Lord Aleem & His Father: Drug Dealing Allegations, $15m+ Supercars & Platinum Executive Travel

today's guest came from nothing and built one of the largest Supercar rental fleets in the world they're the first to ever buy Bugatti Chiron in the UK and they're here today to tell us exactly how they did it it is of course Lord Alim and his father Saleem I want a nice 20 mil plus apartment in London with three hyper cars downstairs I want about two more Holiday Homes I want a yacht today I have every single car I could ever wish for I think the value of the cars will be 10 million pounds plus if it comes with time you're making so much money you're scratching your head thinking wow what am I going to do with it yeah I've been there yeah yeah I don't look at him his father's a drug dealer don't look at him his father's a dodgy Geezer but the truth of the fact is that where are they today and where are we today and sometimes it's better to stay quiet and let God do all the work we're giving our assets for hundreds of thousands of pounds to people to drive we have to watch over our cars we have to protect it sleepless nights getting alerts on cars this is a very very tough job I couldn't give two shits of what anybody has to say online do what you want to do and do it with courage and do it with the right mindset once you're everyone's cup of tea you're a mug foreign podcast today isn't it it certainly is we're a platinum executive travel today which in itself is pretty exciting isn't it being surrounded by all these supercars we got Lamborghinis we got Ferraris we should have had a Bugatti as well but I think that's on its way back from Dubai currently um it's just awesome but there's no Kai today and why is that we told him he couldn't come yeah sadly Kai is being fired from the podcast and he won't be making another appearance we had so many comments didn't we saying get rid of the little short guys so we've done it finally so I hope you guys appreciate it no of course we're just joking today we've got a really exclusive interview haven't we very very special obviously we got Lord elim who without question I'm sure everyone knows but for the first time ever his father has agreed to come on the podcast Saleem and uh we're gonna D sorry you're gonna D we're going to do we're gonna dive really deep into the setup of this set of the this business how it all came about just to reiterate what dad's saying this is a huge deal and we've managed to secure this interview every podcast in the world has been trying to get it but we've done it for you on strike it big so if you appreciate it make sure to smash that subscribe button because it helps us more than you can know and it also helps to secure the better guests for you guys today's guest came from nothing and built one of the largest Supercar rental fleets in the world they're the first to ever buy Bugatti Chiron in the UK and they're here today to tell us exactly how they did it it is of course Lord elim and his father Saleem woohoo guys [Applause] hello there all right nice to meet you so what was it like growing up in the 1970s well apart from around about 1978 um or the other boats and um there's eight siblings in our family so um there's five brothers three sisters and and ultimately I'm the youngest in in the family um and many we were growing up I was around about eight or nine years old and my older brothers um were pretty much on point and in the car industry so buying and selling cars and that sort of stuff um and um I actually enjoyed that quite a lot so um I spent um a fair bit of time with them in my spare time from school and whatnot and coming back from school all excited and you know yeah we're gonna go to the car auction or whatever and XYZ um and um and moving on from that a lot of other activities going on my brother was in the industry of repairing televisions and video recorders and whatnot so I'd spend the weekends with them and just learning off tips and and just getting knowledge really basically just free knowledge because it was it was experience which I wanted to get attracted to um and um and if there was a day where my brother had gone to the car auctions without and taking me with him um it'd be hell on fire it'd be like it could be dramas um and and I'd actually work my own way up there and the boss thinking that I'll just I'll just catch him there and um and and I'd do that um is this the same brother that was a taxi driver by the way indeed yeah yeah um he then um later in the Years uh went on to um driving a black cab um which I couldn't be with him so I I was on on my own um into doing the auction runs and um and and to be fair when I said to you when I'm on my own and doing that I'm talking about 14 15 years old I'd get a bus to the auction just to watch and and listen and and pick up on things and see how um pick up what things are worth as much as what things is worth and what the techniques are so what do you think were the main things you learned from just experiencing the auctions well it's it's it's it's a variety of experiences you you pick up on of how how people you know bid on cars and and and what sort of cars attract people what sells um and then I was a a very um uh popular person on the magazine top marks at Sunday Times um when you say you was popular on on those magazines you mean you were advertising on it no no no I was actually popular in just swiveling through them and just making sure that you know um I understand everything correctly um and similar to how we would probably go on to AutoTrader now and have a play around and try and absorb everything yeah but back then it was because what these youngsters don't understand there was no internet back then was there no nothing absolutely nothing what was the UK like back there in the 1970s as well because that's uh it's a different time in a different country really well you grew up in the UK 2017 he did yeah but uh you were in Birmingham um it wasn't easy but I found I felt it normal and I just cracked on with it and and like you know anything even up till today and and and 20 25 years ago um you just you get stuck into it you just crack on um ultimately um we do get there in the end I guess you know no better with with what's around you so you know maybe times at that time for my father were hard but he was so immersed in that whole you know in that situation that's all he ever knew that he didn't find it hard he just thought you know this is the process that I've got to get through whereas like um you know maybe myself now um I I would look back on that and because I did a different type of upbringing I'm more aware of of other ways of lifestyle and different types of people in different countries and that sort of stuff that I would probably struggle a little bit more but that's all he ever knew I guess you know I always think I'm quite lucky because I started my business during a recession and I didn't know any different to that so I was making money in a really hard time and everyone kept saying to me like you know aren't you find it hard there's a recession I didn't even know what a recession was I'll go on a little bit made money yeah I'll go on a little bit further and tell you about that because they become they come to time where at the age of in in the teens you're making so much money that you're scratching your head thinking what to do with this what am I going to do with it I've been there yeah yeah it's amazing and um and and there's been a lot they've been they've been if I says to you there was there was hundreds of times when I thought about that um I really mean it hundreds as opposed you bought a Porsche didn't you yeah yeah he was the first person to buy a Porsche in your area yeah yeah um so we're so aligned because I did that when I had too much money I didn't know what to do but I bought a 1976 Carrera yeah and I wish I still had it yeah it's lovely car well moving on then coming up to around about 16 and 17 and you know the studies have finished and uh my mother studies I didn't know you studied your mother said listen you've got to enroll into uh into college and then you know you're going to go to university and you're going to get yourself educated and so forth and I just put that in one end and took it straight out the other because I was just like thinking of the next time that I've got to get to the auction and hustle a deal so your education was really in the sort of real life experience yes yes um indeed yeah um so coming up to around about 17 um there used to be a scheme called the yts scheme they did yeah you talk about all of them and every school wanted to put you on a yts scheme didn't they yeah they did and and and this and that's a youth training scheme yeah that's it this college um it was in the center of Birmingham and they just wanted to do that so I said 26 pound a week I think something like that for the people that don't know what a yts scheme is what what is a white it's a youth training scheme and what it did was um they sort of tried to abolish apprenticeships and replace it with youth training schemes before that was whops Youth Opportunity program I think um but I said no I wanted it I actually wanted an apprenticeship I wanted to learn a trade and get it done properly but there's nowhere else going on a yts so they asked the question they said look um what do you want to do I said get into computers you know repairing and Engineering on computers um yeah yeah okay no problem with the family a company in the Birmingham this is it's in Birmingham is only down the road I said all right so no problem so anyway I've got in there for an interview very happy love me to bits Bangla you're in started working for them I spent about nine months there and in that nine months I literally stressed them all out and uh and and because we were we used to uh jump in because back in the days it used to be the computer's IBM yeah so they'd buy as companies would buy IBM computers off him and we'd go and install them and you know prep them all up um and so we drive from here to let's say London or Basingstoke or Southampton and I'd be the passenger and the driver would drive me up there and we'll set them all up so while we're driving up there and everything um you know obviously you know I'm I'm what's going through my head is the hustle on the deal so thinking right I've got to go to the auction on Saturday morning and do XYZ and anyway I do me days work come back home and uh my mom was happy and then I said Mom I'm not really feeding this you know this job and everything funny enough as we were in the process of me not feeling it and she said no no you've got a carry on you can't stop you've got to carry on so were you driving them crazy because you were talking about the auctions or the weekend okay but these these guys are the drivers and the engineers they actually got used to me you know at some stage and that's all they were talking about as well so you're infecting all my staff they're going to go off and do that but unfortunately the company went bust okay so they went under they they couldn't cope anymore so one morning they called me and they say look you're not the only one but everybody's going from Monday nobody needs to come to work okay no problem great so that was the Catalyst to uh Propel you forward yeah yeah yeah this is you know your wage packet because it used to pay you cash you know yeah I used to have those yeah yeah but I used to sometimes have to go up with the form and to the bank to bring the money back because there had to be two of us because it was a big briefcase of money yeah yeah yeah yeah and you got paid to the penny as well and they said well about your money because the company's gone down I said I just don't worry about it they said no no you can put a complaint you can put a claim in and do this in XYZ anyway you watched it girls it's nobody about that I went home and singing I was singing and dancing thinking yeah I'm sorting now be off to the auction tomorrow my mom only had another plan up the sleeve straight to the bakery she said listen you've got to do you can do this car business on the side but you've got to do a full-time job and I said well it's hard she says I'm talking to somebody over the road he works for a company called Bristol Street Motors all right big company yeah big company now yeah she says um and they're going to give you a job in there but you know they need a couple of weeks into it I said okay that's fine no problem so I thought I've got a bit of a breather she says no but I've spoken to somebody else who can give you a job straight away okay what is that then she's going to work at the bakery oh I can't I can't see you doing that she's just you know you're going to get a job in the bakery and you don't have to bake it's easy she's just packing aging and that's what you're gonna say you're just going in as a taster oh I've gone in there he's only down the road and I used to walk it to the bakery every evening this is why you love fancy cakes and stuff yeah yeah yeah and I'll come into that um so anyway um I'm up to about 18 years old and I'm working in the bakery and we're doing a load of packaging of Ross cakes and you know pastries and various bits and pieces for you know the bakery is still there now same place um and um on the on the day on the we do a full night shift so six o'clock in the morning night shift finishes about half five the supervisors would come along and say listen uh do us a favor get all this all the broker Russ is put in the skip I said oh it sounds so can we take some home yeah yeah no problem like these broken biscuits you know take them out no problem so I filled up a couple of carrier bags for myself so I'm walking down the road at six o'clock in the morning with a couple of bags you know on my way out and uh obviously I've got an army mum's really happy she's all singing and dancing she's like wow your son's doing a good day's worth and he's bought a load of biscuits home as well so you know so anyway so she shared a load of biscuits with the neighbors and various bits and pieces no problem next day back to work again next day um same again six o'clock in the morning just before you go on a couple of bags so when did you start selling them I'll come to that money money a couple of bags again back on me mom says oh we've already got the ones from yesterday I say you've got some more now yeah I mean no problem she's like that'll do don't bring any more straight away I could see pants on yeah of course okay well if you don't want to I know somebody who does yeah anyway next day couple of bags again I only had a few people lined up for a couple of bags just drop them off in XYZ so give them the couple of bags collect up there four or five quid whatever it was and cracked on anyway we just got into it but eventually everybody was worn out because they couldn't handle me anymore because they had too many biscuits around it I had no buyers um so I lasted there for about to be honest with the elastic there for about about eight weeks which was good because it was really warm in this Bakery and it was hard work it's good experience though isn't it all these other jobs oh a good life experience so did you quit or were you fired no I just I just quit I know the reason why I quit was because the fella over the road from where we lived worked at Bristol Street Motors and he says listen your job's on you've got the job okay so it's more of a filler job in that time then you could jump to the real thing you wanted indeed yeah but I think it was mostly my grandma um you know she's always instilled that working and and hard-working ethic and mentality into all of her children whether it be my aunties whether it be my own cause uh and and my father as well is an example of it that everything that my grandmother has taught her children was that whatever you do you must work hard at at it and you must keep yourself busy and and you know I think my father can say that you know she was very good at that making sure that her children were always heading in the right direction you know of um of trying to move themselves Propel themselves forward in life but she knew that this one was a hard work he was he was the youngest of the whole family so he was hard work and he loved cars so we'll go on to that part so coming up to around about um 18 years old so I've got a job at the Bristol Street notice now and uh and I'm and I'm working there as a as a picker we picked the parts we pack them label them up and we send them out in the van um simple old job lasted four or five weeks in the picking Department a couple of people obviously uh managers and supervisors caught the eye and this is necessary we could do with you in the office you're good with with what you're doing and we think you're a bit overqualified for this job so let's have you in the office so we've gone into the office now and and funny enough I remember all the managers names and everything you know and and it's just great people anyway as I said we're coming into about 12 months period now and um but I'm I'm actually working there but my mind is still at the auction buying cars so I'm still on the hustle so were you buying and selling yeah I was still buying and selling right I was buying and selling around the same time cars my favorite car the easiest sell was a Ford Escort Mark II yeah and I had loads of them go on about them don't you they were great I wish I had them now yeah well listen you know because I I never actually done the one here but if I mention about five cars to you and your your pick them up straight away the Ford Escort you mentioned Capri yeah lovely Rover two one threes mondeos yeah you know that's the bubble shape Rover all good sellers all good sellers yeah and they'd sell like hot cakes so um anyway so I was buying and selling cars and and and and I'd where I lived um we had plenty of parking you know nobody you know back in the days there weren't many people who had many cars uh on a on a road where there's a 150 or 200 houses this is probably going to be about 25 cars yeah 91.92 um and I'll come on to that 91.92 because that's that's that's a there was a major turn then um and so anyway I I'm in and out the auctions and um and and I'm working there I'm on the phones but when I'm on the phone everybody in the office thought I was on the phone for their business but I was on the phone for my own business I was putting ads in Sunday Mercury's and remember the Sunday Mercury yeah yeah the phone up and tell them word for word how much it cost per word in there there's none of that yeah the the bits a bit no word for word spell it all out and we're all off yeah it took a long time and you had to get it dead right as well because you had to catch the eye like the hook for YouTube very similar and because we were so used to it the previous week's ad I'd say repeat the same ad different price change the year change the color same vehicle and it'd go again so now um you know Sunday Mercury of course as you know would come out on a Sunday um early in the morning and bargain Pages bargain Pages mine was The sittingbourne Gazette and that came out on a Thursday evening and I generally had the car sold by the Friday evening and if you didn't sell I had a little roll I put it up for the advert the next week I thought there's no way yeah I've got to pay for an extra average so I've got to put the price in the car and then it went it was amazing amazing yeah yeah you're right um oh there's been some bizarre things that we can go on about it and and on um you know so I'm hustling away because and and and fast forwarding the the Bristol Street Motors Mission they put me on the on they said can you come and work on the front counter and now and so from the passport can you come on the front counter well that was a bit of a problem for me because I couldn't concentrate on my own business on the phones so um and but I I went on the front counter and everybody who'd come in and look at me as the Asian face and say oh can we get a bit of discount on this can we get a bit of this guy so I was giving everybody discounts I said yeah you know 15 10 so the manager pulled me he said what's this they all know me don't they so you know I'm just I'm obliged to just give them a bit of this guy I said get back upstairs yeah right perfect so the people would be ringing me now and saying oh can you come downstairs I'm not allowed so that was the end of the discount they should because it's like when your mum gets you to wash the dishes and then you do it once badly and then they never ask you to do it again and how I got booted out of there was it was a slightly um another bizarre situation what had happened would come Christmas time right so we're into around about the 18th of Christmas the 18th of December Christmas and um supervisor who wants to do overtime because whoever wants to do work over Christmas will pay you double pay and we'll pay you up front no I send that double time and we'll pay you up front yeah money great so I'm off again and I'll say I'll do every single day Christmas Day was shot and Boxing Day Big Shot can't you open them days anyway they've paid me the full-on till the first second of January it's all paid done gone it didn't turn up yeah it's too busy I was busy with the car jobs because Christmas time was selling cars flat outs back to back I used to fly up to the auto trader office take a picture do it so I was really busy so when I went back um on the 2nd of January um I had the money in my pocket with the envelope that they overpaid me so I thought I'm going to return that envelope back and um and hopefully we'll we'll all be okay so as it's out of money you've made from selling the cars because I over committed myself you see I I I I I I I I started running before I could walk I knew I couldn't work there but I I still wanted to help him and he got greedy but I got yeah but they paid me whatever it was at 120 quid or something but I found myself in the center in a position possibly at a similar age where you've you've sold all your time and you can't you've got no more time to sell so then you're into letting people down and that's not good not good no no and I know you don't like turning down money either so how can you do that but also letting down people as well you know it's it's a it's it's it doesn't seem right with your heart and your soul it's difficult but when you're young you know the old saying you're just a bit young and stupid and you just you just crack on with it and all we think about is the pan and the dollar sign yeah um so um anyway I've walked into the office this is the bosses want to see you upstairs but I was already prepared to hand the money obviously so I haven't worked so I'm sorry there's the money um and he says no it's a bit more than that they're going to suck you I said oh okay well better still I'll give my notice since I went upstairs says to the secretary yesterday there's the money that I haven't worked and furthermore had me noticing sure it's great there's no problem sign here off you go so I walked out and everybody was all very very friendly all the bosses all the managers because they were so happy that you know it was just a straightforward talk you know you couldn't do it it was a sorry he's come fully prepared with the money back yeah and furthermore to that he's actually just admitted that he's just can't handle it yeah and then at this stage you know I was parked up outside you know I used to go to this workplace in Mini Cooper S's and and all sorts and all the managers there and everything they were in company cars or catching buses um so Mini Cooper s's were like beautiful you know big money out of them yeah so anyway after GT 1275 I sold a few years yeah absolutely so I've come home at least they know I've come home and I said mom look yeah this