin with then maybe a floor loan but essentially getting started would be the hardest part. Frick...I gotta do something about this. I can't be the only car guy that thinks about this so the others that do need to step up lol

[Buster]

Wouldn't you rather just make more money to buy more cars?

[shakalaka]

Once it gets to that point I think it would just make the money for you and you semi-retire. I plan to semi-retire by 50 (part of a reason for the whole personal toys splurge) and the way I think I can do right now is have my own law firm that's doing well and have junior associates that are doing the billing and giving me percentage and then I myself can be picky with what I wanna do and how much I wanna do. That's sort of the same idea I think is doable up with the Auto Shop. I mean really the goal is to make money when I am on a holiday, sleeping and not in court. So in short basically not only are you enjoying the shit outta nice cars, you're making money while doing it.

Oh and if this isn't clear, it would be a side venture for me. I wouldn't replace my law career with just that.

[benyl]

Pretty sure that for the longest time, Kulu only drove the cheapest car on his lot. You don’t mile out the merch.

[nismodrifter]

Kulu started moving cars in the 90s. That magic didn't happen overnight.

[max_boost]

This quote is hidden because you are ignoring this member. Show Quote

Wouldn't you rather just make more money to buy more cars?

[vengie]

Most of those big shops make all of their money on financing/ leasing than they do on the cars themselves.
If you want big money, get into the lending game.

[BavarianBeast]

Don’t buy cars that are easy to get ahold of and you shouldn’t lose much money on them or you could even make money if your lucky or smart with purchases. 4 of the cars in my current fleet I’ll likely make money on because I was patient or extremely diligent in what I was buying. One will even return me over 300% and it climbs every year. The used car game is easy to make money if you really want to put effort and time into it.

99% of dealers get financing from a third party, so not much money there either. Nobody is financing cars at 15%+ (hopefully?) and it’s easy to shark out money to some developers at that rate

[bjstare]

This quote is hidden because you are ignoring this member. Show Quote

I feel the network and connections you expand on once you're in the industry. You need some capital to begin with then maybe a floor loan but essentially getting started would be the hardest part. Frick...I gotta do something about this. I can't be the only car guy that thinks about this so the others that do need to step up lol

This is definitely feasible, I’d love to do something like this. There’s two things that don’t work with your plan though.

1. As mentioned, you won’t be driving any of the fun cars. Not if you want to stay profitable.

2. Calgary or Edmonton isn’t the place for this. We have a couple dealerships like this already, and my money says that’s all our market can handle. Need to go somewhere warmer with a higher population of people with deep pockets IMO. Problem with this is you need to build a network from the ground up, can’t leverage any existing AB based relationships.

[Disoblige]

I got a better idea.

Open up a car wash, ask kenny and/or rage2 if it's ok to call it "Beyond Car Wash" or something and use the exact color scheme and fonts.
Build a reputable car connection over the next few years (while giving Beyond members discounts of course ) and then open up that car shop as you'd already be known by hundreds of people in the local car scene by face.

In 5-6 years (hopefully when economy will be in better shape than now), Beyond would be known as a small car forum that added a local car wash, and then auto shop. Then in 10+ years, Beyond Car Wash is franchised to rest of Canada and all stakeholders can retire with Raptors, Trackhawks, Aston's, and Honda Fits in their 6 car garage w/ lift.

[killramos]

I guess the big thing is to think about what you bring to the high end car brokerage market that doesn’t exist.

You willing to be more aggressive on margins than kulu? You have access to cheaper capital than him? Better connections to buyers and sellers? Better connections to detailers and repairs? Do you know the cars better than him and can arb opportunities he misses? More free time than on your hands than him?

I’d you don’t have some kind of edge I don’t see how you have a hope of competing.

[shakalaka]

Definitely good points there. As I am typing this, I am sitting at a shop called Oraizen Automotive as I need wheel alignment. This is the guy I mentioned above that just seemed to have money and a few fancy cars who has started the shop. Pretty cool shop with simulators and nice waiting area etc. I think it's super cool when your hobby or passion can make you money like that. There's his own Huracan in here right now which is all modded up, there is a modded GTS, Gallardo, couple of pick up trucks, modded Mustang, modded GTR sitting here that are I am guessing are cars here to get work done.

Calgary or Edmonton is definitely not the best market but it's where we live so not like we can just up and move to Miami or some shit - as nice as it would be. And for driving the cars, I mean if there's enough decent ones in your fleet, I don't really see a big deal with putting a few 100 km's on them here and there. I wouldn't do massive road trips or anything like that - I didn't even do that on my Aston. And as all Ferrari owners know, you gotta keep the mileage low to avoid depreciation anyway.

