We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Jeremy Brunan. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Jeremy below.

Jeremy, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Can you talk to us about a risk you’ve taken – walk us through the story?

I had been in sales most of my life, but always had an entrepreneur spirit. Wanted to get in to collector car industry somehow, but didn’t know how or what capacity. A mutual friend of AJ’s (founder of Garage Kept Motors owner) introduced us two. After obtaining a used car license, I partnered with AJ in August of 2016 when we had 17 cars. Since then we have purchased a building together that was renovated and have over 175 cars today. It was pretty scary to take the leap from steady/predictable corporate america to a risky small business where the only income was from what we sold and split it.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

We sell classic and exotic collectable cars internationally. Typically we sell cars sight unseen, get them financed, and once paid ship them to the new owner. Usually the cars that we sell are out of state (located in Grand Rapids, MI) and high percentage of them haven’t been seen by the new owner until the car arrives. Thats where its very important for us to describe the vehicle as accurately as possible and to take as many photos that we can.

What makes us unique as that we have a full transparency when selling clients cars. We are one of the only consignment shops that I know that will share the signed Bill of Sale with the buyers information to the seller. Most consignment shops keep the buyer and seller from talking to each other which can result in not transferring important restoration documentation and receipts that has the previous owners contact information.

We have built up a pretty good following on social media via Facebook and Instagram. Just this year we launched an online merchandise store that customers or followers can buy swag on our website.

Since our business has grown, we have sold cars to NFL football players, agents of famous singers, and recently had a suprise visit by Chris Stapletpon country singer which he bought a classic Ford. New York times has talked about Garage Kept Motors in an article written October 2021 with other articles written by Hagerty and Road and Track. We have been very blessed and have enjoyed meeting a variety of people from multiple walks of life.

Can you tell us the story behind how you met your business partner?

I knew what kind of industry I wanted to get into, but didn’t know of a specific opportunity. That’s where I am a firm believer of writing goals down and sharing them with piers and friends. There was a book and a video that came out years ago called “The Secret”. The premise is the more you think, talk, surround yourself with similar minded people that have a positive influence, that opportunities will come. So many people I know “want” to better themselves, but aren’t actively doing anything. There isn’t a secret formula for reaching your goals, but if you show me the books you read, social media that you follow, and your friend group I believe those are some key indicators to where you are heading.

Can you open up about how you funded your business?

In our industry “Floor Planning” is very popular. It’s a way to get short-term financing to obtain and sell a car. The problem is if you don’t sell it in 30 days, the payments and interest dramatically go up. It seems enticing for the short term, but if the market is soft then you start bleeding from payments and can put a dealership out of business. Think of it as a loan shark scenario. AJ and I considered that early on so we can grow fast, but didn’t want to take the risk for a short term gain to pay high interest which comes out of our profit. We agreed to grow our owned inventory slower for cars that we can pay for cash and to focus more on consigning others inventory which takes a lot less capital, but is still profitable.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.garagekeptmotors.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/garagekeptmotors/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/garagekeptmotors
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@GarageKeptMotors