is what's happened and whatnot and you know as much as and and the fellow who lived over the road actually backed me up and said look he's a great guy but um he's too busy in his own side because he could actually see that I've lined up about 12 or 14 cars outside the house for sale so I'm flat out you know I'm really busy um so anyway I've cracked on with the car job and now and we're busy selling cars and and whatnot I've been creeping up to around about um um around about 1990 um I um I'm flicking through the papers and um and and I and I come across a name of a garage and it just caught me eye a bit and it was um a company called Winterton cars and um anyway they were working from a farm selling cars but selling very cheap cars like newer cars for like you know seven and a half thousand pound very very cheap Vauxhall Astros and mondeas and that sort of stuff so anyway I've paid a visit up there and um lovely lovely guy um by the name of Terry Bateman um you know showed so much love and respect and and just went on to a conversation and says yeah we sell cars here and and we get a lot of party exchanges and I said look you know obviously you've advertised a few part exchanges just to clear you know I'll take him he says well look they're not there you can have him you know whatever they are you can have them I said okay well Sam so he'd give me the cars at cost price so I'd pick up a car from him for an example 400 quid I'll drive it down the road because I'd it was the phrase I'd have to use I actually did buy it I actually nicked it because for 400 quid I drive it half a mile down the road and I'll just flip it to someone for 800 quid yeah and that's beautiful and and this guy who I was selling them to for 800 quid he was another Trader and who was very popular in the Sunday Times newspaper so he he's Sally's car is very very expensive so I thought well you know what I could actually start trading them to so don't need to buy myself trading to so I sold him about I don't know about 30 guys so you could buy from like the wholesaler and give it to like the retailer yeah no I'd buy it from the wholesaler and and I'd sell it to a wholesaler okay because I just didn't want the headache of retailing them because I thought well you have to do just read it but they come a stage where even this guy couldn't handle me anymore he said look whoa whoa stop I think there's a theme there's a theme yeah you gotta you got to start leave me alone I said look you can have them on credit now I I got no more space I can't take anything physically no more space Department Fernando me but I'd still laws him every other day on a good deal and tease him and he'd say go on then bring it down and I'll take it down and he'd pay you straight away and um we'll crack it on so then obviously more Vision was that well I need I need I need to get rid of these cars and what I was doing is I don't know if you remember do you remember some adverts that we used to put in the paper cars wanted for cash yeah yeah so um we'd put adverts in cars wanted for cash anything from 50 pound to fifty thousand we hadn't seen fifty thousand pound in our lives yeah of course right but it was that's how it was 50 pound to 50 grams that grand there's always someone desperate certainly back then to sell their mobile not so much desperate but we want to get rid of this thing off our Drive how do we do it phone me up I'd fly up there um but now at this time I'm driving around in brand new BMWs and you know convertible BMW's Porsche 911s because then porsche 9 levers I used to buy them in a at like six and a half seven thousand pound a pop do you used to buy them on your ones pots or did you used to um buy them with like friends I just bought I used to just go and buy them myself six and a half thousand pound Porsche 911 Creator twos and all that but I'll come on to that in a bit because I did buy one with a very good friend of mine um a newer one um but anyway cracking on um I was just thinking because you said you've never seen 50 000 in your life how much was the Porsche these are six and a half thousand pounds yeah it wouldn't be 50 000 back then at least you know yeah the one I bought was twelve thousand yeah and um we I bought it with a friend as well how about that yeah a guy called Paul Friedman so shout out to him and we shared it and the only reason I sold it was because we lost the the space that we stored it in and I didn't want a store it outside it's just what color was your Poshmark red of course right yeah and I'll come to that in a few moments another one guys read with a friend of mine yeah yeah so um anyway on busy now so I'm going over to people's houses and knocking the door yeah you come for the car yes and have a look at it yeah how much you want for it mate I don't know whatever you want to give me I said okay well okay but you know short verified here I don't I just want it off me drive so I'm now look I've got the logbook got the mot got all the service book I've had it for 16 years rare and all that scratched you man I've got a pal with me you see I've took my friend with me obviously thinking like he's gonna drive it back yeah and I'm saying I'm shall I say to you not my whatever you want to give me look I just want it off me dry 50 Quid yeah if you have 50 because 50 Quid you can't believe it can you when you're driving away can't believe you I'm scratching my head I'm coming in the 50 Quid I mean Paul's God how did you do that I don't know um before he changed his mind anyway I've jumped in it we've gone for that 50 Quid turned out to be a grand it's crazy it's crazy so um you know we're cracking and we're so busy um and we're coming into you know around about two and two thousand sorry 1992 1993. so I've got an engine obviously from Winterton cars I've got my own buying I'm doing and I'm actually selling cars in the auction now so I've gone to the auctions and um I've gone to an auction called UK car auction back in the days gone to the managers there I said listen um they actually like me they got on me really well um and um and we clicked very well and he said look you can have a little area here where you can get your cars cleaned up and put in the auctions I employed about three or four staff cleaning cars so to get the auction Transporters to pick up the cars bring them to the auction get them all validate get them in the auction sell them go again just a simple wash and a Polish and a bit of Tire slick that's amazing and people don't know that well they may know it they just can't be bothered to do it can they and it makes such a difference and and I employed a guy he was a mopper he all he used to do is all day a mopper is a machine Polished by the way all day it'd be moppy he'd mop about 15 18 cars in a day and trust me he was a big guy with big muscles even these muscles were giving up at some stage they were giving up but uh great great team they cracked on with it for years on end and um and and and and we just cracked on with it we would sometimes sell cars again wouldn't you like you went through the auction what happened was we'd we'd put a card in the auction and um because obviously they're all sold as seen so we because we'd buy them solder scene so we sell them solder scene so put it back in the auction uh so I'd put it in the auction itself for like 1200 a pound I'd already given 600 pound for it previously um until we made a profit but the customer that bought it didn't like it so it'd go back into the auction so I'd buy it back for 600 Quid and then you'd make the six again but then I'd I'd put the lipstick back on put the makeup on and set it back for 1200 again that's funny but believe it or not if I told you something and and I don't know you you've definitely not been through this I've done the same car about 10 times well I've done the same Model helicopter quite a few times in my model store okay um because that is a similar repeat process you know someone buys one decides they want to upgrade or it's not for them so they would go round and around again yeah and it's uh yeah it's quite amazing I would do the same car and I've done it about 10 times in I don't know I can't remember when it finally went but I've done it multiple two or three times I've done them all the time I probably died in the end at one stage the auction would have would store about um per 25 30 cars for me so it was great for me because it's a storage place and uh sorry is this Birmingham this is in Wolverhampton but then we were doing a lot in Birmingham car auction lovely fellow called Graham Birch um uh and uh it's no longer here now at the auction and a shout out to him a nice guy and uh still my friend today his son's getting married and we're doing uh we're doing a car for him his daughter got married uh um a couple of years ago and um and uh we supplied the Bugatti which was a bit of a bizarre one because the Bugatti had just got delivered and a couple of days into it he wanted a Rolls Royce so I pulled up outside his house in the Bugatti and he says oh no I said I can't do this she's coming out with the raw I said no you're in this car you're taking her to the church and that's it it's done and he's like he was in bits okay but you know he was so stressed because he was daughters he's giving his daughter away and now I've put him under immense pressure so anyway he's done that he's happy um so he would um we'd do a lot of buying and selling there but you see the relationship is and I'm gonna grip it all into one the relationship was that the cars that I would buy would be only the direct stuff if you remember the direct ones that would come from Big dealers meet your Ford Bristol Street Raven's whole show or they were all clean stuff yeah they were not people privately entered because people would put a card in the auction would put in the auction because it was not retailable so to put in the auction so um he'd be on the phone to me and um and say how long will you be because like I want to get these other cars in and you need to be here so and I'd say to you well I'm going to be a 10 or 15 minutes but do me a favor just buy whatever you think is right just buy them so he'd actually buy the cars for me before I'd get there because I was late you see I was running around like headless so I'd enter the auction and he'd whisper have you got a second he said 47 already I said all right thanks mate so I'd continue from the seven so get it up to about 18 or 20 cars um so we you know we'd Come Away with a good night and now at the 18 or 20 we picked all the nice ones you know the ones the retailable ones and and get them retailed too obviously various dealers sometimes retailing yourself and and all the ones that we thought weren't good enough we'd get them the old lipstick and everything and get it back into the auction and sell for more money um and and so this is Graham the auctioneers buying cars for you the ground the auction is buying cars for me he works at the auction and he's buying cars in your absence no he's the director he's the auctioneer he's the auctioneer himself he knows it's a good deal doesn't he he's seen so many go through so many guys and also I've been 30 of your cars there every time that guarantees them a wealth of cars going through which is a great thing as well so um we're into the era around about 20 1992 and um I'm busy in all angles um buying and selling cars and my mom's happy now she's contentious it you know he's all right he's bringing you money and we used to do the top car sales at the auction Nottingham Black Bush top car sales so I've landed at 1992 I've landed at top car sale in Mission me and my friend of mine and Mick Jones he owns a skip company in the in the waste business Charlotte go where is limited yeah indeed big money and Muk yeah big money mock yeah yeah but he was small in the because he used to be more into scrap vehicles and whatnot so anyway we've landed at this auction and there's a Porsche 911 1990 G plate career too uh sorry correctly career before and um done 49 000 miles in red guards red lovely black inside 49 000 Milo two years old X company car diary Mark's isolator shall we buy that I said yeah we've got halves on it so we're at the auction now right bang on you know 20 000 pound 24 200 pound hammers down bought the car me and him great lovely come on let's go and get the money jumped in the car come home picked up the money he's picked his 20 he's picked his uh ten or eleven twelve thousand pound I'll pick my twelve thousand pound put it all together went to the auction give them 24 and a half grad you know back in the days you can pay cash even if it's 150 Grand paying cash no problem done give him the 24 and I bought the car he says well you drive it a couple of three days and I'll drive it a couple of three days right sir no problem I'm in the car um I ring him up do you want it now you carry on driving you're not bothering we're not bothered in the millionaire not bothered week's gone by two three weeks I said you wanna have a lot to try over this he ain't got time I'm not too busy you ain't got time he said I'm in mock all the time I ain't got time for that yeah but I'm driving around in it now but I'm in in and out of auctions and and in one of the auctions in fact two of the auctions the auctions used to run parallel with each other they used to be a little bit of a top not top car sale but executive cell and then the cell so these were two auctions now I'd be running around from one auction Hall to the next auction hall or throughout the night don't forget my night would start in the evening once I'm fresh stop and everything God I've had a shower fresh stop at about six o'clock but I'd be there till one in the morning I'd be the last one out the door the managers will be walking out with me because I just wanted to make sure that everything's right because they're parked up at the right places all the keys are there and we staff 100. so um anyway I'm pulling up in obviously in Porsches and BMS and all that and it's just all great everything's like anyway um my mother says to me she's around about um night the back end of 1992. she said listen you've got to get married that's how you got time for that that's what I was worried about how did it happen I just I say I ain't got time so anyway she's going on and on and on and on and then and and then obviously she's got me my father involved because so how old were you at this stage uh well 1992 I was uh I was 22 years old oh wow that's early then yeah yeah like if my dad was saying that to me when I was 22 I'll be like no even now like no it's all changed a bit though yeah yeah so she said look you know your dad wants you and and I could never let my father down because um because I'd say jump and me father would say how high you know we had a very very strong relationship um he's a great guy because whatever I wanted I had it and there would be a kickoff in the house there'll be a world war three but he'd say don't worry we'll sort it parachute is a bicycle trainers bmx's rallies bikes anything you want no problem but keep it quiet I'll sort it don't spread it round to the other brothers and to your mom I'll sorted so were you the favorite then absolutely I'm the youngest so um I I got everything so he said look you know we're gonna we're gonna go over um to Pakistan ah so I can't uh can't we just do one it can't we just get anybody from here and just just get me married off because I get me someone from here just get it sorted just just find me anybody and just just get it wrapped up I'm happy yeah my mom says no it's not like that look we're gonna make it into a bit of a holiday and so forth and and um so this guy we're talking about this um guy MC Jonah Mick Jones right the one who went and bought the Porsche he in 1992 he had a little car pitch um in the Birmingham area and um I had words around town that he was gonna get rid of it it was on rent it was around about a thousand pound for every month's rent it was about 12 Grand a year which was quite a lot but it was a big commitment big sight so obviously I've landed at his place and because they'd had they had it all gated up there was all gated up the gates were never open I said well I want that place he's got it so I've landed at his place and I'll say John let me have this place and this was before the Porsche was purchased and I said let me have this blade can I have it he says uh this is how you got to know him um this is a little bit how we got to know that yeah a little bit of that um and anyway I I carried on and going to him a couple of days because he couldn't make a mind up you know whether he wanted to do it give it to me or whether he wanted to carry on with it himself anyway I walked in one day and I don't know whether he was in a bad mood or a good mood but it's just threw the keys at me says listen just there's the keys please just leave me alone don't come back tomorrow it's probably had enough of you I think again an assistant I said look there's five grand key money because I'd already been talking about this I said I was good 5 000 pounds for the keys and he said I don't want you five grand don't worry about that she's just just just have it so you know what a nice guy you know it was just just a nice guy and everything was just but it just goes to show doesn't it that you know if if he didn't have people like that around him at the time would he have been where he is today you know it's um there's people with big hearts along the way that help bring up you know future entrepreneurs help um assist you know future business people to get to where they're at and it's very important in this day and age as well that we open our hearts for for the younger talent for the people that are coming through because today they they might be you know working in a bakery or or buying and selling you know one or two cars and tomorrow you know they'll probably be onto bigger things so it's very important to assist and help if it's not people like Mick Jones Jonah um or Terry Bateman and people like this bearing in mind this was this was nine this was 1992. we've got a Pakistani fella walking to an office with the most English men looking people that you would ever see Hell's Angel bikers all the lot loads of racism about at this time as well but no absolutely delightful lovely people didn't look at him for his race his color his religion or anything like that it was straight to this guy seems persistent he's noising the life at us a life out of us he needs this place more than we do you know let's get it boxed off and you know I think in this day and age before you ask someone I do mind if I can use that piece of land they'd want to charge you they'd want to make you sign some papers they want to All Sorts yeah they just chose the keys they said crack on with it and he didn't even own the land because it was it was rented and um and he said look uh the lady the landlord landlady would come along every month and just just give her the money and that's the end of it and and we got used to it as well she's a great person you know it's just great um and then around about just before 1993. um I I um Terry Bateman says to me he said look um I'm obviously buying a lot of cars from the auction you're buying Army part exchanges and I'm not even charging you extra money on them I'm giving you for cost and and I know they're for cost because you say well uh do you know they're for cost because I would actually go into the admin Department into their accounts department and opened the paperwork of how much the deal has come in for and and all the staff there the accounts managers accountants they're looking at me but I've got Authority by the bus yeah I can do it all so if if the car is coming at 400 pound that's exactly what I'm paying for it 400 pound and I'd make a list of everything I'd buy they'd make a list of everything that they've given me and we'd be sometimes would be into this is no exaggeration I'd been to about 50 60 cars I've took off them and Janam shall fader so they were missing a trick as well really weren't they because you know they could have put let's say 25 quid on every car you bought and you'd have still bought it I bought everything yeah and one day the accountants for that firm because they were they were selling about 30 40 cars a week and brand new stuff their accountant popped in and and he came to me he says um any chance of having some money off you and I was shocked I thought why is he asking me for money okay no problem I've gone into Terry's office this is a so-and-so Stuart was asking me for money he said really picked up the phone he said don't ever ask him for money ever again thank you very much it must have been a personal liking towards him you know I think there's a there's a correlation here you know whether it be Jonah whether it be Terry or whatever um I'm not just saying this because it's my father but I feel that he has a charm and he has a way of talking he has this energy that he brings where people can sense you know the destination that he wants to get at and how pure he is to get to there there's no kind of you know for someone to allow someone to come into your business open your books and see how much you buy something for it's like letting somebody come into my business right now my dad's saying to me don't Don't Ask XYZ why he's coming and flicking through your pages whatever he's me pal or I like him or whatever let him carry on I'll never let that happen but you know there was something very pure there was it was it was dare I say it was like a father in a son relationship absolutely absolutely maybe you sense that entrepreneurial spark inside you and wanted to cultivate that but obviously you paid your bills and if you're paying them up to a point all the time then that gives you good standards no listen he said listen don't worry about that let it build up and we'll sort it he'd pull out 20 quid and say do me a favor let's just pop down the shop and send him to the shop get me a drink or something yeah 30 cars he's taken off him he hasn't paid a penny and he'll just pull out 20 Quinn and says listen son just go run to the shop and get some drinks or whatever and then and then when I come back he'd say sit down let's have a chat and then you know therapy and you've been sitting there talking he said listen I've been thinking about this and and I want you to do me a favor and and and I've got a little bit of business proposition for you I said it's gone then what is it I think is oh I can't take anything more on because I'm so busy if you say listen this is going to help me a lot now so you've got to do me a favor as well I want you to go and buy a lorry right a car transporter and I want you to start transporting my cars because instead of me paying these auctions people for 20 pound a car I'd rather pay you 20 pound a car you gone by Lorry and I said he's put another thing in my head yeah more money right said so anyway and um I've gone okay he says listen this will work and it'll be working good go and get yourself a lorry so I've gone away I've bought a uh um a laidland um uh transporter three-car transporter of a fella for about eight or nine or ten thousand pounds and um and he said um and I've brought it along and I showed it I've picked it up you know a couple of days later I've come and showed it says yeah that's great he says do me a favor let's do a trial test go down to uh shepshed auction and pick up six cars for me and here's an opening check he'd leave an opening check for about and he said you fill it in and give it to the security guard because he was so close so tight with ADT car auction and you know he was he was in their pocket they'd say give the check to the Gatehouse and just collect the cars and we'd go up there and pick up six cars and you'd say well how would you pick up six cars the cars carries