I wouldn't drop everything in it and go all in, I think it would be something you start slowly (not necessarily have a massive showroom right off the bat or have massive overheads) and build up as your clientele builds up. I mean much like the law practice - when I first started no one knew shit about me or anything and you just slowly build up your clientele. There's tons of lawyers out there but the clients that like you or are loyal to you, always want you to assist. This would sort of be the same setup I think. So I don't think competition is anything to be worried about - there are always going to be multiple operations that do the same thing, ultimately, it's how you run the place and what you offer to the people. I mean with technological advances and app based services these days, you can always add some cool twist to the place. Go on the app, pick the car you're interested in and we bring it to you for a test drive? I mean I don't know obviously not like I've sat down and crafted the exact business model on it but it's always something that's in the back of my head.

My problem is I am way too busy and I couldn't just quit my main career to go into it completely, especially when I am trying to figure out venturing out on my own and having my own law firm. So the operation would definitely need a partner than can be full hands on at least in the beginning. Hell I've contemplating getting a dealer license just for my own personal cars due to the frequency of change but since I've decided to slow down on that, I dropped that idea. lol.

I am not thinking of this as a quick get rich scheme where you're rich overnight, it would take time and effort and build up organically. I mean yea, it's just a pipe dream anyway, who knows if I will ever act on it but man would it ever be cool to be doing well while you absolutely love what you do. All I know is that I want a couple of revenue sources and just the law practice isn't gonna cut it for me cause I don't wanna live the rest of my life in constant stress. Haha.

[pheoxs]

This quote is hidden because you are ignoring this member. Show Quote

Definitely good points there. As I am typing this, I am sitting at a shop called Oraizen Automotive as I need wheel alignment. This is the guy I mentioned above that just seemed to have money and a few fancy cars who has started the shop. Pretty cool shop with simulators and nice waiting area etc. I think it's super cool when your hobby or passion can make you money like that. There's his own Huracan in here right now which is all modded up, there is a modded GTS, Gallardo, couple of pick up trucks, modded Mustang, modded GTR sitting here that are I am guessing are cars here to get work done.

Calgary or Edmonton is definitely not the best market but it's where we live so not like we can just up and move to Miami or some shit - as nice as it would be. And for driving the cars, I mean if there's enough decent ones in your fleet, I don't really see a big deal with putting a few 100 km's on them here and there. I wouldn't do massive road trips or anything like that - I didn't even do that on my Aston. And as all Ferrari owners know, you gotta keep the mileage low to avoid depreciation anyway.

I wouldn't drop everything in it and go all in, I think it would be something you start slowly (not necessarily have a massive showroom right off the bat or have massive overheads) and build up as your clientele builds up. I mean much like the law practice - when I first started no one knew shit about me or anything and you just slowly build up your clientele. There's tons of lawyers out there but the ones that like you or are loyal to you, always want you to assist. This would sort of be the same setup I think.

I am not thinking of this as a quick get rich scheme where you're rich overnight, it would take time and effort and build up organically. I mean yea, it's just a pipe dream anyway, who knows if I will ever act on it but man would it ever be cool to be doing well while you absolutely love what you do.

Canada-wise I think Alberta might be the best place for it. You have a high average income (downturn aside) which means you have people with chunks of disposable income but not necessarily huge amounts of wealth that can afford their own cars. (Such as Vancouver and 'family money'). Could possibly work for special occasions but you'd have to figure out a way to protect your vehicles. Some kind of GPS tracking /w data logging to make sure they aren't just redlining the cars and beating them up.

Though I imagine it's more of a hobby business than going to make you wealthy. Though there might be some advantages on the tax side by going this route? Or maybe those other businesses are just fronts for other things

Some kind of Banff touring package would be ideal (If you were in Calgary, Jasper might be a bit too far from Edmonton). Book a once a month time with slots for however many cars you have. The whole group drives out there and does a nice scenic loop and back. You (or a minion) could lead so you know people aren't going nuts. People can flip flop cars on the way if they'd like.

[ercchry]

You need access to low mile, special cars at wholesale prices... so you need access to a large enough client base that is high net worth enough to not bother selling their own shit or to source their own shit.

For sourcing you need access to worldwide networks for most of these special cars, you need to find the people willing to sell and you need the ability to actually get the thing into the country... making money as a broker vs “car dealer”

In principle it is simple... but in reality... Kulu has the reputation already, what do you have?

[Black Gts]

I think it'll work, but only if you use "z" instead of "s" where possible.

[max_boost]

This quote is hidden because you are ignoring this member. Show Quote

In principle it is simple... but in reality... Kulu has the reputation already, what do you have?

He got a law office and from watching suits that’s a big deal!

- - - Updated - - -

Who was that guy who wanted to run a luxury super car rental? Remember? It wasn’t that long ago.