We recently connected with Eric Hill and have shared our conversation below.

Eric, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today What’s the backstory behind how you came up with the idea for your business?

CheckDrv was born out of the frustration of looking for used vehicles, and the issues that arise when trying to buy out of state.

I had gotten into a minor accident, but it totaled my car. I was searching for a new vehicle and all the models I was looking for locally didn’t match up price-wise with what I saw in different markets, especially in the peer-to-peer sector. The vehicle I was looking for was a Toyota 4Runner, I call them bricks of gold here in Colorado. After a while, I located one that I wanted at a dealership in my home state, Wisconsin. In comes a flurry of logistical challenges: how do I negotiate over email? How do I get a loan secured out of state? How do I get them their money through my bank? Where do I pay taxes? How do I transfer the title to the new state? Can I drive it without license plates? Am I okay with flying all the way there to test drive it and ultimately buy it? How do I get it home without incident?

All of these questions are enough to have someone stop and say “I’ll just pay a lot more for a car near me.” I began thinking of a tool that could give people peace of mind when searching out of state for used cars, this was our original idea of mechanic for hire on a software platform. This solution didn’t seem like enough, so we started considering where we enter a person’s sales cycle, how much we offer to that sales cycle, and how we could answer the questions that I had during my process of looking for a vehicle.

My Co-Founder and I started looking for what was on the market for this type of tech- there were and are a few that have been hitting on a few of my burning questions. These companies were ones that did mechanic inspections but were more in line with mobile maintenance. We found others that were supporting private sellers but didn’t have much in the way of helping buyers complete the purchase.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I have always been passionate about cars. I had all the matchboxes I could when I was growing up, went to the drag strip with my friend and watched his father race, and loved going to a car lot with my own father. My brother and I always joke about how my dad is always looking for his next car, so it was not uncommon to have an auto trader magazine or an internet tab up of a vehicle for sale. I was always interested in the buying and selling of vehicles, what they were worth, and how to handle a transaction. I joke that I sometimes was like the character Joe Dirt, and would look at an ad and say what I would be willing to pay them even though I was a 17-year-old with no money. So now that I am able to combine a love of cars with making something to help someone with their issues with buying and selling a car, it’s really the best of both worlds.

CheckDrv helps people buy and sell cars like a dealership. What that means is- think you’re trying to sell your car yourself, you may post 5 photos on a marketplace with a small description. What CheckDrv does is walk you through making a listing with our intuitive application, which allows you to create a listing on our site, and share it on other marketplaces. A prospective buyer will then navigate to your listing and see the same information you see when going to a dealer’s professional website. From there the buyer and seller can communicate about the vehicle, see the vehicle’s history and maintenance records, negotiate the transaction, and arrange shipping, payment, insurance, etc.

On the other side, we have been working on a product to address dealership pain points. We like to call it our “At Home Trade-in” software which will allow dealerships to provide offers to private individuals wanting a quick “out” of their vehicle. The seller uses our software to create a listing, which then gets sent to partner dealerships to give the seller either a cash offer or a better price on trading it in. The dealership gets to see the car before the deal is done, shortening the sales cycle of dealerships and giving dealerships a greater reach in adding inventory.

Today’s car market is much different than it was 5 years ago, and an e-commerce solution is what is needed to assist people in getting the most money out other their current vehicle and help them save on their next.

Have you ever had to pivot?

Life is all about pivoting. Whether it when you are a kid and you have to decide between a sport that overlaps or in college when you decide the major you were so passionate about is not the route you want to go down, to when you wake up and you’re 30 and wondering what do I want out of this life?

I’ve had my fair share of pivoting in life and in business. like most people do. Luckily, I am an eternal optimist so pivoting is just a new adventure that I want to put all my energy behind.

The pivot story that comes to mind happened when I was 21, about to be a college graduate, and thought I had it all figured out.

Let me set the scene for a moment, I grew up in Wisconsin where the famous words of Vince Lombardi echo deeply in the hearts and minds of many of the residents– “There are three things that are important to every man in this locker room. His God, his family, and the Green Bay Packers. In that order.” I grew up thinking, talking, breathing, and watching the Green Bay Packers, and I thought it a dream to one day work for the organization. I remember I was 7 years old when they won the super bowl and I asked my Dad “who is that holding the trophy:” my dad responded “well that’s the general manager, Ron Wolf” I asked, “what does he do?” my dad answered “he trades and signs the players:” Well that was it, I wanted to be the general manager of the Green Bay Packers.

My life for the next 14 years was about becoming the GM of the Packers, so I watched the combine, watched the draft, studied the players coming out of college, and learned as much about the game without playing as I could. It lead me to go to the University of Wisconsin- Green Bay to be near the team with hopes I could secure an internship with the football operations, or anywhere within the organization to get into the building. My first dream came when I was a Freshman when I interviewed for and was offered a game-day internship with the marketing department, I was in the door!

After two seasons of being on the field helping with game day marketing, I decided I would shoot my shot with every general manager in the NFL and sent my resume and a letter asking for an opportunity. I received letters back from approximately 15% of the league mostly with letters thanking me for my interest, but there was nothing available. However, I did receive one that gave me hope. It was from, at that time, the head of football operations at the Packers stating that there was nothing at that exact moment but something opening up in May after the draft. That was it, my chance! I was very excited to reach back out when instructed and prepared accordingly. Within a few weeks of receiving the letter, its author was hired as the general manager of another team. This gave me a few feelings, some of the loss, and some of the excitement that I could still have an opportunity and possibly with two teams.

Well, it didn’t work out the way I wanted, no one answered the next series of letters, and I found myself wondering what I should do next. At this point, I lost much of the drive, excitement, and interest I had in this career goal. I was graduating college and wanted to get a jump start on those school loans, so I quit the dream that I had for so long. This was a great lesson on a few things that I carry with me to this day: If you are going to do something, do it with everything you have, and conversely, if you lose passion for something you should reevaluate.

These lessons were so impactful to me at a young age. I thought I wanted something for so long, got a peek of it, and realized I didn’t want it anymore and that was ok. It was also a lesson that life is not over at any age, and new dreams will come. This has all led me to what I am doing today, which is pretty cool.

How do you keep your team’s morale high?

The key is having high morale yourself. This is the most important part of being a leader in my mind. When you can help your team have the same exciting vision that you have the more you get others to “buy in” on what you’re building. Long hours seem shorter when a leader is in the trenches with you and excited about the work you’re all doing.

The second key is being a servant leader. Your focus should be on how you work for your team and customers and not the other way around. The more you empower the teams or employees you have, the better the result.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://checkdrv.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/check.drv/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CheckDrv
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/checkdrv
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/Check_Drv

Image Credits
All Rights are mine(Eric Hill) and or CheckDrive, LLC