three on the transporter I'd take three drivers with me and the drive three cars back be Pals so we'd pick up six cars and get them he'll get them all pumped up by saying listen guys what you're doing is there nothing listen brand new Astra sris yeah would you like to have a little Drive oh yeah and they did it for free yeah so um we'd pick up six cars great yeah no problem but obviously things were getting more serious now yeah so now you know I've got to go to Pakistan I've got to get married and so I'm asking him for permission can I go he says well yeah okay well uh let me have a little think on this how are we gonna get okay well I can use how long are you going for two weeks or make sure you're back in two weeks and because I was like yeah I just quickly get married then I'll be back I'll be back I'll be there and back this is good lad so anyway um we're off to Pakistan back end of January um early part of February so um we've gone into Pakistan and um and I'm really uncomfortable because I'm thinking about the business I'm thinking about the money thinking about the English pound and everything and I'm thinking ah how long is this going to take now so my mom's working very very hard that you know sleeplessly you know trying to um you know um shortlist the ideal candidate so is this like or a victim shall I say yeah right is it like an arranged marriage yes it's an arranged marriage and um and um so families you've got to find out about the woman but I said to my mother categorically very clearly I said whoever you choose I will be happy I will promise you I will be happy and well I will give it my 110 did you worry though that you wouldn't love the person that has chosen no because because I had a lot of faith in my mother so my mother was a very very strong lady um very strong-minded and her older brothers my uncles always came to her for advice so and don't forget I was the youngest and the track record was she'd married four of my older brothers and three of my sisters and the track record was 11 out of 10. so she's got some good case studies there so hopefully she couldn't get this one wrong because I'm a favorite son the one day my mother when two alim's um uh Mom Mom's house and she came back she says so I'm not gonna ask you I've sorted it I've sorted it and I went great when we're going up she goes no the wedding's next week so I'm thinking right okay we'll get the wedding out the way great so what was it what stuck out about her um about all the other girls I'll tell you what it was my mom really really liked her in the sense that she very very pretty and her family is again 10 10 absolutely top end and and I get on with them like fire um we haven't been married very long only 30 years um and um and ultimately um even up to today um I call them every single day so this is my brother-in-law's I'll call him every single day just to have a banter Miss history knows I've found him just to have a banter because we're just so you know we we know it's like you know we were there last year and it's like you know we just catch up you know when they say that your mother knows you better than the than than anyone um and and she really does because she gave birth to you you know you were you were eight nine months in her in her womb before you were you came to this Earth so she knows absolutely everything about you you know um but it's very important that when two people get married it's not two people getting married it's like if you want to have a a you know a proper family uh it's two families getting married you know and uh it's you know I I I I don't want you to erase my marriage your partner arranged for you yeah well I think I think that I think well I left it to my dad and mom really as well yeah wow so uh look at the end of the day don't get any ideas Dad yeah I'm happy you like her anyway you know Curtis what you'll find is right that you the things that you you and I may look for right and we subconsciously think about those things right because of what's presented to us on social media what's presented to us on these magazines on screen and all that sort of stuff we have a perception and a vision of what we think we want our woman to be like which is unfortunately not how uh it works in the in in the long run she might be great for a year two years three years four years or whatever but to be with a woman long term she has to become your best friend and she has to become like you know your right arm uh she has to really assist you with things and you know patience is something that women lack in this day and age as well they're very they can be very materialistic um they sometimes don't have a sense of where they want to see themselves or creating a family or you know whatever you know so there's a lot of factors and these factors can be eliminated once you get the holders involved because they have life experience and they can sniff it out anyway we got married and we were together in the house and with all the family there and everything and and we we didn't immediately get on like fire straight away but um but obviously you know she was very you know sentimental about it that you know she was very sad and you know in a little bit of Tears so I pulled her and I said look you know well because of having to move yeah leaving a family leaving a family and you know getting married and now she's going to be living with me even even in Pakistan my mum's got my mum's got four brothers right three sisters right and she comes from a very like male orientated household should go to school like a princess come back like a princess and everything so she's just panicking she's been one of them kind of like you know panicking type of women because her whole support and he's like listen I need to get back at my Center I ain't got time for this so um so she started to cry and I said well if you're not happy I can I can change things around I mean like you know you're right you're not happy she said no no no I'm really happy I'm just sad but obviously I'm heartless so I I didn't know this you see so I'm thinking I'm sorry oh is that the case is that how it works you know this is what it is so um yeah I kind of got used to it you know seeing a few tears and I think that's fair enough yeah she's gonna miss the family and so forth and whatnot um anyway long story short I've um we've got married we run on a four or five days honeymoon um in the circulation of Pakistan but in in a different uh in the Himalayas you know you go to the mountainous areas that looks beautiful yeah um anyway um we we came back at what point did you actually fall in love with her um I actually fell in love with that um a couple of days into it it was pure luck and it was it was luck in the sense that you've got your parents backing with you because you've got to have their prayers with them and and they've got to be strong with you handing God normally says you know when when your parents are happy with you the doors of paradise are open for you in this world and in the Hereafter as well um and look if think you know we could say it's luck we could say it seems like you know there's there's not been a bad time in the way that he's he's come up worse you know he's buying and selling cars he's working the bakery he's meeting all these great people you know how could this be a coincidence that you know like why is everything is going so good uh we're true we have our faith you know being Muslim you know we have that strong faith and I think you know I believe that my father also has that strong faith as well but you know he he did everything for his mother you know he he you know he listened to his mother he was very obedient towards his mother he had his mother's prayers with him and that's why even till this day as well you know um alhamdulillah we uh there's a lot of bad out there in the world and you know the position that we're in we could meet a lot of bad people um God always puts a lot of good people in front and then Eileen's mom came over into the UK and obviously you know we're all and and Alene was born in 1994 so a year later um so in fact about about a year later because um yeah about a year later she was 94. yeah 94. um and um so um so how was that bringing up uh a young lad like a lady who's obviously a bit of a liar and you're a busy guy in the earlier days are great because the thing is he was he was just a little toddler wasn't he he's easy and his mom used to look after him and used to the little didn't talk but as soon as we got into around about um uh 24 or 36 months let's say to three years old um he was like you know he he wants to he wants cars you know he wants to see cars and and so and so on so where did that love for cars come from there yeah I think I think um in general I think um it came from the collective of of peoples and my own clothes that would uh would try pushing me into like one of them blood football um but I think with my dad from the very start you know everything that I'd ever heard as growing up was cars uh every toy I got was pretty much a car um I mean I'm young at the time but it was just it was just car based but also coming into around about 19 96 1997. I lost my father in 1996 it was about 28 years ago so it's a long time ago um he uh she's always the fate of the youngest isn't it yeah you know your youngest kid so I actually thought it's going to be a bit of a downhill in you know it's going to be hard now and it's not going to be the same um but look my mother was very very supportive all the way through my father um was it was a great guy he he did the Romantic yeah it worked in the Royal Mint really and um pretty much retired about 50 years prior to 20 18 20 years prior to him leaving us so around about 19. so elim's days were you know I would have a lot of top-end vehicles um you know Porsches BMWs Range Rovers and that sort of stuff because I was getting used to Range Rovers as well you see because they were good sellers you know Range Rovers were awesome sellers they they used to be a couple of three grand profit in them all the time um and and I and I would go into auctions and and people couldn't understand that this guy must be on some serious drugs because he's running around from one auction to the other he's buying anything from 50 pound to fifty thousand pound because now we we've we've got the fundings to to buy um and ultimately um they couldn't make what is this guy about you know and what is he on um and um and I met a lot of people in in they all kind of like you know got used to me and they loved it even the the staff that worked at the auction they were all hand in hand Gray know it was it was it was hand in hand and it was great because the support was there all the time and it was whatever you want it's fine we'll sort it this is my grandfather Muhammad but you can see they dressed a lot smarter back in those days right yes do you want to put it straight to your camera there as well yeah he's actually dressed up um like him up until he's uh he's uh his his last days he's always dressed up very smart all the time shirt and time yeah but Mark wants to know what it was like raising me so moving on to that was I a difficult I was going to say like has it changed with um family nowadays in the west uh what do you see is like the differences back in your day based on on now and and how people respect their elders well look um this is my own motto I can only ask myself and and a lot of people have been against me um or a lot of my friends a lot of the family have been against me on this and but it's the way I've got it I leave when he's three years old four years old we'd put him in the back seat of the car and we'd drive him over to Ferrari dealerships Porsche dealerships and and his mom would say um should be with me obviously my wife and she'd say um you know he'll fall asleep easily and wait great and you know I'd go to the same showrooms over and over again and come to your stage my wife said why do we take him somewhere else I said no no he likes these places but really it's me who liked it because I'd go there and every day or every other couple of days I'd have a different Ferrari and I'll be honest with you 308 328 and all that sort of you know test losses three five five fives and my favorite older Ferrari is a three five five three five yeah with a manual box yeah and we'll get on to that in a moment but but I must say I don't have many very clear memories and you know people might be thinking absolute cap that he remembers this but because we did it so many times I do remember that Showroom on Bristol Street it was Ferrari and Aston Martin together and you could literally go up to the glass it's not like showrooms now where you know there's literally go up to the glass and it's there's like three foot and just a piece of glass in between you and the car and you're looking through it and it was just so enjoyable to look at these red bright red Ferraris and I was just I was just oh all of that's going into yourself my dad has told me this is the car Ferrari is a Ferrari and in my head it had been embedded into me that you know this is the car and there is no other car after this this is the one that you want and sometimes I always say to my dad why don't we see one on the road like if it's a thing you never did did you never used to see one on the road back then because there were you know they were so difficult to acquire and talking about talking on the road and I used to um I used to go into areas um top-end areas and that sort of stuff a little lasted I used to drive down private roads with me and one of my friends on a Sunday and just to see people pulling their cars out washing them leathering them but you know these are very few there were private roads and there was very few so they'd have a Ferrari out but we would always know the guy who's got the Ferrari is in that house yeah and let's just it's in his garage he's a Ferrari we travel magical we travel and 10 12 miles to go there just to look at that just to see if he's if he's watching it today because he always washes it on a Sunday or maybe he's not doing it today we'd come back we'd say shall we go again he might have it we'd go again and then you know so on but and as I as I got older from from what I could remember was that I was getting heavier and and to get me to come out the car to go upstairs and go upstairs myself my dad had a trick to wake me up so he'll be driving and he'll like I'll be like Fast knocked out asleep and my mom's prepping my dad up right saying that you know you've got to pick him up and take him inside the house but my dad had a shortcut to it he was just to start shouting oh Ferrari Ferrari Ferrari I was just in a Ferrari and I used to wake up like a little kid right you said Dad where where oh you missed it yeah that was the classic you missed it and I used to be awake at that time and he went like don't go to sleep now come on you can just walk upstairs yourself now just a quick one guys if you're looking to hire a luxury or Supercar make sure to check out today's guest business Platinum executive travel they've got everything from rolls-royces and Range Rovers to Lamborghinis and a Bugatti available for self-drive hire photo shoots music videos weddings event some more I'll leave a link to their website down in the description anyway back to the podcast so coming into around about six or seven or eight years into it um Alim went to um a simple uh Nursery type of thing and um then we we actually moved from where we lived I'll tell you the moving point from from this Nursery was that the kids used to get a stamp on their work like a star yeah so it was like the stamp and I used to love the stamp the way that used to clip off and the teacher used to make it a big deal when the stamp used to come out it had a lot of power if you've got the star on your work you know you're a good student you know you're a good kid some reason I didn't used to get the Stars right so I just stole the whole stamp I just thought I'd just go home have as many as I want I'll just have as many as I want but on the first day this is things like this that God Saves you on because if I if I was young and I got into the mentality of that I would have been a thief today right I found I've got this I got the stamp but my mom always told me one thing lie to everyone but never lied to me right yeah so I said to my mom said yeah it was crazy yeah so so I said to her I said look I've got this stamps she goes where did you get it from I said the teacher give it me because the teacher did not give you this I said I took it and that just hit her head straight away that just came to us straight she took me back to the school gave the stamp back for me it was a big deal she made it a big deal like right we've got to go but no don't take me can you just give it back no she goes you're gonna give it back yourself and you're going to say sorry and you're never gonna do it again and all that sort of stuff but I think something triggered in her head at the time the area that we was living in um wasn't the best of areas it wasn't a counselor's day or anything like that but it was just um it was just um it's probably worse now than it was then but it wasn't the best of areas but my mom had a bigger future for me she had something in in her head and she prioritized education she understood what it would take for me to be that extraordinary well I don't think I'm extraordinary at all but you know to be a little bit more special and to be a bit more clued on and then and that's when she told my dad you know let's get him out of here yeah so did having a child motivate you to achieve more oh yeah absolutely absolutely from from JD from when elim was born um in fact his mom was still in hospital and um and and I had a Range Rover and me and my friend we went over to a suite Center that do you know Pakistani sweet Pakistani Asian uh sweets and um he said how many do you want I said Fill the Boot of the car and I went home and I told my mother I said this is I've bought I've bought all the sweets she says how many did you bring and I opened the boot and she was like okay that's fine but you know she was like it's fine and he'd go around to every all his friends houses and all the people that my grandma knew and whatever would give give away these boxes of of these um these sweets lovely sweets and people asking you know what's the what's the happy happy occasion and they'll be like this little rascal the leaves comes as well you know obviously around about 2000 and um sorry not two thousand so just before about 1998 Liam's sister was born so um um kind of like um maybe into about six months of it probably felt a bit jealous that you know that all the tension is going that way and whatnot but I left that to him his mother and um and so on um but yeah um but his sister was born and then so on and and and ultimately we we moved around my child my childhood sorry to interrupt you again past week because I just thought I'd just fill in these things where he might forget that my childhood if people ask me you know um was your dad involved like did you go to the parents evenings did he turn up to assemblies what was he there on sports day or no none of that and I I used to come to a point where I used to say to my mama I'm not happy about this right yeah I said everyone's parents everyone's dad right yeah is um is that parents evening or playing football with them in the park or gives them time and this that the other like where's mine and she goes you'll understand when you're older why he's not here right that's the exact same situation with my dad and he like I kind of liked it because I saw him as my superhero you know like he was out there making the money doing business and my mum was there going to the parents evenings and all of that the only thing that oh sorry the only time that my dad would give me would that when he finishes a hard day of his work I would be phoning him and he'll be like I'm taking you Toys R Us this evening and I think it got to the point where he was taking me Toys R Us um every night until I bought everything that I could possibly want from Toys R Us it's all car toys it was mostly car toys and some video games and stuff you know back in in 2000 that the phones that were working on before that were the biggest housebreaks and and there was the only screen was that coming up or as the the number that you're dialing there's no you know it's a big brick and there's no silent buttons or anything like that so there's a couple of parents evenings that I had been to obviously you've got the brick it's like having a uh a big you know brick in your pocket well a housebreaker right and um anyway we've gone through a few little bits and pieces so um around about two thousand to 2003 we now have moved we're really solid and um and and the leaves every day you know up for school getting on with it doing great and I actually went to a State School right uh first it was called utree and when we moved to solihull I would go to this school and I've got some great memories there you know I remember pretty much um a joke most of the people that I I was with and around in that at that at that school sports day very technical but um as we were getting older uh in in that school as I was getting a little bit older you know the the kids that were around me they didn't really have the right Vision in life like you know they were naughty boys they were still mopeds and you know um you know there were there were naughty boys and um and I was becoming a little bit naughty with them but when my mom was picking me up from school she was coming in nice cars so the Headmaster said if you don't mind me saying Mrs Iqbal you know it seems like you know you've got a pound or two um why is he at this call you know I can tell you right now he's mixing in with some of the naughty boys and leading up to this moment as well like my mum had caught me out doing some naughty stuff like selling some of my toy firearms and stuff too um to some of my friends that would come over because they'd heard that I've got a Ferrari in the garage and they'd come over to say hi and see if I'd want to come out with them I'd open the garage up to show him the Ferrari my toy box was next to me they'd go through my toy box and we'll be like do you want to sell some of your toys and my parents have always instilled this in me like don't worry about business or work or anything like that just you just be you but I had that little hustler blood in me as well so I ended up selling some of my toys I accidentally sold a toy gun to one of my friends but when my mom came home I told my mom that this is what I did and my mom started panicking because she was like what's a little kid gonna do with a little toy gun you know so she found out who the boy was had to go to it wasn't even a BB gun bro it was like it was just the shape of a gun it's just like a toy you know like something a woman wouldn't allow BB guns or anything like that just like just to just do like for you know like kind of rodents and all that you know yeah but my mom back in the days they used to do a lot of that yeah because you have a potato shooter potato gun yeah there's one that you guys yeah the red ring goes into it and you follow the cap guns yeah that's all bad now isn't it yeah water pistols and all that water pistols were they bad everything's banned in it but yeah so so so so so from from there then when I when I um when I moved school um when I was at the school um then Master said to my mom you know like I think you should you know maybe um your son would probably develop better in a different environment do you think he saw a bit of a spark in you to say that yes definitely I think all all my Headmasters all my Stu all my teachers have always said to my parents there is something different about aleem