cardude
Full time employment: Posting here.
- Joined
- Feb 21, 2006
- Messages
- 599
As some of you may know, I quit the new car biz back in 2009 and retired for a couple of years. I thought I was done for good, but my plan for what to do in retirement was a little bit lacking to say the least, and with DW still working and kids still in school I got a little stir crazy. One of my old car biz employees started talking to me about starting a used car lot here in town, and I eventually agreed to give it a shot.
We have been open about 1.5 years, and it has gone from a simple little lot with a few cars and just three guys working it (including me) to a full blown used car operation with 60 vehicles on the lot, three full time salespeople, two managers, a title clerk and a dedicated auction buyer.
The managers who run the store are young, hungry and aggressive (like they need to be in the car biz) and they want to continue to grow-- we even talked about opening a second store, although I'm regretting I didn't nip that in the bud when it came up. I'm working 15-20 hours a week, and that's about all I want to put in. I don't want to lose all my personal time, and I know if we continue to grow I'll have to spend more time overseeing things, and have to start managing employees again (already am actually). However, I don't want to kill my managers enthusiasm either, and I have to admit I'm getting a little greedy again like I used to be back in the day as I watch the money flow in. This lot is now generating as much profit as my new car dealership did at its peak-- it is paying all our expenses, plus I'm saving about 30% of the profit.
My initial thought when I started this thing was it would be fun to have a little car lot-- it would give me a place to go during the day, and the extra money coming in would make me feel better about our portfolio success going forward (under 3% at current exp level). I planned on just shutting it down or selling it after the kids go off to college in 5 years and pulling the money out of it, but the bigger it grows the harder it will be for me to shut it down.
I've thought about trying to sell it to the current managers in a few years, but I don't think they would be able to get the financing to floorplan the inventory (unless the banks loosen up), and I'm not interested in letting them use my money if I'm not around to watch it. I currently have one million invested in it in inventory and working capital.
Any bright ideas on how to either a) slow this thing down? b) grow it then sell it? c) grow it and let the kids run it (yuck)? d) sell it now while it's hot and bail out?
Help me brainstorm........
We have been open about 1.5 years, and it has gone from a simple little lot with a few cars and just three guys working it (including me) to a full blown used car operation with 60 vehicles on the lot, three full time salespeople, two managers, a title clerk and a dedicated auction buyer.
The managers who run the store are young, hungry and aggressive (like they need to be in the car biz) and they want to continue to grow-- we even talked about opening a second store, although I'm regretting I didn't nip that in the bud when it came up. I'm working 15-20 hours a week, and that's about all I want to put in. I don't want to lose all my personal time, and I know if we continue to grow I'll have to spend more time overseeing things, and have to start managing employees again (already am actually). However, I don't want to kill my managers enthusiasm either, and I have to admit I'm getting a little greedy again like I used to be back in the day as I watch the money flow in. This lot is now generating as much profit as my new car dealership did at its peak-- it is paying all our expenses, plus I'm saving about 30% of the profit.
My initial thought when I started this thing was it would be fun to have a little car lot-- it would give me a place to go during the day, and the extra money coming in would make me feel better about our portfolio success going forward (under 3% at current exp level). I planned on just shutting it down or selling it after the kids go off to college in 5 years and pulling the money out of it, but the bigger it grows the harder it will be for me to shut it down.
I've thought about trying to sell it to the current managers in a few years, but I don't think they would be able to get the financing to floorplan the inventory (unless the banks loosen up), and I'm not interested in letting them use my money if I'm not around to watch it. I currently have one million invested in it in inventory and working capital.
Any bright ideas on how to either a) slow this thing down? b) grow it then sell it? c) grow it and let the kids run it (yuck)? d) sell it now while it's hot and bail out?
Help me brainstorm........