Joining guest host Matthew Haiken today is the is the legendary Charlie Caprara. Charlie Caprara turned $1,500 and three junk cars bought off Jerome Avenue into a nine-store, family-run auto empire, and he is still not sure how the buyers who took over most of that group turned out to be running a $1.8 billion Ponzi scheme. He walks through what it was like coming up on New York's Jerome Avenue in the 1970s, when transporters hitchhiked across state lines with dealer plates on their laps and clockers walked the lot with a toolbox rolling back odometers by hand, and argues that the cash, relationships, and reputation that built the business then are still what decides who survives today. Charlie Caprara is the Owner of FX Caprara, a nine-store dealer group he has built with his family over 52 years in the car business. He started selling cars out of the family's home in Watertown, bought his first store in 1990, and grew it into a multi-brand group before watching most of it sold out from under him when the new majority owners turned out to be running a massive Ponzi scheme. He speaks candidly about buying several of his stores back for no premium once the scheme collapsed, the currency exchange trick that saves him thousands on new trucks bought in Canada, and why he sent all five of his kids to start in the wash bay before letting them run a store of their own.
He explains:
◼ Why selling cars out of his families backyard used car lot taught him more than any dealership training program could
◼ How buyers running a $1.8 billion Ponzi scheme ended up owning most of his dealer group for two years
◼ Why he bought several of his stores back for no premium once the scheme collapsed
◼ How a currency exchange trick lets him buy the exact same new truck for about $4,000 less
Topics:
00:20 $1.8B Ponzi Scheme Ate the Stores.
02:30 Grocery Store Forced To Sell.
05:35 Odometers Rolled Back On Jerome.
08:20 Hitchhikers Moved Cars Nationwide.
11:15 Buyers Feared Power Steering.
15:15 Rural Move Was Hated.
17:00 65 Cars A Month From Home.
28:20 Turning Away Customers Kills Absorption.
41:20 Used Cars Make The Money.
44:20 Canadian Cars 17 Points Cheaper.
48:55 Kids Started In Wash Bay.
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