but we were happy actually to put him into a prep school um because he he he he really grew very very it was it was it was things like learning how to eat with your life and Fork how when you're crossing the road that you um you respect the person that's giving you away you take your hat off um there's a certain one you had to tie a tie before I went to this school um the way you dress how there's a summer uniform as a winter uniform how you've got to pray before you eat um how you know you've got to formulate line there's a lot of discipline in prep schools you know and now I look bad at getting in now I look back at everything I learned more in that Prep School than I did in any other schooling um and it kind of formulated and allowed me to be ready for what was to come in life and you know God works in mysterious ways like that you know I wouldn't have been able to articulate myself in the way that I do um uh in fact a lot of people from the Asian Community can sometimes be confused when they hear where I was brought up um and and and who my father is and and who I am is why do I talk the way that I talk you know why doesn't he have an accent why is it so neutral because it was always emphasizing these schools that you know your communication skills and the way that you present yourselves are key um well we found a prep school really teaches you to achieve and become a more rounded person whereas obviously with a secondary modern it tends to you know if you try and achieve your your girl you're a SWAT yeah and you're beating up for being a SWAT exactly and if you talk nicely you're beating up for talking nicely you know and if you want to achieve you're beaten down by the system because you want everyone the same and I think you know we say encourages to a prep school as well and all of that you know it was good for you yeah you're kind of expected to achieve when you go to certain schools like that aren't you I think the main difference is like you say the people you're surrounded with rather than just the teachings the teaching can be very similar I suppose the smaller class sizes are nice but it's mainly like I said the discipline I went to exactly and the repercussion repercussions of being a naughty boy are so much more severe you know way that they kind of scare the life out of you it's the way that they do it you know it really makes you think I don't want to let my parents down I don't want to let the teachers down again yeah it's letting them down isn't it because oh I expect so much more from you I see you as this student it's rather than expecting the worst from you they expect the best yes and that really makes a big difference at this point and what I mentioned earlier that basically a lot of people have been against me on the basis of family friends and everything that um you know elim's just you're just spoiling him too much but I had my own ways and of doing things and I thought well no um is my son and and I'll take him my direction his mom's totally against it and um I'm almost against what on the basis that he's just spoiling in too much but it was my mom's idea to put me into good education yes my dad's spoiling how did you spoil me then so basically you know look um the the nitty-gritty points are that when he would had done his um education we need to come back and on the weekends and you know I I take him to places and ultimately you know want to give him the best um you take me out in his Ferrari no we've done we've done a lot of um you know in the early days even though I was busy but we always make time and you know there's been numerous places all around the world that we've been you know from the states and to you know all over the world and um and the reasoning is that I've always wanted to put a lien right on the front line of it so it's saying you know you've got a this is you've got to learn so and it broadens your horizons doesn't it all of that that's the thing you know throughout life you you can't replicate yeah that's fantastic yes you know and I love the quality time I got with Dad because it was so rare you know and I was trying to absorb as much information as I could I must have said I did Fast Track it but I still give him that quality time without you that fast tracked it but give it to him so we went away on this small moments like you know but my favorite moments were like washing a car with my dad you know but my dad telling me that let's not wash it because we haven't got the equipment for it but I'm like no but you promised me you you told me never break a promise but you promised me we were gonna watch it yeah turn it back so you're like all right I've got to stick to my prize so then we'll have to put fairy liquid in a bucket and now that I look back at it if I had children and they wanted to wash my car with fairy liquid and a dishwasher sponge I'd have to boot them one you know but he listened to me like but fair enough if you want to do it we were up to around about 2000 and um and four now 2005 was just creeping into 2005. I'm busy with the car sales I've got a few cars on the front of the drive it was actually in this location this this location right the car sales pitch uh the car sales pitch was was running in its own grounds uh um and it was was running and I had salesperson people there um the site that we are here at the moment we used to be based on another site if I if I rewind it back at just a little bit we used to be at another site just down the road and um it was only it was a small car sale site with the car wash area so in around about 2005 uh I I thought well bringing in a little bit of extra Revenue we'll have a little drive-through car wash where if we look now there's there's thousands and thousands and thousands of drive-through car washes but around about 25 28 years ago there was very very few one fact very little it was automated machines and they were awful weren't they are you talking about your drive through car wash here uh no we had the drive-through car wash here as well and while we had it there so the one that we had just around the corner from here um was that a a place called The Swan shopping center which is now Tesco mega store Tesco Megastore and what happened there was that um we rented a site and we had a car sales in the front and car wash on the side there's a small little site I had about 12 people working there washing cars to you if I says to you this is rewinding back a bit if I says to you that all these 12 people couldn't have lunch throughout the day because they would kick off at nine in the morning and would finish at seven o'clock and they won't wash a car with one hand they would wash it with two hands that's how busy we were and I and and this is and this is something to till this day that some of my dad's old workers they look at this business and say this is great and everything but he goes the days that we had at the swanhan car wash because your dad were stacking it fat there and I'll tell you how he was doing it makes Ryan when when you were upselling everything yeah you know we you know you get a jet wash you get the gun yeah we'd never let go of the gun the gun because we would move from one car switch to the other no customers would be outside so they're safe because you haven't got to get out your car it's all about saving time yeah it's an excellent get the windows down yeah how much is it car washes to be three quid we used to give them a quick whistle on the wheels for two quid actually give them a quick dry for a couple of quid they'd give seven quid they tip you for a tenner job printing well you know it you just so the car sales was one thing on one side but imagine you're turning over a thousand pound a day the cars were going all the way around the block yeah and and honestly if I say to you that the people arguing outside saying that I'm in front of you and I'd say to them listen don't worry about that I'm still gonna do you quicker don't you panic I like you don't argue and you I love you too don't argue we'll get you sorted and they'll be like okay but he did put I know he pushed don't worry about it we're not bothered we're both you're both going to get done same time bring peace let's get moving and um and then anyway um eventually uh we got evicted from that car wash because what had happened was they were doing the Building Development and they asked me to leave and I said well I'm making so much money are you stupid like how can I just look at did you established yourself there people know where you are this is we understand that but we're opening a Tesco mega store here listen you haven't paid your own for six months I said no I'm prepared to pay the rent you haven't collected the rent this is we haven't collected it for the simple reason because we want you out I'll say well that's fine but you're gonna have to give me a bit of time how long so well another three months this is okay can we just put it in writing I said yeah of course you can so give them a three months notice I put it in writing three months came by it came back really fast so I need a bit more time this is no no anyway long story short they they said look we're gonna have to instruct bailiffs to throw you out so the bailiffs came along the system listen I'm making bundles here mate I'll make it absolutely bundles here you honestly think I'm going to go and look at the team there there's a lot of men there they're all 18. come on he says please man look we've got a job to do can we get it sorted anyway I'll say look for you because you've asked me nicely and you know generally they've been bullying me with solicitors letters and all that sort of stuff and I'm not one to get bullied um so I'll be moving forward I think you said 30 days 30 days we moved out of there by then we bought this site she just wasn't a funny one it's all because um you know this came along in a such a way where they petrol stations were closing down in Texas they're selling all their to sites and we bought this site and um uh we rented it first and the building was here yeah another building nothing no no building imagine a petrol station shop yeah and a petrol station canopy okay there's no petrol pumps on it and just that's it so we use this as a car wash and we used it as as the as the area around the front to sell cars I've done nothing to it probably spent about 10 grand on it you know nothing and we just cracked on with it um and then we were renting it for a couple of years or then about a couple of three years and um and came along Mr Texico and said look do you want to buy it and it was you know it was just not just shook his aunt and I had to deal with him and funny enough um without remembering exactly what the Figures were but I knew what the Figures were on the offset and he said he said look if you can complete within the next 30 days I'll throw 20 grand off the deal now twenty thousand pound twenty years ago is a hundred grand today yeah and I looked at him and I thought is this guy really from where I think he's from because this is too good to be true but it was true I've done the deal nice deal Todd all the best deals have done that all the best deals done like that and then um and then I and they owned um next door as well and um and I said to them next door I said well how much is that this is 1.2 million and I went okay there was a building the building that you see the whole building next door I said well look can I rent that temporarily so what I'd done was I rented that offer and I filled it all up all their car Parks upstairs and downstairs 180 cars 180 cars a couple of 200 Cars all filled it all up um anyway they had the pressure on though they had to sell that so they said how much I said how much he says 1.2 million I said well let's have it so I bought it often for 1.2 million and but as I bought it a couple of friends of mine got wind of it and they came along and this is oh can we have it because we want to build a hotel there I said yeah yeah so he said look look whatever you've paid we'll give you 100 Grand on top of something I've gone um do you know what I didn't have the 1.2 million anyway yeah yeah so just flipped it and they're happy they're in it today they're big developers here in Birmingham um and they have multiple different hotels as well some of the biggest uh they buy buildings and and they put up buildings like uh like Dubai level you know it's just they're just coming up luxury housing and everything but this was their first this was their first purchase this is what got them started um so yeah you know lovely guys took it on board happy to give it to great people um and uh we said you know we're going to build a showroom here I said yeah do what you like no problem we'll let we'll give the planners thumbs up and say you know we'll support it all the way and it's a very unique looking building as well when you come you think oh that looks like we could go another floor up one day maybe but the propos you know yeah it's there the idea was for the building to be functional for our business and the use that it was it was going to be uh having for example the cars are going to be in and out they need to be washed there needs to be a dry bay there needs to be a wet Bay there needs to be and you've got the lift as well yeah so when you actually see cars upstairs here um this we didn't ever plan on you know wanting to like display cars cars on display up upstairs here is is not good yeah it's making us no money but luckily um uh 90 of these cars here are not actually for hire or for sale they're just on our private collection correct and it's good for social media and um so before we we come on to this so around about 2004 um sorry 2000 and um um five stroke six um this is when you had your Ferrari 360. I had a Ferrari 360 yeah that's it me and my wife we went and stayed in London Dorchester and we went there and um and uh we pulled up into the car park in the front I'll put the Ferrari on the front and we we were in the hotel and I came out one Sunday morning and I looked outside and there was a vehicle registration of the rr06 DOR a I thought Dorchester great I like that car nice Phantom it's a pinnacle of luxury beautiful because it was a house on wheels at the time because Simon cowells had just bought one a black one a long wheelbase a year after and um and but looking at this one I really loved it and I said to the guy I said how much is that to take me to Harrods me and my wife he said it's 120 pound an hour I said great I'll have two hours off here this is no no this is a catch so what is it so you got a minimum four hours while I'm having this conversation my wife turns up from behind and she says well what is it I said they've got this card and it's 480 quid plus the vat no no no we don't want it we don't want it she says no no it's okay sir it's all right he's not feeling well it's all right you don't want it it's every one of his turns this is my I said listen I'll tell you what I can talk it into right you can do me two hours and I'll give you 300 quid he says no so we can't do that it's got to be that 120 pound an hour plus that minimum four hours this is nice that's not gonna work I said how does this five minutes I'll catch a cab I'll be there in five minutes yeah but that's about this I might leave are you sure yeah 100 I can't make it sound so anyway I've gone to Harris now in a Black Cab because I never used to take the Ferrari because it's a parking situation so we've gone there but what's going through my head now is thinking I've got to get one of these Phantoms because this guy he was alive 400 quid right for four hours he's off he's just printing money so anyway I've come along I've come back to Birmingham Monday morning I've jumped in me rather two one three the 100 engines gone to the local dealership John guy called John cart it's always about the balance isn't it Mark even though you've got a Ferrari you've got to have something like a room for Just Two yeah gone down the road and um to a guy called John cast sat with him about midday sat with him had a conversation I want to buy rolls royces yeah come on then show you let's sit down so we sat down and everything I said have you got any here you can just show me you took me around the back I couldn't believe it guess what gunmetal gray Rolls Royce Phantom going to the island white or man going to the island I says I'll have this one I'll buy this one off you now he says no this is sold this is sold but he knew from that moment this guy is serious I said okay this guy back in the office can you build me a spec exactly the same as that and that car's downstairs at the moment and it started at 264 Grand and we landed at 244 and this was him on the floor bleeding at 244. right he was like I never sold a car cheaper and so I saw our system I said look we've got a problem it's we've took two hours here mate I've got to go I've got to go and pick up his son from school and he went oh my God what a TW serious tilemeister but I worked time-wasted because the other problem I had I never had my checkbook with me so I had to go back to the office anyway so anyway come over to solyo picked up a lane I said listen we're going to buy a Rolls-Royce [Music] years old so I've took him to the district were you sure no no actually I was a bit younger Pops I was 11 12 because when I went to second time it's 12 years old so was this just normal were you shocked at that point that that's what was happening I was excited yeah but I was more into like uh the Ferraris like I got more upset when my dad told me that he was selling a Ferrari to buy a Rolls-Royce like I was like no my life's ending hi sister John I said John listen it's 244 Grand you and me got a deal now I want to throw a party this is well you can't have it all you can't have your part it's about your height right so I said um look um where are we then he said I'd give you 88 grand for the Ferrari without looking at it you're giving me the details and I've got it underwritten at 88 Grand I said okay I'll let you know but I've got to go now pick this on up I'll come back before never gonna see me again I've come back I've pressed the Bell because of the Bell button you're gonna it's the appointment on you've gone inside he said oh welcome back so I'll just have to pick this on up anyway so I said they said just want to show me Sunday car showed him the car we were there for about 15 minutes yeah Road him to check out for 44 000 and give him this check and I said look I'll let you know if I want to give you the Ferrari in part exchange or I'll give you the cash but the other problem when am I going to get the car he said well no now you've given me your money I'll go and do some work on it okay no problem so about this great car that was sitting there we had a choice of specking our car up however we wanted and my dad asked him he goes have you got one here he goes well actually I do have one around the back it's going it's about to get delivered to the Isle of Wight or Isle of Man and have a look at this specification for the car as soon as my dad has seen the specification of this car he was I don't know why you loved it right because we couldn't come up with loads of other ones in hindsight we still have that Rolls Royce because you can come to the factory and you can you can spec it all of us he goes that one looks all right that'll do just replicate that exact card because it was just safe you know you're spending a lot of money this is the one that you physically see in front of you you like it so just go with this one so it's very easy to speculate a lot of businesses going on we've got the car sales we've got the transport uh job going with the lorries we've got drivers in there got the transport going we've got the car washes going and now we've attached this on um so anyway we've bought this um done the deal with him 200 Grand I've come back to the showroom and um here not this wasn't the show and this was a kiosk with the petrol station car washes happening car sales in the front and elim was 12 years old and he says to me he said look um can I just bring the Ferrari around the front so so to buy this car obviously with parked part part exchanged it and the Ferrari was sold now um I kicked up a fuss when my dad sold the 355 and now the 360 uh was gone um uh it was it was you know it was a bit of a heartbreaking moment for me but I thought you know I I wanted to send it no what I said you're really gonna put me into this one well tell this story are you what I said to John cart I said look I may sell this to you I may not sell it to you but when I got back I found another dealer um in Milo and he said look I hope he's not listening to this right he said I'll meet you at Heathrow Airport Crown Plaza Hotel I know the way he says I'll meet you at the Crown Plaza Hotel and I'll have a look at the car and I'll buy it off here but the guy had a good track record because I'm all the time he's in the Sunday Times like Tom art he's always into Sunday times we know he's Bulletproof so this guy was good too so anyway um I've just uh I I made an appointment with him I said I'd come and see you on them on the Friday I'll come and see you and we'll have a deal no problem he says bring all your documents with you and everything so you know we'll wrap the deal up so we didn't do around about Tuesday or something and I lean says can I just bring the car around from the other side into this 12 years old and I've given him the keys and all I heard I'm sitting in the downstairs in the office I heard the whole building Shake oh what the hell's happened here so I've gone outside elim's only scraped the side of the car again against the post of the building so the the building is there and then there's a safety post on he's hit the safety post he shook the safety post into the whole building's move amazing he doesn't stress I'll be honest with you a lot of people just don't panic listen we'll get it sorted come on jump jump out for now jump out so he's quite chilled about it I've rang um The Body Shop the shutdown now in Birmingham random so listen I'm coming to see you with the Ferrari okay took it there I said listen you got a couple of days three days to put this right okay so anyway Wednesday's gone Thursday's gone Friday morning I've gone up there he says you've finished it but we need a bit of time don't forget we're 20 years behind there's no bakes ovens the pain still Swift still soft it doesn't matter I'm going to London me and my wife jumped in I've jumped in driving to London Crowne Plaza Hotel pulled up the fellas looked around the car see the tires the boots you know I want a bit of this one a bit of that 93 000 pound I'll give you 92 and a half Grand um deals done 92 500. just follow me up to me guys so we followed him up to his house lovely house brought me a receipt out 92 and a half thousand pound and he's found the bank tell you you know you have to tell it physically telephone the bank and they've done the transfer now for me to check that the money's hit my account now I don't know this guy he's got all the paperwork he's got everything he's got it he's I'm fine in the bank so we've come out now me and my wife have come out and we're going to catch a train back so it was just dropped off a car for 92 Grand long time ago and um he said he's done the transfer which I do believe him because he's done it in front of me but he hasn't hit my account so I found him back after about 40 minutes and I said look the money isn't coming he says well I've done it it's done he's given the long book the keys the car everything he's gone I've done it it's done so I'm ringing the bank every 60 Seconds and I mean 60 seconds were you thinking it was a scam at the time well I did for a bit didn't I was like well you panicked don't you because that's all that's me livelihood in it because like you lose a hundred