Meet Jason Carr | Used Car Dealer/Content Creator/Podcast Host

We had the good fortune of connecting with Jason Carr and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Jason, how do you define success?
I define success as a direct correlation to mental health. If you are overall happy in life, a family that supports what you love, and the stresses of everyday life don’t keep you from perusing your dream, then you have achieved success. Stress will always be there at different levels to test your abilities. How you handle it can determine how you choose to react to everything unrelated to it. We all have bad days, but one shouldn’t dictate the rest.

Having an excess of money, real estate, toys, stocks & bonds does not necessarily make you a success story. On the outside maybe, but if you are true to yourself, wealth and success comes from having joy and happiness in your life and that looks different for everyone.

Can you give our readers an introduction to your business? Maybe you can share a bit about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
There is a bit of a back story here. My father was a business owner and sold his auto repair shop to his employees in 2000 at the age of 49. Thinking he was going to take an early retirement, he built his dream home and settled into managing his own investments until the economic downturn of 2008. At this point I was working as a store manager in a local big box store when dad and I felt buying and selling used cars on the side would be a great way for him to earn some of his investments back and a great little side gig for me. On my days off, I would help fix and clean the car that dad purchased. He would flip that car and buy another. Before you know it we would be working on two or three at a time. In August of 2009, we rented an old rundown vegetable stand sell out of and started filling up the lot. I coordinated my days off to fall on auction day as to be able to cover the car lot while dad went out and purchased more cars. By April of the following year, I quit my job at the big box store and took a leap of faith into the used car industry. I know as you are reading this you are probably thinking, who in their right mind would want to be a used car dealer. And I admit, there is such a bad reputation associated with used car dealers, but hear me out. We have been “car guys” all our lives and when you’re a car guy, we felt what better place for us. Dad as a automotive technician and me with over a dozen years in customer service and sales. We set out to do it different. not to change the reputation of all car dealers, just to try and show people that you don’t need million dollar buildings with pushy sales people in cheap suits and high margins. We wanted to do it our way. We wanted to set ourselves apart by just being in a lower price range of vehicle, offer a better warranty and keep our overhead lower than the competition. That philosophy worked for many years. Today we still offer lower priced vehicles, the best warranty and low overhead, however, March of 2020 is where it all changed. In our heyday, we had grown our staff to six employees and when the pandemic hit, it was just dad and I once again. It was difficult to predict the future then, but we managed by cutting expenses and worst of all, losing some really great staff. Now, two and a half years later, we are not back to where we once were, but we are still here. We are hear because we love what we do and we are not ready to give up just yet. I’m almost at the age my father was when he retired the first time and he’ll be 72 on his next birthday and still shows up to work every day. If there was one thing I would want everyone to know about our business is that we take pride in pleasing our customers and treat you the way we want to be treated when we walk into a business.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
I live in an area that once stood in contention for the eighth wonder of the world, The Bay of Fundy which lies between the southern New Brunswick and norther Nova Scotia shores. The significance of the Bay Of Fundy is it has the highest tides in the world (up to 53 feet). There is so much to see because of these tides. We would start in St. Stephen, New Brunswick (Canada’s Chocolate town) by having a big breakfast at Carmen’s Diner, take in the Chocolate museum that tells the story of the Ganong family and their chocolate factory which is still in operation today, then head down to St Andrews where we would visit Ministers Island, former home of Sir William Van Horne most famous for overseeing the construction of the first Canadian transcontinental railway. Being an island, you can only cross to it at low tide by driving on the ocean floor. We would then make our way east, stopping at the world famous Ossie’s Lunch for a feed of the best seafood you’ve ever had. Continuing down highway 1, we’ll follow the signs to the Fundy Trail Parkway that follows the coastline stopping at the many lookouts, observation decks, hiking trail, and waterfalls. Once off the Parkway, the Hopewell Rocks is one of the most popular destination stops of the Bay of Fundy so you can experience walking on the ocean floor and see those massive tides in person. We would end our tidal adventures at the tidal bore in Moncton. This caused when the tides in the Bay of Fundy make their way up the Petitcodiac River. Twice daily, the Tidal Bore reach heights ranging from 1.5-3 feet. A meal and a beer at the Pump House Brew Pub in downtown Moncton would be a must as well.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
This is a tough one as there are so many contributors who put me where I am today. My father who is my business partner is the one who encouraged me to jump onboard and build the business we have today. My wife is the cheerleader that supports my long hours, comforts in those hard times and lends an extra hand during the busy spells. However, if I was to shoutout one person in particular who gave me the guidance and skills to endure success in sales and customer service it would be the man that hired me with no experience and still wet behind the ears way back in 1996. Rob Sawyer was the store manager at a local electronics store. There is where I learned what patience, dedication, and why friendship building really is what you are in business for. Today, Rob is now the owner of that store and is located beside my used car dealership. To this day we still have a great relationship that allows us to laugh and joke as well as support each other in our small business ventures. It’s funny because way back then I always thought Rob worked too much, but today Him and I are usually walking into work at the same time (way before opening) and occasionally, going home at the same time. I still thing he works too much.

Website: www.oldecarr.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/oldecarrguy/

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jason-carr-b717a955/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/jasonc875

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jasongcarr

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@oldecarrguy