thousand pounds it's like losing half a million pound today right it's a lot of money and trust me you fall over it'd be hard to get back up uh somebody wife says a Leader's mom says uh look um he'll be all right it'll be all right let's go sorry mate I can't follow you on this one I love you but not that much I'm not listening to this one wait for the money to cook a couple of minutes before five o'clock so I've been on him a couple of minutes before five o'clock yeah the money's landed thank you let's go caught the train back I'm happy says to John started bullying John now John Carter you know used to ring him every couple of days yeah yeah we're doing really well you know the factory I think as soon as that sale went through I think we can safely see that the chapter for platinum executive travel started at that very moment because the only thing my dad thought about from that point onwards was not buying and selling cars was just the Car Hire game the amount of times I would hear the word Rolls-Royce Phantom out of his mouth a day it was it was sickening it was like five six hundred times seven hundred times a day Rolls Royce Phantom this Rolls-Royce Phantom that this is and it all stemmed from that trip to London yeah we were doing we were doing no exaggeration honestly two and a half thousand pound for a local wedding in a phantom and I just couldn't wait to get the car but hours are going to get the car couldn't dream Rolls Royce could I don't know I had to ring junk up John cart was so used to me but you know what tolerated me all the way really nice guy and you know when I went to pick the card up off him I went and picked the car up off him and um and I pulled him to one side and I said look John um I need to tell you something this is what's that I said look I'm coming back to you in a couple of weeks to order another one because I want to buy another one and he thought yeah I thought yeah you know people don't get over one person you are dreaming you know I mean I thought he was dreaming when you called me a first time around but now you joke now you're just joking so um anyway um this was in October I've collected the car and um around about the back end of November I went back to a general assistant I said remember what he says to me two months to make a car well you've got your two months I want one on the first of March 2007. here's my deposit what's the deal he went no way yeah and I said look I've done my share of the bargain you've got to do yours now the last one was 244. this one was 238 oh that's all right then perfect I went and picked up the car from him walked out of there and I said John by the way the the second one that came about we actually spec this up we actually put a bit more thought into this specification for the second one a registration on it was rr07 Papa Echo Tango pet and and we went to the factory Goodwood um to to spec this one up I was taken out of school I took a day off school that day they don't actually allow anyone under 16 or I think it was under 18 at the time whatever it was um to to cut to come along but John carton wavered that for us as well so I was 14 years old he puts us in his six Series BMW because BMW are part of the Rolls-Royce group that was his company car at the time and we went to the factory we got a full tour of the factory and at the end they say right let's walk into this room spec up your car now and we spaked it in a silver with black interior silver with black and why did we go silver with black because we had a client who said look I want a silver one of these with black interior so you listen to the market and then you yeah you've got a car for that but that client was a special client that special client nearly paid for the car that's amazing so did the car sales finish at that point still going oh we're still flat out we still have no showroom there's a there's a petrol station canopy and and a petrol station shop which is used in the office it's a water leak cars are parked at the house so around about 2007 when we picked this car up I said to John I said I'll be back next year and I'll have another one because if you remember them days they only used to be once a year they're ready used to come out it used to be actually right August August yeah yeah so right so it was August so now you know I'm buying and selling the number plate well not selling them I'm buying them replacing various bits and pieces do another little stuff so we should get onto the internet and buy these number plates and put the pet on them oh so we had our Ro 56 we had rro7 so when I went to buy another oh so our system I said I'll come back next year oh eight so 2008 I've gone back to John so I'll have another one but what's the deal it's like your catchphrase so we're back in the dealing we're back in the hustle I think it was about 200 and 20 000. but when I bought that one off him there was one part next to it and that was a non-sun roof non-sun roof Phantom I said what about if I have the both of them today how much is that one he says that's our demo car you can have that for 190. I said okay we'll throw it all in the mix so in but but but Mark and Curtis at this time let me just reiterate the competition the market um it wasn't as saturated as it is today the competition wasn't as heavy you've got to bear in mind you know people putting a lot of ball I mean s-classes Bentley Bentley anage or something like that fantastic cars gets the wedding job done the Rolls-Royce Phantom at this time was you know was was some big popper stuff you know it was it was it was the it was the quarter of a million pound you either buy a house or you buy a car type of statement that they had on the car but when we had a driver and people were going we had clients that wanted to just go for a Dave to Harris to do some shopping then you've got the wedding Market coming in and then you know my dad being so um regimented in the way that the driver's got a look and the way that the car's got to go out in the way that the job is done at that time he only had one job a day today at martial law he has 35 jobs a day 40 jobs a day to do but back then that one job he used to take so much pride in it and the service that we were giving that the business grew and expanded at a very fast rate did it grow through like word of mouth or were you doing anything we've done a lot of marketing we've done a lot of shows we've done websites see if you think I'm good at marketing and I do what I do I've learned most of it we've done brochure we designed some brochures which were Rolls-Royce standard in fact Rolls-Royce loved them and the brand alignment you know you know just awesome and we had photo shoots done with the car that the camera size of the of where the photo shoot was taken it was so many million megapixels the camera was the size of um you know they shoot photos for um for diet on diamonds and Golds and yeah and that sort of stuff and you know and I got them to do it you know it wasn't cheap but I wanted it's got to be done right that's that's where we are it's got to be right um so we were into a phase one your mom said back in the day like when you went to the lawyer it's gonna be damn right so you've taken that on board sorry and the first thing my dad said to me on the phone when I asked him is Mark and Curtis here he goes yeah they are here and he goes I'm glad you got me onto a podcast with these guys because I think their motto aligns with our motto it's either do it uh you do it you don't do it do it right or don't do it at all with the setup that you guys coming to around about 2007 and just reversing a little bit back because I missed a few things out aleene was getting a little bit bored in life and and you know he was at the stage where you know our dad I don't like all these rules Royce carry and I want some Ferraris and Lamborghinis so anyway my dad didn't like Lamborghini at this time so one day we were driving uh in town uh in in town and um I was in the Rolls Royce and he said look I found a real a brand new Lamborghini Gallardo it's in Edinburgh and it's a Saturday morning and they want 155 grand for it 154 950. so found the follow-up on the other side a guy called Andy canning still deal with him today and um I said look there's Lamborghini how much is it and he said look um you know this is where it is you know where'd you want to be let's listen I will give you a payment now a deposit right and buy the card off yeah I want to give you 145 Grand but before we go on to this deal right my dad I was really winding me up because every time I would say to him dad the car to get now is a Lamborghini he'll just tell me cars well you know when my dad sees me says to me it's a car my heart breaks especially if I'm so invested we've been brought up we've been brought up um mushy Lagos Diablos all these contests oh my God I used to say if you want a car if you want to sell a contact if you want to sell a contact you're a Salesman don't let the customer drive it no just take his money yeah then let him drive you know the Countach goes faster without the rear wing on it it's just there for show period if you want to sell a contact and all these cars Hartley and all that check the money yeah sell him the car because he'll be back in three months I'll get back to you yeah and then you just do the same thing again so anyway we bought this lap let's put him on the phone I said look I'll give you 145 Grand and I'll transfer you five grand over it's gone go on then done send me the bank details sent in five grand on the Monday morning Saturday on Monday morning found them back up I said I need to speak to so and so it's not here who's this me oh yeah you bought the glider you're lucky you got that car the other day because we were just joking we were just pulling the bluff with you thinking that he ain't gonna buy these cars just a Time waster he says no see I've bought it he says no we know you've bought it because you've given the deposit and um uh he said he said but we thought he was joking and we just accepted the 145 thinking he's just he ain't gonna do it right and I said no I've bought you and I said I want you back I want the rest of the invoice so I can get the rest of the money out of it so I'm gonna pick the card up um and anyway so I bought the car off him so they've given you a stupidly low deal because they didn't think you were going to work and this has been the case uh with with a lot of salesmen even even till today I mean recently I bought a white Lamborghini Evo spider that was up for 245 000 pounds I've got 40 000 pounds knocked off because they thought that well it's a very unorthodox way of of someone purchasing the car but I've learned all this off my dad anyway so um you know me getting a discount on that is everything that he's talking about you know we've always had this approach because you've either you've either got to be confident and 110 yeah or not be there at all in the same with the auction talking about the aggressiveness that you know we'd be bidding like this and the auction would say yeah it is your business so yeah well you know so somebody else would be thinking well there's no point maybe because he's not going to stop anyway so there's no point he's going to buy it yeah and I'd Nick the car for about let's say three and a half thousand pound and what would happen is I'd sell the same car for five thousand pound suppose going back to um the Lamborghini that was the first Supercar that we had on the uh on the fleet so the first Supercar we bought so I got kind of lean out of the way now so he's happy I'm happy now so at this time were you working in the business no uh so Curtis I was at school at this moment at the time I was at uh Warwick school um at an all-boy School um focusing really I wasn't really focused on the business didn't really know much about it this was all my dad the photo shoots the marketing The Branding the website the buying the cars the Opera everything was my dad I didn't have no saying it the only thing I was benefiting enjoying off this was that my passion and my hobby for cars uh was being lifted through the cars yeah it was being lived through the business and my dad how he would get me involved is would you know when the car's not parked correctly on the driveway will say to me son jump into the car and I'll tell you how to park it up and that was my little buzzer knowing that I can go pick up some a takeaway with my dad on a Sunday we'll knock down the roof and go for a little drive and finally it's not a Ferrari anymore it's a Lamborghini and Lamborghinis were now becoming the cool thing when the Gallardo uh came along Audi that's Audi when when they merged with Lamborghini that was one of their first cars that they released which now looking back at it in hindsight was one of the most important models for the brand um it it propelled them to became a reliable car it was it reliable pops well it's more reliable than the ones yeah it was yeah abs absolutely hit the nail on the head black on black with yellow calipers yellow stitching Alcantara down the middle that's the sway down the middle um gearbox could be clunky a little bit sometimes but wow you know it it was uh it was it was the first step for platinum diversifying themselves not away from luxury cars and also for my dad to kind of have a taste of what it's like to do the supercars um then obviously we just merged into slightly you know different stuff um uh Bentleys but more into the Rolls-Royce brand I mean you know up to date um we're we're not over with numbers we've probably purchased about 30 rolls royces and about 30 Lamborghinis um and I think maybe a bit more rolls royces yeah maybe so yeah you're right yeah maybe so it's like that's that only comes to life but you know yeah we got used to John cart until he retired at 2012 and before he retired I I assisted muscle um I want to buy a Rolls-Royce um drop it drop it off you and funny enough the drop-it picture is the one up there and um and the car's still um in a vicinity and I said look I want to buy a Rolls-Royce drop it off you a white one with red interior and he said yeah that's fine no problem these cars are like 330 000 pound all specked up singing and dancing and um and he sold it to me for 275 Grand and set his last sale then that's his last year to me yeah before he retired no it's just because Mark it also comes down with the the Loyalty side of things as well so like when as I see you guys discussing all of this I think to myself like I know my dad's mentioning numbers and he's mentioning what he bought it for and a great deal that he has he's reliving these moments but what are the main reasons or what are the reasons that makes someone um you know approachable lovable or or the salesman giving because you know what salesmans are like in in this DNA's they'll come at your neck and you know they want to get everything the deal has to the ball has to be in their core at all times but what we're hearing on this side is that he's getting the deal Time and Time and Time Again loyalty is the main uh uh the main the key word here um you know whether you're loyal with your Barber whether you're loyal with the person that you're buying the car from Andy canning who he's mentioning about these Lamborghinis he bought his first one in 2007. 30 30 cars later 30 plus cars later maybe a little bit less me be a little bit more confident exact number on it and they and he still hasn't changed the dealer so you know and the same went with Rolls Royce and the same with everything else that he does in life my father is a very loyal person and once he sniffs that someone gives him the same respect and the Loyalty back he gives them you know 10 times more and then you know it escalates they give him 10 times back I've been in the same Barbershop for 25 30 years so I think that that's the key here because I don't want people to be listening to this podcast and thinking that oh you know well how come I can't get that deal what's what what is it about me I mean I struggle to do certain things that my father struggles to do uh sorry that he does very well you know um you know negotiating getting in certain deals when I get stuck out of you know squeezing some more money out of someone or or you know chopping off a deal I'll put my hands up when I say Dad I've physically done everything I could possibly do I feel and I think you know if you can get it another pound less I'll shake your hand and I'll say Dad you are this is what these guys live for and you love it the thing is so you said about The Barbers I mean it's as simple as that restaurant Barbers whatever if you go in there and you get exactly what you got the first time and you get that every time because that's the experience you want you know you've cut the trimmer Beard You've Done me eating my wax on my ears or whatever it is done the haircut every time it's exactly the same service if you want a coffee there's a coffee yeah that's what you want why do you need to change through thick and thin you only change because they've cut corners and they're not giving you the same service anymore and they they've tried to save a bit when you go I'm going to look for somewhere else since there's yeah good service you know um you're absolutely right and and look restaurants as you said I walk into the restaurant there's a couple of people with me there's my wife with me um you know and my niece or something like that and um he'll take everybody's order and he'll look at me and say I know what you want you know stomach gets fooled up I'm happy yeah um but yeah um and and that's where we are on the overall and then around about 2000 and when it really started booming and started kicking I remember uh with it with the Supercar side of things as well as the the chauffeur driven stuff was I would say around 2008 2009 Parts when the Audi R8 came yeah yeah yeah them sort of stuff we we put them sort of cars on board rates Bentley uh Range Rovers uh bearing in my some of these cars that were on the fleet he was still buying from British Birmingham car auctions every Tuesday this is where I came along now so like I got to live the whole auction experience but not on the the 50 pound the two three hundred pound knackers we're talking every Tuesday there was a finance repossession auction so after school my dad would pick me up still in my school uniform would go to the auction full of fumes this whole room is this big extractor fan in there doesn't work big blower heater everyone's got their cup of tea in their hand it's like bid me 250 250 253 that's all you're hearing and now the finance repossession stuff's coming through and every now and again you'll get a a standard SE version of a ranger overcome through or you'll get like a you know sometimes a Bentley comes through or a Rolls Royce and he was so you know instead of buying it from every anywhere else he would be still buying these cars from um Birmingham car auctions and what we would do to them is would buy an SE Range Rover like a a 2007-2008 um uh TD V6 Range Rover and we'll look online and would buy a HST body kit for it for like two and a half grand three Grand Slap the HST kit on it put the 22 inch storm of wheels on it put a nice number plate on it wrap it in white bang bang bang they're going out on higher like like crazy and we're buying the car cheap we're adding value to it by putting on a kit no one really cared now about oh is it a five liter V8 supercharged is it this or is it that it's a Range Rover it's it's it's economical you know we haven't got to keep fueling it up it's got the right uh wheels on it it's got the right body kit on it and and that was that was something that my father and I worked on that you sound so passionate when you're talking about that do you reckon that's when your mind set shifted from just being passionate about cars and actually being passionate about the business yes exactly well like my dad didn't know about like my dad knows about the cars and stuff and and I know but I was I'd also had knowledge on certain body kits and certain things of what people would like because you know I'll have a little browse on on YouTube or on the Internet and you know like there was there wasn't there wasn't websites but it was called cartooncars.com where you would see like drawings of cars and cartoon car versions and then I'd go on to a an Archive Gallery of all the cars that were spotted in the world and I'd see these kits and then you know I'd see that the kit was up for like seven and a half eight grand but then there's this knockoff Chinese one that's exactly the same as it as as the as the official OEM body kit yeah and we were just by them my dad didn't really used to like cutting Corners like that but once we've tried the kid out the first time and we saw the quality was there it probably came from the same Factory you never know yeah they just stamped their table on it or whatever exactly there comes a time where you know when I was when I was younger and at lean's age and everything you know I I I love I loved cars but you come to a level now that you think do yourself that look um these are just my children out there working and making money for me so I put when you say your children the cars are my children they're out there working and I want people to look after them and and respect them and drive them nicely and ultimately they bring they bring money in um and that's how I pitch it but then you know you always want to better things and as the the brands go on they're better their cars and you you've got to get the latest cars and be on top of the market because ultimately people want the best um they do want to pay but they want the best Curtis when you ask when did I get brought into the business I feel like I got brought into the business from my dad when my dad was giving me respect in in the way that when I was suggesting or mentioning things even though I'm So Young he wouldn't just like brush it to the side and be like I'm older I know everything and no he'll discuss it with me and then he'd he'd show me a different perspective of it and then we'll listen to my side of things and then we'll Implement some things that that I would like and that's when I started to have some sort of say in the business made me want to be part of the business because it's my possibility on and putting the responsibility on you've got to throw a little bit of weight and say okay well even though I think I'm right but I I don't think alimi's fully into it but I will still go with him and let's go down that route and I may lose money on that I may lose money but I'll rather go down there it puts him in the firing line he would put you on the front line you deal with it and either way you're both going to learn a lesson correct whether it's good bad I think that's what really sets you two apart like you actually like listen and you're always constantly learning you're not feeling like you know everything specs up all the cars and I just give it the final nod on it and you know sometimes um it comes back to me with with interior of this or this my father's very safe with how he said what he normally says is we run a car rental company right and um you know a red color could be opinionated right a yellow color could be opinionated it's a blue color can be opinionated but one color that cannot be opinionated it is what it is it's right in front of you yeah that's the product it's black black and White so to convince my father into kind of like expanding his palette out of black and white is my hardest task but I've done it a few times and I've proved to him with like the one of one Viola ashifa or should we call it the viola Bast uh Lamborghini Aventura svj um but then I also understand his side of it as well that you know there is certain cars that you can experiment with and go out and think outside the box but things like Rolls Royce cullinans and and Lamborghini uruses and g-waggers and that sort of stuff from what our client base require we listen to them and we only give them because I'm not on the phones and I'm not talking to the client I can only go off what people tell me on social media and social media isn't my audience it isn't my client base my client base are the ones I put money in my pocket my social media people are the ones that want to kind of uh put across what they want in life but what they necessarily want isn't what's good for my business so that's the battle that I have to have but moving forward now with you know the business has come along we've had a few supercars and that sort of stuff um where I really got into the business was when I actually um I was doing really well in school you know I was doing really well in school but my father wanted me to be a commercial pilot because he thought that um you know I've got this car side of things boxed off I want my son to move from cars and fly planes now actually we actually took him to Oxford Aviation and we spent a day there and coming out at four o'clock I looked at his mom and I went I don't think he's feeling it you know because how can you how can you if your father is a doctor and all you've ever seen around you is is the medical field it inspires you to become you know be in the medical field you can't get me from going from four wheels to two Wings you know it's not gonna happen that's not my buzz that's not what I've wanted I've only just got started with the cars so relaying that uh to my parents was a bit difficult but I think my dad clocked on straight away like my dad's my inspiration it's it's who I look up to and I kind of had to tell my mom I said my mom if my dad was a pilot maybe I would have become a pilot but my son my dad's not a pilot I don't want to be a mother his mother follows suits from my mother and she goes well I don't care if he doesn't like it he's got to like it right so and whereas my father would say no I want to do what my son wants to do and ultimately um you know um even though financially my father um couldn't have supported me you know 100 miles an hour um but just as the office I just want elim to have a I mean it's not cheap you know um so uh ultimately um you know I I I do all the hurdles that come across in business all the problem hurdles I I kind of you know smoothen them out so it's easier for him so he sees the business as a one big game a one big game and it's a smooth operation but behind the scenes um there's you know there's a lot of things me and Curtis are obviously Partners in our business and we're 50 50 Partners but he has say final say yes so you could say 50. it depends it depends on the business though with the YouTube side of things yeah I have all the social media yeah um so how do you struck to your business as a father-son business me as a father-son business I don't want nothing because it is all elims um ultimately I only have one son and one daughter me and my wife were very content we're we're happy going and and ultimately we're happy with life um whatever is there it's not mine it's aleems he's the owner and he's the one I'm a helping hand as a father figure as as a a somebody who overlooks it and and helps him come out of problems and out of every problem overlooks everything he does everything for me how does that make you feel she knows looking it that way yeah I agree and I wanted to get on to this sorry he's absolutely right because the ultimate the thing is aleene's 28 years old I go through aleem's back and his wallet on literally a daily basis to make sure that everything is right in there he's got enough money in there and he'll say oh no no it's okay I said you know you might need a bit of cash in there you might need a bit no problem because I don't want him to be at a certain place and he can't fulfill because you know well see I I've I've been brought up in schools and and have been with people where they would tell me that you know they've had to work for it and you know um you know there's a certain level of pocket money this I've never had that in my life I've never had my mom's never I've I once requested that I'd be given pocket money and no more than that and they tried it for about a week and then they looked at me and thought so what do you think I was like no get me off this pocket money business right it's not working because and and because they never wanted to kind of um instill like a controlled mindset in me you know they always wanted my heart to be big and open for for for not just for myself or my family but for the people and my friends around me whether you go to dinner you pay for people in these are the moments that we work for right and and to keep my mindset a bit more broader and a bit more open if my mindset was enclosed to me working a nine-to-five job um or getting my pocket money waiting for my pocket money to come through I would miss out on on on the bigger Vision I'd miss out on other things I'd be focusing in things that I don't really need to be focusing about as my father has said that you know I'm his only son um my sister being his only only daughter you know um we we need to be we need to have a bigger money he didn't graft this hard and he didn't get to this level and and and and make all this money for me to have a small vision and a small mindset you know we've got to have a mindset and a vision that scares you and and doing these sort of things if I mean I'm not saying that you know Well Done To those people that do those jobs and that need to do those jobs but I was very fortunate and very blessed to have a father that kind of helped me fast track all that I actually worked at Hollister for for two weeks of of of my life where I insisted that I wanted a job I wanted to feel like what it's like to have a job my dad kicked off and said no way are you working no way my mom's kicked off no way you working I've kicked off I said I'm working I don't care it's kind of like the opposite Dynamics yeah I'm like trying to say please let me work and they're like no you're no working I remember I went into a star photo shoot wearing a diamond um Frank Mueller watch on a vanilla strap because they said to me that you know everyone come through dressed up nicely for the for the photo shoot so I thought dressed up nicely meant that you put on your best fragrance you know you put on your nice watch and you go I've landed there and I've seen the way that these people were behaving towards me and I realized then and there this is not the place for me I need to listen to my parents and I need to go back and I need to listen to them I am different to these people this person might have a degree but he doesn't know how to talk to someone he talks in the way that they spoke to me that day was with complete disrespect and I thought to myself I didn't even realize I didn't even have it in my heart what the value of this watch was on my wrist but it's the way I've been brought up do you think that's a UK issue rather than like if you did that in America no I think it's a parenting issue I think there's a parenting issue like when I was at school and my father used to pick me up in a nice car whatever certain parents would instill it into their children oh yeah don't look at him his father's a drug dealer don't look at him his father's a dodgy Geezer because it makes them feel better about them cells when they can put mud on other people but the truth of the fact is that where are they today and where are we today and sometimes it's better to stay quiet and let God do all the work you know and and you know like um on on the on the bet on the point that the limb just made that is it's very um important to um to be yourself truly um because if you don't and and you come out of that and you just put an act on then it's wrong because this job that we're in we can't do an act on this this is how it is this is a very very tough job I mean you know and our business is massively and I make it look easy risky because this is the main Cog of making it like you guys do you you know you're safe you're secure um our friend Tom Hartley car dealers throughout the country is safe you send the money they deliver the car yeah it's cleaner we're giving out assets for hundreds of thousands of pounds to people for him to drive we have to watch over our cars we have to protect it sleepless nights cars getting alerts on cars speeding violations acceleration falling out with a lot of people but we tried not to because we say to them look will be your best friend but be with us you know look after the children yes absolutely and and if they don't it's the first warning one warning you get which is a Stern friendly warning the second one is a bit more of a Stern warning the third one is basically we don't even talk to you we'll just arrive at the destination with the spare key I'll take the car back to base and you'll come out to thinking where the car's gone and then I'll phone you up and I'll tell you you need to come to the showroom so I can show you the violations that you've done do you think this is acceptable do you own the car you don't own the car you've rented it you are merrily looking after my asset for me for a period of time we want you to enjoy it but there's a time and a place to enjoy it we don't want to endanger lives we don't want a reputation in our company that we give out to inconsiderate uh clients you know it's our responsibility to to today we might be giving a weapon to people you know if they don't handle it right the gentleman took a car away a couple of three weeks ago and um he wasn't familiar of driving a Lamborghini um ultimately he's doing um 75 80 miles an hour on a 30 Bar Road Within five minutes really yeah so um anyway I found him up I said look just pull over um I need to talk so do you have like speed trackers on all the cars and everything so Paul's old locations I said pull over he's pulled over I've switched the car off I said just wait then I'm coming just to pick the car up and um you know when I went there it's not in an aggressive way so it's just literally just saying listen me we are not made for each other we don't have we're not on the right we left his car yeah meaning that you know I'll come back after the weekend I said mate after the weekend I can't tolerate you for another for 15 minutes here's your money back here's your car this is my car have a lovely weekend God you might have ended up saving his life though he's like begging him please there's no point is there because what we don't get on and we we run a very relaxed uh situation here yeah there's certain car rental companies out there that will send somebody to ghost the hire so they'll give someone two three hundred pound for the weekend in another normal car and they will ghost and watch the car on higher but that's invasion of privacy you've got to give you know we've got to have an understanding with our client you know it's it's not about babysitting them and watching them over like we're not children this is why we have a certain age early a minute and we'll also reference people as well so like we're very like being very well known online on social media my father being in the business for so long knowing so many people doesn't matter which city you come from there is someone that my dad will know in that City that can cross-reference you and just check that you know you are who you say you are and you're good for it I've never ever hired a Prestige car ever and it's purely for fear that the company will take my deposit they all tell me I've damaged the rim or whatever when I haven't and um but what makes you different to that that I could trust you in that circumstance well can I can I start with answering this one um I feel like as if first and foremost you know uh being uh people of Faith right we've always got to remember that Allah is watching you know God is watching regardless of whether you wanna you wanna like you know do someone wrong or whatever you'll do them wrong in this world or you'll you know you could win now but in the long run you're going to lose and I think um I think what you what you have to remember is you know and and again with how my father does everything as well it's it's we're not here for today and tomorrow we're here for the years to come there isn't another car hire company that I could probably say to you that still exists today and performs at this level that has such a high rating and that is because we are very transparent in the way that we do business we say it exactly how it is there is cameras all over this showroom when we're doing check sheets and all that sort of stuff and we want your custom again I don't want to take your deposit off you if anything I want to try helping you and minimize making experience as best as possible so that tomorrow you go and tell other people that you had such a fantastic experience and you know your cousins and your brothers and your friends and your uncles and everything will also go through the same experience but exactly what Mark said this is the stigma that is stuck with car rental companies especially high-end car rental companies that you give your ten thousand pound Deposit they will suck it when you go there we don't do that here at platinum and and I can tell you that with fact that we here at Platinum do not do that in fact to the point that if you damage a car a wheel a wing mirror whatever the wheel damage costs you whatever the wing mirror price cost you whatever the damage is it's black and white it's on the deal it's all from the dealership we paint protect our cars ppfr cars spend five six seven thousand pounds on the car before it's even been delivered just so our clients don't have the stress of if they lean on the car they might scratch it which will cost them thousands of pounds to repair so we kind of you know protect these cars as well for their long for their use so they don't have any problems we highlight show them around the cars correctly make sure that they know how the front lift suspension Works how this works how that works make sure that they don't you know drive it in Corsa mode unless it we talk them through the whole thing you hired a vehicle and um you know you clip the mirror and you cracked it well it doesn't matter which Lamborghini you did or Ferrari dealer you get the price from they're all the same price yeah all over the all over the country so it's 770 pound to paint it it's 300 pound to 50 it's probably another 150 pound 200 pounds whatever it comes to about 13 1400 pound the customer will say well look would you take a grant for it I don't understand you've broke it and you want me to pay I don't it doesn't it doesn't make sense what do you think do you think it makes sense it doesn't no no I think it's perfectly acceptable to have to pay the damage you've got that's what I don't think is acceptable yeah on top just I tell you what some companies will do because that's where they make it if you can't justify it if you can't justify it to the customer then don't put it to him what some people could what some people would do is uh some companies um because we've heard this from clients when they've come back in um Lamborghinis or these low cars that are low from the front they might have scraped the front bumper in a previous hire but when they show the customer around the car the customer's so excited to see the car they would show them all around the whole car show them one or two of the damages on the wing mirror on that on the arch or on the wheel lose their focus there and then when they'll come and pick up the car they'll run their hand underneath you and they'll be like oh mate you scrape the front bumper that's five grand listen it's just you know it's wrong it's wrong you reckon that's because they forgot to see it on the last time you see you see the customer might believe that he actually did it as well but God's watching so what will happen there is you'll you'll Rob him for five quid there tomorrow Karma will hit you so bad right yeah you'll probably have a car smashed up in pieces and you know you're scratching your head thinking why has this happen to me you know it it it's I mean what goes around comes around the other reason I don't hire Prestige Cars is because I feel that you're trying to flex aren't you but it's not yours okay Mark so now this is there's a change in perception there's a change of vision in that and the reason for that being is first and foremost it's not cheap to hire a car if you can pretty much hire a car more than nine times out of ten yeah with the cost of owning a car storing a car insuring a car maintaining a car you you probably don't get as much as a good experience as you probably would in hiring it and let me break it down to you if let's say it costs you let's say you buy a Rolls-Royce for uh 200 000 pounds to ensure it costs you six thousand pounds a year uh Tire you know to maintain it and all that sort of stuff cost you you know a couple Grand a year to store it cost you a couple Grand a year and then when you come to sell it you're probably going to lose 15 20 grand before you know it you're already 25 30 grand down now on the car if not more if you give if you were to spend 25 to 30 000 pounds with platinum and bearing in mind you're a busy fella right you haven't got time to use your car you probably use it once or twice a week yeah if you were to spend 20 25 30 000 pounds a year with Platinum you get an inventory of 30 plus cars in the latest models the best specifications you haven't got to worry about insurance you haven't got to worry about maintenance you haven't got to worry about any depreciation mileage nothing just use the car the inventory is there maybe one weekend you want a Rolls-Royce culin it maybe another weekend you want to try it out of G-Wagon one week and you want to go off-roading in a Defender one weekend you want to take the misses out in a convertible Lamborghini how else are you going to do that if if if if you own if you've invested all your money into one car I've got a lot of my friends that always say our lean they've got Lamborghinis and stuff like Aventadors Alim pull out your car pull up I'll be thinking to myself what is that not giving you a buzz anymore well yeah I'm gonna be honest it's not giving me a buzz anymore and especially why it's not giving me a buzz is because we see too many of them in this day and age back in the days very rare to see a Ferrari now you'll see a Lamborghini on every corner people want to people um feel like you know they they need to be current with the with the times and you know they want to change the specifications and they want to see be seen in a different car but then like you said people will say that you know uh it doesn't feel right do some people it doesn't feel like it's like would I rent a watch we wouldn't want to rent a watch would you there is companies out there that do rent out watches but you know it doesn't feel right it's a very personal thing but I feel a car is an experience it's like a it's something it gives you back a bit more emotion so it is a rentable thing I'm not just defending it because it's my company but I do understand the importance of physically owning a car having it having your name on the paperwork it gives you that sense of achievement that sense of uh of but if you actually know the price of how expensive it is to rent these cars I don't think anyone can really say to you oh you've just rented it for the day you you know you don't own it because we've got billionaire clients as well we've got millionaire clients and we've got clients that are just you know hiring cars because it's their it's their dream occasion you know and some of our billionaire clients you know they'll take three or four five clintons at a time and they've all got pet number plates on them wherever they go people know that yeah they've hired those cars but you've High three or four of them it's costing you like six seven eight thousand pounds a day they don't care fine with it they're fine with it it's it's just the perception because you and me will feel that way about it I mean I've never hired a car it's probably an age thing I mean I've got a couple of friends that have got big car collections and they have to employ a mechanic full-time a cleaner full-time store in them and all the rest of it and it's just endless but I mean it costs them a fortune doesn't it because these cars don't look after themselves do they no you've made a good case of uh hiring a car yeah yeah yeah that's your job you're the same with renting houses aren't you you're like oh you should always buy um this is going to be our thing the ability to jump around try different things with with houses bricks and water yes safe so listen to this man when I'm younger I wonder how much you use an investor no I agree look house or or whatever apartment bricks and water because you don't own many houses pops no no you make a little bit of money out of it right it's just about making just a little bit of money right and there's no risk right the buzz is major risk and big money the bigger the risk it's like going in the casino playing on the black playing on the red some people don't do that some people go in they play a little bit a few pounds on the no when pet going it's red or black big numbers as well but that's more like little numbers but what goes up fast what goes up fast always comes down very very fast as well so you have to find that right balance of when the luck is striking and you're doing well and you know you're making a lot of money to put it into safer Investments I.E bricks and mortar um or investing into certain stocks and whatever but you've got I feel you've got to have that balance but uh with my father what he always says is like he's loving it he's buzzing off itself I don't think I'm gonna have that balance and I'm and I'm a million miles I do I do I think um I think you go in head first all the time and and we always come out and has that changed as you've got older it's getting worse yeah I'm always ready for a deal I'm always on the hustle it's lovely see I think you've got less risky as you go older um I I'm risk gearing some things yeah it depends what it is the age where I like the security of the house is being paid for the Union is being paid for that's my security I can I can gamble away anywhere else that's not a problem but I don't want to gamble those now the days of me wanted to lose my shirt or risk my shirt I don't want to do that and I think you'd probably be similar you wouldn't risk the whole everything because you want to leave the Legacy but I think that's where I'm at and so that's very important I think so I think one reason why my dad always also feels like you know he wants to go head in head first or whatever is our social media presence as well you know if he didn't have I'm not trying to blow smoke at my own ass right now but you know um my up and retire yeah my father my father buzzes off this business and you know he buzzes off the clients that we have come in every single day and he buzzes off the fact that it keeps him youthful and like with your with your strike at Big podcast I've had so many people message me about Mark and Curtis and and tell me how fantastic they are this is the this is the buzz this is the flame that gets you going again it fits that spark again and you think to yourself you know I've got to do it not just for myself now but I've got to do it for the business and I've got to do it for these great clients and these great people that have met along the way um you know our social media presence for platinum executive travel is like no other you know I I truly believe that we set the standard for when it comes to uh how to create a brand online there's no other Car Hire company maybe even a car sales company uh that has been doing what we have been doing um from the YouTube to the Instagram to the whole thing and and and that is because as my dad said you know there's a lot of people that will say that you know he's XYZ he's a drug dealer he's a money launderer he's a fraud he's that the other but the proof is in the pudding and it's in front of you when you see his office light is on at two o'clock in the morning three o'clock in the morning like the people of Birmingham will tell you driving up and down Coventry Road one person's office light that is never turned off is is Miss Rick bells and and because he really does work every hour God's given him because he buzzes off it but at the same time you know the the extent to the size of what the business has gone to the audience that we have for the business as well it's our it's our fuel for motivation you know and and what we want to drive forward to expanding the business and and there's a lot of people that are learning office as well um but we enjoy it we enjoy being pioneers of the industry if we're not steering the industry if we're not uh breaking the boundaries then who is and you know I can give you one example of breaking a boundary you know hiring out a 3.5 million pound car in a Bugatti Chiron I mean who on earth does that I can buy five Rolls-Royce cullinans five Lamborghini uruses five Mercedes g-wagons and probably still have a bit of loose change to go on a fat holiday to Dubai but you can't forget 25 Grand a day yeah come on so that's for sure and also you can't get the social media feedback from a calendar that you can get from that exactly but saying that I mean a cullinan for a daily uh higher price is about eight about eighteen hundred to two thousand pounds a day so five colonies will be bringing me in 10 grand a day the numbers would be a lot higher on that side but as my dad would always say it's not always and as Mark you've just suggested you've just um mentioned just now as well it's not always about the money it's about what you're doing for the business so cement its foundation uh for for the future I.E this this this uh the showroom the showroom cost us 1.2 million pounds to build in 2013 2014 at a time where we were dying to buy a Bugatti so we were literally this close to closing a deal on a Bugatti Veyron for 1.2 million pounds and my dad looked at me and he said well son at this moment of time all the cars are parked at the house we're having to convince our customers and tell them that we've got you know five six rolls-royces but we've got an office here that's got a water leak coming through it so you said to me that you want a nicer office what do you want do you want a car or do you want the showroom so we came to a decision that we wanted to build the showroom so the Bugatti the Chiron came later on but why did we build the showroom is it because we wanted to give our clients a very unique experience an experience that no one else can give you we don't operate out of a rented unit where we're going to rob you for some money and then we're going to disappear all of a sudden I own this land I own this showroom I'm here 24 7 7 days a week I'm not running away with your money I'm giving you an experience like no one else is you're gonna feel like you're buying a car from Tom Hartley and Co but really you're here to rent a car for the weekend you bring your family on I've got all the time in the world for you so was my dad within reason and you know I'll show you around you know we'll have a great time they get to meet me we get to talk about cars because I'm still very passionate about cars I love to talk about the the the the the the the the engine the technology in it the you know the the speed and all that sort of stuff my dad's Fallen loud in love with all that sort of stuff you know but you know I have to have that instilled in me because I truly believe the money comes after you have to fall in love with your craft once you can create that community and you create a a community where people respect and you as the car guy everything else comes after that you know and and I really have worked hard uh um but when I see I've worked hard it didn't feel like hard work at the time because you enjoyed it because I enjoyed it so much going to the car meets my dad's been fully so I wouldn't have been able to do this if my dad didn't support me every single thing that I have said I've wanted to do my dad has made it happen for me whether it has been the correct decision or not the correct decision and if I didn't have that support system there I wouldn't have been this caterpillar that turns into a butterfly you know and um and and that was what's important and that's what I see with Mark and Curtis as well the reason why people warm towards your podcast so much and the reason why strike it big is going to be one of the biggest podcasts in the world is because people love the Father and Son relationship they can sense uh the balance there yeah they can sense the love and respect that Mark has towards Curtis which I can see and this is why you know um this is why things work and I always say to people when people say you know oh his dad's giving it Mo and you know you've never had to sing a struggle in the day of life we all have our struggles but they're at different levels yeah the struggles that someone has with not a pound in their pocket and the struggles that someone has with a hundred pounds in their pocket are totally different but nevertheless they are still a struggle I have struggles of my own and if I told you about these struggles you'll be like oh what a hard life one has probably you hear the same as well don't you understand people discredit you when you've had a certain upbringing and gone to a certain school and but they don't realize all the hard work you put in behind the scenes and obviously the social media strategies that you've uh you know you you can see how passionate and and how much I love my father and how a lot of other people uh you know of are think so highly of my father but social media world is a different type of world altogether so the biggest battles I've had to fight is knowing who my dad is knowing how much endless Blood Sweat and Tears he's put into his craft and having people watering it down and then coming being upset about it my dad's booty saying he's saying to me why are you getting upset about it he says you should be buzzing off it if you go to the gym and someone accuses you of using steroids you should buzz off that because because you haven't but they think you have yeah because in their brain the only way you could have achieved it is if you're doing something exactly I was making car reviews back in the days right with a couple of my friends um so it was a cameraman two two cameraman team and we were reviewing cars and I was putting it out there these car reviews which people were really enjoying and I was coming back and I was like oh Dad I don't think I've done a good job and he goes why and they go everyone's commenting underneath what do you think you're Jeremy Clarkson or you know your videos look like they've been copied by Top Gear because well done yeah because that is the best compliment you can have they are a big production team the best car show in the world and you are being compared to the best car show in the world since son you're on to a winner and that was the moment where I realized hold on a second this is all a load of don't ever listen to these people online do what you want to do and do it with courage and do it with the right mindset and and if you believe in yourself go go go go through with it whether that's me playing rugby whether that's me doing car videos whether that's me making the LA weeklies whatever that is I'm actually very proud because he remembers that I did say that to him actually many many years ago yeah I think and you thought it'd gone yeah I thought he's gone straight out but look I stand here today and I'll be honest with you if I told you that people's opinions mattered to me even one percent I'll be lying to you I couldn't give two shits of what anybody has to say online I've actually got to that stage well what really hurts me try to sort of ignore all comments but we do take on the constructive comments to be fair Kai is usually the one that gets the most hate comments um but that's because he's quite opinionated around certain things but it's good to be opinionated because it shows but you stand for something yeah you know like our friend Andrew Tate you're the most opinionated fella there is on the planet the worst thing you can be is vanilla isn't it like not having any starts on anything they're the people you've got to be worried about two people people that save their money too much and people that try being um uh trying being everybody's cup of tea once everyone's cup of tea you're a mug so do you think the younger Generations like us um complement the older generation of entrepreneurs working together with other businesses the proof is in the pudding is it not yeah I mean we can make it into a lengthy answer but the the fact of the matter is that there is no I mean as tough as it can be sometimes working with family members because disagreeing is a bit more personal than disagree yeah it hurts exactly the only thing that hurts me now is when I actually care or love for someone and they do me wrong or they don't do do that's what hurts me now and it's the same with business as well but the proof is in the pudding to have first of all you've got to be very lucky and we're very lucky Curtis in a way that we have um you know our fathers that are martial are very understanding um that not everybody gets that gift saying that though do you have arguments between you because I know we constantly have arguments our arguments last about 15-20 minutes they're as loud as anything yeah they're as loud as anything I'll kick off I'll even phone my mum when I really lose when I lose everything and there's no coming back I will phone my mom I'll be like Mom I'm not having this I've I've had strikes I've where I've not come into work for like a week two weeks I've refused to come into work because he doesn't let me do anything I'm trying to say let me get more involved in the business you guys listen so I've not worked this hard for you to be running around like a headless chicken he goes your job is to overlook he goes work smart not hard he goes God's given you a brain right yeah he says this is what we've got to work with now is with our brain we haven't got to move muscle graft this and scrubbing getting in that hard labor graft is up here you know and this is where the real graph starts but sometimes I I look I do I do sometimes feel to myself like how I want to be like my dad I want to fill in those shoes to fill in those shoes I've got to be like him but he doesn't let me be like him you know but you know to answer the question you've got to be like him but in a different way that's what I'm a little softer around the edges I guess I suppose you've been through all the graph both of you and and you don't want us to go through the same you want us to like shortcut why would she says and start thinking rather than working manually and I see the problems when Curtis comes to me with something he'll say why aren't you excited I say well the problem is you've got to think is it oh we've got Andrew Tate on the podcast and you're like oh yeah but we've got to get out to London but it's Andrew Taylor it's cool I'm not getting excited because we've got to hire the place we've got to make sure it can happen we've got to do this yeah we forget this but once we've done all that we'll make it happen we'll do it yeah once we've done all those things then I'm excited similar thing we had an argument about a week ago and it lasted about um six minutes almost there about um um it lasted three minutes with him and then it went away it went quiet and then three minutes after and then I had a phone call from his mom I get that yeah and um and then John was done and the job was done it was over over a car he refused he said that the Lamborghini of revolto which is the new eventual replacement is a thousand plus brake horsepower thousand one brake horsepower he goes it's too fast for the clients he goes I don't want one of them I looked at him I said stop dad I said this whole company has been built up on the Aventador era I said whether we're going to hire it or not I need one of them he goes half a million pounds a lot of money you know to buy a car I was like Dad you've got a three million pound Bugatti you know what you can't be telling me that this this car I said come on let's not let's not play The Humble card now and say it's a lot of money we need this car we've got on the phone and we've done the deal and got it wrapped up and forget about it yeah so you can't be because it sorted I said it's sorted and and you see it you know what's funny is what my mom always tells me she goes you know you've got to ask yourself how blessed are you that you know you talk about cars like their toys in Toys R Us you you you argue with your father and if somebody else was to be hearing this conversation they would be like they are not in touch with reality one bit exactly it's the same with you guys as well absolutely but but you haven't got to be apologetic about this at any time because you marked and my father Saleem have worked hours that before these cameras existed before social media existed you you put in that hard work and and you've got us here to this position so we have to be Unapologetic about these conversations because you deserve to have these conversation with your children because you've worked hard to get to that position and and and if anybody else wants to get to that position where they want these kind of um uh discussions about you know what size yacht that they should be chartering for this summer or whatever then you know they need to also be assisting and helpful towards their children I've seen some parents that are not helpful towards their children at all they suffocate them in their growth and I think to myself what did you work for then you know do you think it's easier now than it was then to make money I know I I think it's um I think it's an all-rounder I I've never seen a recession right I never on a donor that we're not making money or we're not doing this we're always making money and we may be making little money or big money yeah but we're always busy we're always making money we're very grateful all the way through so yeah what's one thing my dad has always said to me as well like don't don't if I say to him Dad we're gonna we're heading for the biggest recession ever you know there's going to be an economic break he'd be like son the biggest mistake is that you're talking about it and just get on with it so someone told me years ago about the hot dog salesman he was selling loads of hot dogs at the side of the road so he put a sign out and a neon sign and he sold even more hot dogs and it was going really really well and someone told him it was going to be a recession so he thought oh better buy a bit less stock and you know what he sold a little bit less he thought oh I don't know if I could be bothered to put the sign out this morning because the recession so he sold a little bit less didn't bother putting a sign on went out of business the person who shows up every day beats the person that doesn't show up every single day you know yeah and it's also listening to the news you can't really impact an effect was the recession you know you can only impact your own business and what you're doing so that's probably why isn't it just keep focused on yourself for watching the news nowadays yeah yeah I do and and you know when about all this recession and this and that's just in one day right there's crack on Just Wind you up though wouldn't it if you really listen to it I think um I just want to say another thing as well I know this is this is a bit off topic as well but a huge shout out to my mother as well even though my mother you know came from Pakistan and and and and and she um and and you know she had never worked a day in her life whatever she was very very supportive and she was the rock so you know I mentioned that my father does a lot for me and whatever my mother does just as much as my father does um and that's the real Team you know we would also be uh dropping cars off and picking cars up um um you know 10 years from now picking cars up dropping cars off and this is no wind up um we dropped some cars off to London drop one off to Southampton and then travel all the way back and and we'd pick another car up from Luton on the way back um because we'd have an agreement with with the people who've hired them you know where to leave the key where to knock the door and get the key anyway would come back we'd come up to a petrol station just before we get home and I'm filling up the Petrol in my car and my wife's car she's in the car I've gone inside paid took me five minutes to come back out I've looked in the car she's only fell asleep in the car because it's like five o'clock in the morning she's been driving back and gone to Luton Sheffield living to London Bradford Bradford she's fell asleep in the car I'm not sorry so we've come back we've come back home I've jumped in the shower freshed up seven seven thirty eight o'clock back on the road she's obviously fell asleep now and so on but they're kicking off now she's saying I like your sister she goes you need to chill off a bit she goes look you've done it now you need to get people in the right positions you know you know because she's saying we're falling asleep at the wheel this is dangerous she goes we'll die like we'll drop we'll be delivering cars I will be dead because we're we're too old for this now we've worn ourselves out she goes you've done so much graft in your life you need to for my dad to take a step back is was the hardest challenge for him for him to step away and give even till this day even though we've got some fantastic people in in our positions the managers the sales and everything he still loves being in the mix even when I say to him I said dad do you mind just you know maybe coming off your chair and sitting over here for today and I'll sit over there and I'll try doing what you're doing what you do and and we'll go from there because you know her you sit opposite me here you just watch me do you feel you have worked a little bit too hard no don't know you'll never feel like that it's his favorite the amount of times you're looking at me in this podcast and going yeah that sounds like me that sounds like man he's crazy his happiest time when we had come back from a holiday be it from Dubai be it from Saudi Pakistan wherever is when he lands back at the airport he's got the biggest smile on his face oh blow come on my way to the showroom I'm on my way get the paperwork ready and my mom's like you've just literally landed we haven't even got our suitcases you've got the biggest smile on your face because you can't wait to go into the office you suffer from guilt when you're on holiday that you could be working yeah I worry about my stuff and I worry about the staff thinking will they be all right without me but honest to God they're not they're not bothered they think they say listen we love it we're all right because but when they say that I there's something there isn't it I can't really feel it I mean look I've got some great guys but we're human at the end of the day right there's always small little mistakes there's always small little things that we can miss out on uh but there's a way that you know the way that you develop your team you know like there's certain ways that we want the hose pipe there's certain way that we want everything put away there's a certain way that I want the showroom clean there's a certain way that my dad's telephone wire has to be there's a certain way the pen has to be there's a certain way that the the seat has to be left when he leaves the OCD is really really bad but look um I like it you know everything has to be right in you know from everything pens and all that sort of stuff but if it's right you're happy yeah I'm happy honestly but if it's not right he's on holiday he's watching on the cameras he's watching he's like watching Big Brother watching uh you know the housemates baby arguments where um a situation wallet this is it's probably in the car it's probably yeah I need to know where you want it is like and then like you know silence I don't know why are you stressing about my wallet that's my stress that should be my stress you said listen I'm gonna be honest with you I've left it I'll be paralysis you'd best go and get it says you better go and get it pissed off but then one one I'll do one better don't I uh on the way to work I found the lads and I said listen can you go to so-and-so's house and leave his left his wallet there so they've gone there they've picked the wallet up it's come back he's walked into the showroom and I said um did you pick you wanted to no I want to go and pick it up no it's no it's okay it's done my glasses when I go home on the night I put my glasses on one table I'll walk around the house I'll leave something else in another place I'll leave the car keys in another place I wake up in the morning every single morning on my front table on the desk in the in in the lobby there'll be my glasses there'll be my wallet there'll be my car keys there'll be everything I need for the day that I thought that I'd lost and I had to run around the house and find it I'm like oh thanks for that Dad thanks for that thanks for that you're gonna have OCD by the end of it you're gonna get it off on him but you see just the way that my father looks after and and cares for me like that it's not just for me he does the same for my sister for my mom for his brothers for his sisters for my extended family and everyone I think it's just by habit my grandmother really instilled that into my my dad as well you know one day um the the goods offside is that one day he'll do that with his children yes he will yeah I'm sure he will and um and I'm and I'm and I'm looking forward to it because um because what it is is because Alim is a little bit of a stress head right it does stress me out um but it wouldn't be fun any other way I get stressy when I want my own way ultimately um I'm gonna spoil his children rotten so they're going to get him back because when I'm not here they they will get him back yeah but and and and you know what one thing is for sure spoiling your children the only downside is that when you get given so much love and support and assistance from I.E your father he becomes your best friend and now when you're looking for another friend that's your that's your benchmark if they can't do or they can't provide uh you with the love and support system that you're so used to with your father that's why I have no friends I hardly have any friends this is my best friend my father my dad just as you guys probably got a similar situation I've got my brothers like my cousins and my family I can only relate to family now you know people that I know that I can unconditionally care for even if they were to upset me it's not a problem because at the end of the day they're still my family um but it's just uh it's it's yeah it's it's special when do you think you will have a family of your own kids well I've got to find a victim first yeah oh your mama has yeah so when are you aiming for what kind of age um I think uh what what age are we aiming for part 36 37 I really quite quite late then if it was up to me reversed back three years ago yeah but ultimately I think um the proof is in the project I had a lot of things to do man I had the world to travel I had things to do and honestly you know I think the proof is in the pudding and um talk is cheap um and if he does really love me uh then that's this is called emotional blackmail right taking it back to the car so here's one question I wanted to ask you've got Ferraris here obviously in the collection but I can't hire one from you so why is that uh so we don't have the best relationship with Ferrari and Ferrari um don't want a relationship with us as well not just us in particular but every car rental company or any Car Hire company Ferrari do not sell to they don't sell to a car dealership or a rental company the reason for that is is to protect their brand image and avoid the warranty so I can buy off let's say you know Romans International Tom Hartley or or a third party car dealership um but the warranty would be void on it so that's the main reason why we don't have any on the highest avoid the warranty because you're higher in the car out yes even though you're tracking the speed making sure it's the person driving it as well like if they can't afford to buy it no no they they don't want they don't know representation of the brand yes what they what they want is they want it to always still be the factor is that you work hard to achieve to buy a Ferrari you cannot just have a Ferrari at a fraction of the price to whiz around there is Car Hire companies out there that have Ferraris but because we are so we are the biggest car rental company in UK and Europe uh that and we're so loud we have such a big digital footprint that you know they know straight like the people that work in the organization are Ferrari are fans of ours you know so so so they will know you know when it goes into the workshop which cars have come from platinum and which but these other car rental companies that you see that have got Ferraris on their flea how they get away with it is they put on a different number plate before it goes back into that they haven't bought it on their company name they probably bought it on a private name and they're just secretly running it but again it's the same thing again isn't it it's we're doing wrong you can't when you're running on operation at such a big level you can't you can't play these little fraud games do you understand when we're not ready for it if the brand doesn't want us we don't want them do you know and that's it look I've got a Ferrari there I've got a Ferrari there you know there's only one more Ferrari I want is a La Ferrari do I want to drive it will it give me a better buzzing in my Bugatti sure aren't no I just want it in my living room spinning on a turntable and I think it's one of my dad's favorite cars as well isn't it the LaFerrari beautiful yeah even though he doesn't like cars that are old he always likes newer cars the last one is one it's one of them yeah but the original one is Bugatti's Top Dog yeah yeah but to answer your question there mark you know Ferrari's at my heart it's one of my favorite Brands being you know so young and and going to the dealership and you know always seeing Ferrari as the brand and I still Aspire I always still see that as the success label but what Lamborghini are doing now in the industry I think for Ferrari really need to get their act together and they really need to rebuild that customer relationship because it's not just myself that feels like this there's top-end car reviewers like Chris Harris um you know um Jeremy Clarkson that have previously Felt This Way Ferrari are like bullies man they really do Bully you and one of the main reasons similar to Rolex in a way isn't it because you can't go into HD and buy a Rolex yes and you know sorry and buy one off the shelf retail it's so so difficult and if Ferrari don't watch it they'll end up going down the same route and losing that Prestige yeah I I completely understand but again they've got Ferrari financing in place as well so they want people to go through the it's like a bank it's more than Ferrari make most of their sales through their licensing it's not actually from the car sales so it's from the mugs that they sell the t-shirts the games the rights the games all the merch so the Ferrari the Ferrari logo in 2017 I remember this because I studied TV and film and and digital media at the time Ferrari was one of the most powerful most influential brands in the whole world above McDonald's and Coca-Cola it was the most recognizable badge in the world you know they're in Formula One they're in road cars they're in you know watches they're in fashion they're in everything um well the deal just for the models because I'm in the model game the deal for making the models was a million dollars and that was I think in 2010 for that year a million dollars why do you ask me the question about Ferrari is your favorite brand Ferrari as well yeah of course yeah yeah it's very classy it's it's it it really is the gentleman's brand and if they are watching this maybe we can make friends again yeah yeah to get an idea of scale how many cars are in your Fleet and what's the worth of those cars we haven't last counted but I've got about six cars that are being delivered in the next three weeks which we're sweating about because uh they're all just coming one after the other um I haven't done the last check but I think the last time I counted was about 33 33 34 cars I think the value of the cars wants the the ones that are coming this year will be delivered will be 10 million pounds plus yeah crazy crazy stuff so starting a business alhamdulillah from uh a quarter of a million pound Rolls-Royce uh taking it to this extent it didn't come overnight even though I make things look easy with my social media and I never showed the downsides and the lows to the business because I understand that you know that's not what people really want to be seeing I only just feed them what they want to see it's a shame that like the flexing and everything gets the likes whereas the real business but when we did LA weekly when we were filming La weekly people really enjoyed seeing my car smashed up and me going through the process of trying to repair the cars and all that sort of stuff um so you know that was a nice way to highlight you know the the struggles in the business so if you really want to know how our business you know how we get on with ourselves and our business just watch you know um there was only two series that we did of La weekly are you gonna bring it back at some point look you know I I would love to bring it back but my mom my mother has always said that you know sometimes in life you know you absence makes the heart grow fonder you know and sometimes you've got to leave people wanting more and you never go back to it it's a bit like it takes a lot of time early it's like the boxer Prince Naseem Hamid you know it's such a flamboyant boxer one of the best in the world and you know as soon as you know he he had you know a situation come along where he wasn't winning fights and whatever you know just knocked it on the head people don't remember him for the fights that he lost people only remember it was a legend that he lived that he was in boxing and there's some things that you just got to leave where they are you know my main thing was that my father wasn't feeling comfortable with the camera around her because he's such a real guy go get a businessman that sometimes he'll say things I'll be like oh Dad don't say it like that say it like this because we've got to record it's not it's not user friendly it's not film it's not YouTube friendly you're saying things that will will cancel us you know like you go I don't give a yeah slightly yeah get out of the office he goes we're making real money out here just take your followers and all that I'm like Dad they love you stop talking about them like that he goes all right if they really love me tell them to come around I'll get piss off out the office you know you're getting in my way to a certain extent people love that realness but then there's the other side where people can't see you they just want to jump on you if you're successful and tear you down if I've got if I've got half a million people watching an episode out of those half a million people how many of them are really happy for me do you know and that's the scary part when you know that you're showing you're sharing so much about yourself I don't want people to know what really mine and my father's relationship is like um and and you know I say that he loves me but I will never tell you how much he loves me because only that's for me you know or or what he does for me that's only for me um and I didn't really want to show and highlight my workers as well my staff because when they were going out and about they're doing like a normal job they're getting on with Graf they're on the side of the road changing a tire for one of my cars or whatever and they're getting stopped by followers and stuff and wanting pictures or uh you know they'll go to go get lunch or whatever and it'll take them 20 minutes longer because they have to slow down and have to take pictures with people and I've told them to be nice to everyone and my dad's on the blower saying how can you ever come back to the office yet it's been an hour since you went to go get lunch oh I've got stopped by some followers oh what you think you're famous now do you get back to the showroom we've got some graft on over here so you know look it was nice whilst it lasted will I bring it back who knows probably not I like to spend my time away from the camera now as much as I do in front of it um but you know that that's the phase that's that's the part in life that I am at at the moment and I'm very happy with it and I like doing these podcasts with with people like yourself because for me now it's not about me I've got a lot of development to do I'm 28 years old I'm still young you know me sitting and telling people where I'm at in life every six months you know you're not going to see progress I'm doing a lot of things off camera physically with myself um you know working out in the gym changing habits about myself in my life um that you know later on you'll see the progression but for me um it's about you know I wanna I wanna kind of highlight my father's story you know I want to highlight the story of how um my dad's just my dad was just just a normal street going you know on the corner shop type of man who you know had very normal friends and and all you know it was a very normal person but there were certain you know elements there's certain things that you know characteristics about his personality about how driven he was that got him to where he's got to and if I said that I was I'm like my dad I'd be bullshitting I'm not like my dad at all I haven't got the persistency I'm not as consistent um I haven't got that hunger and that drive that my father has the only thing that I have that hunger and drive and knowing is just to make him proud like I don't care how much money I have in the bank I don't really care who which friends I'm impressing or whatever as long as everyone knows that my dad is the top dog and I and I make him proud or whatever I'm flying the flag for him so so that's what makes me happy now and and I think doing these podcasts it kind of um scrapes away at the surface of the story I mean we've talked for so long but we still haven't even covered you know 30 of of of of the stories that he had to tell but you know we've got to condense it we'll be here all day talking about it but you know it's it's the main things isn't it it's the things that we have to learn it there's certain characteristics that you need to instill within yourself to get to that goal until you don't have that you know you've got to have patience you know you've got to have patience determination all these things thank you well in time it's just a just a case of time but I think if you come back it'll be a more matured Lord of lame anyway yes yes well I I hope I hope so because I've spent a lot of my time a lot of my years being very immature he's always made me feel like a little baby he gets married I think it'll be a slightly different Kettle than uh yeah he'll follow a different direction you could almost do a series together where you're talking about like your past stories and building on that and actually sharing those 70 of stories that we haven't heard because we've been uh doing this two and a half years or so the YouTube Journey as we call it and most weeks he says to me I've known that story before yeah it's just in conversations right right we can use that for a YouTube video let's make sure to you know because you know why is because sometimes we just switch off as being there so because we hear these stories all the time we we can sometimes take our loved ones for granted right where as other people they tell me if I was in your position I wouldn't get up from that seat in front of your dad you can learn so much of him I'm like mate he's my dad you know I've heard every story there is I said there's no more stories I could possibly listen to but there is always another story and there's probably a lot of other stories that he has that you know he keeps to himself you know he's a very reserved man even to get him onto a podcast to talk uh yeah I mean he was very excited to go on to it I I was actually you know and I said look I'm I'm ready yeah we're very honored you chose the strike we're very honored that you've come here and and you've taken the time out and I'm very honored that I got to sit with you know successful um a successful um a person like Mark and also you know um your son Curtis and you know the setup that you've done and the way and the guests that you get on board on this podcast this is just a start for you guys you know well the more the subscribed the bigger the better the guests that's what we always say 100 and I just want to say I think I think my father did say this as well I think this is his first ever this is the first ever podcast or talk that we've ever done together and uh he said to me he said make sure that um you don't phone me tomorrow and say there's another podcast that we've got to do this is the only one I'm doing and and this is what it is but um in general I think you know main thing is and the main message that I want to leave with people is that you know respect your elders um really tune in and listen to them because they have a lot of value to give even though you know we can sometimes be very ignorant towards what they have to say because we think we're the new generation we're the new era we know how things work yes we know how to click upload on YouTube yes we know how to edit a video or whatever maybe they don't know how to do it but there is core principles that the older generation have that we need to learn because they have been taught from generation after generation after generation but the main thing is to be a good human being business is business on one side when we're long gone and when we walk out this door the only thing that will be left is who was that person and how did he make me feel yeah your final question Dad yeah well I've got two people to ask it to let's go when is enough enough um that is a brilliant question truthfully when I'm dead because do you know what I will carry on I love it I really enjoy it and um uh there's there's no there's no way I'm retiring no chance at all I think if you're younger don't it yeah I love it do you want to know for me yeah from you yeah so I'll tell you when there's enough is enough right yeah I want a I want I want I want a fat I want a nice 20 mil plus apartment in London yeah with three hyper cars downstairs I want I want about two more Holiday Homes I want a yacht but where the holiday home is going to be well you see now that the world's shifting and changing I would have said Europe now now I'm starting to think a bit more in the Middle East right um private jet I don't mind chartering the jet but I've got to own the yacht well you could own the you could own the private jet and Charter it Charter it that's the next part of this yeah in fact in fact we we did uh pet Jets yeah yeah I like it we were already onto it um uh you'll finally get into planes like you especially back in the day yeah yeah but we we did think about chartering Yachts but uh we worked out yeah it's just a whole burning in your pocket you've got to do 13 or 14 weeks on a season to uh come back because the the sea is the most it's the roughest environment the roughest natural environment with the sea salt and all that sort of stuff so on like let's say a 35 meter yacht you're gonna have to have a crew of six uh or eight or which four have to be full time um that costs you about you know three four hundred grand a year to maintain and then you know to charge for it 14 15 weeks just basically balances it all out but you know look a dream I have these I have these dreams now I want a boat I want this I want that I want you know and I'm sure that when my dad was my age he probably also had these dreams of you know wanting a plane wanting a boat wanting an apartment in this place or I don't know whether he did or not but I'm assuming that that's how you probably felt right but as you get older you start to realize that you know like maybe these things you know are not what's important in life but I yet haven't got to that stage I still need my cars I used it 20 years ago go over to um Spain and Puerto Venus and go on the Golden Mile where they've got all the boats in the afternoon and just trying to get a sort of a feel of how much the boats are and XYZ and just to you know never say never but um but no I I just um I couldn't get the numbers right I just couldn't get the numbers down as you know yeah yeah it's just money pits yeah I just wouldn't touch a boat yeah just can't get the numbers in if I'd got the numbers in today I I I'd have half a dozen of them but I still couldn't get the numbers and and mark because you know when you've been to Dubai it was your first trip to Dubai it was did you enjoy it we loved it it's like future cities It's like Star Wars isn't it yeah it's looking out at the Burj Khalifa but how long did you stay there for 10 days yeah 10 days yeah I think that was that's just the perfect amount of time especially if you've gone for the first time I mean Dubai was a very inspiring City for my father and I uh when you know going to Dubai I mean you probably know or may not know that I recently took my Bugatti shirt on I flew it out there and uh expensive to get it out there yeah it was expensive but you know the money at one I couldn't care if it cost quarter of a million I still would have taken it out there but one thing that I was like it it was like so surreal and I just couldn't thank God enough from at that moment of time I had to pinch myself every single day like I kid you not pops you probably don't know this right yeah but I got very emotional every single day because when my father and I when my father took us on a family holiday to Dubai for the very first time we used to look at cars like you know oh look at that Shake's car look at that Bugatti over there look at that white Rolls-Royce drop it today I have every single car I could ever wish for alhamdulillah and the Bugatti um you know I when I sit and I look at that steering wheel and I see the B badge I think to myself am I really driving a Bugatti that's on UK plates in a Dubai state right and this was only a dream about 10 years ago that that for me was like a moment to think to myself that you know never say never you know don't think small always think big if your dreams don't scare you or they don't give you nightmares you're not you're not dreaming big enough and it was all possible for my father's hard work and you know he allowed me to you know to to because it was a vision I said to him I wanted to launch pet Dubai he says son it's not a good idea I just want you to you know expand the business here I said Dad it's you know we must try it it's something that you know everybody does you know follow the height follow the trend well I did it and I realized that you know the numbers weren't making sense out there and adding up and whatever and my dad said I told you that that would be the numbers you just don't touch it but if you don't try you'd only you'll never know yeah but he wanted to try it yeah you can look at the research you can research it punch the numbers but again coming back wrong it ain't ever going to be right but coming out to that point but I left but we left Dubai sorry coming up to that point I disagreed he wanted to do let's do it but now I'm gonna let him try and yeah but but when I when I was connecting with all the Car Hire companies out there they knew of who I was straight away and as much as I thought that they wanted to work with me they were they were themselves that I was coming to the to Dubai so well what what is uh pet Dubai what what card you have you know how many cars you have I said I got none at the moment except for a Bugatti but that's how I'm coming in as my dad said always says to me going head first so I'm doing something that none of you guys do here we've got a Bugatti Chiron on higher I had loads of people wanting to hire it but it was just I was too far away from home um some things weren't adding up by you know passport deposits and all that sort of stuff I was relaying all this information to my dad and my dad just said to me says son you've flown the car out there he goes I haven't worked this hard made all these millions right yeah for you to go around and running around the streets into hiring out your Bugatti just go and enjoy it mate go and enjoy it Market the hell out of pet hair in the UK build that bridge and go and assist the Car Hire companies out there so I did and today there's a car rental company which I work with which I offered my car to that hire a Bugatti Chiron for 30 minutes for uh four thousand Euros which comes to 800 pounds 30 minute rides they realized people couldn't digest the car for a day two three days here in the UK they can I've got some fantastic clients here but in Dubai um you know they wanted it for a quick little snap on Instagram quick little pictures so that business model worked a lot better but I could never fathom renting my car out which is a three million pound Bugatti for 30 minutes you know amount of different people that you would have to rent it to her as well it's just risk risk isn't it yeah you know the old saying it's not worth getting out of bed before yeah it's exactly that it's not worth it thank you very much for coming on the podcast it's been really good very much and really enjoyed it absolute pleasure and we wish all I could feel is uh on my heart is my two phones uh buzzing away 100 miles an hour and you didn't pick one up I didn't pick one up no absolutely and uh and trust me and my wife would give evidence here and say he would never want to miss a phone call but um um I think no exaggeration let's have a quick glimpse of how many we've had missed oh sugar well just just flick oh look look let's turn it around now it's ringing now so yeah so I can't tell but I would have thought um let's have a fear that's a Blackberry over there ladies and gentlemen I'm wondering wow he's still got the heat no he's not on BBM no well look I think we're going to be into about about 50 but that's fine we'll catch them all but um but once again thank you very much for your time it's been great if you guys enjoyed the podcast make sure to smash that thumbs up button for the YouTube algorithm and we will see you next Wednesday with a brand new podcast so it's goodbye for me and it's goodbye from this lot but don't leave him hanging come on thank you so much Mark thank you so much

Channel: STRIKE IT BIG

Views: 1,045,362

Keywords:

Id: dxi2hncui1A

Length: 183min 39sec (11019 seconds)

Published: Thu May 18 2023