“Obviously, I checked with my wife first,” business owner Fred Najjar, said with a chuckle. “I said, ‘How you would like to have a horse for the kids?’ And she said, ‘I’ve always wanted one.’”
The horse was not the first time the used car business, located at 8000 Park Blvd. in Pinellas Park, accepted something unusual as a down payment. Along with more conventional trades of older vehicles, boats and motorcycles, they’ve taken signed baseballs and jewelry. Two years ago, the business took on the mortgage to house in Largo that a customer didn’t need. +car dealership trade horse,
“Whenever the bank requests money down, we suggest to the customer, ‘What do you have to trade? Something you’re not using,’” Najjar said. Pinellas Park, Florida,
In this case, the customer needed a vehicle big enough to accommodate her children, but didn’t have a down payment for it. She did have a horse she was caring for, stabled in Odessa.
“That’s how it started,” Najjar said. buckskin quarter horse,
The car business requested specifics of the horse. The customer sent a YouTube video of Dallas.
“It was a beautiful horse. I did a little investigation as to what I might be worth,” Najjar said.
As a down payment, Dallas was valued at $2,800.
“But who knows what the real value of a horse is,” Najjar said with a laugh. “That was my perceived value of it. You don’t want to over-inflate the value because there are banks involved. We wanted to make sure we were on the low end of it.”
Park Auto Mall sold a 2010 Chevy HHR to the customer on July 29. As in the Largo house trade, Najjar contends that his business helped the customer save money.
“Even though she didn’t owe any money on the horse, the monthly expenses on the horse are pretty significant,” he said. “Her new car payment is less than what she was paying for having a horse.”
Najjar’s wife, Rebecca, and their three children – ages 5, 7 and 9 – went to see the horse in Odessa several times. The children were excited to have a new horse, their father said, though the hour and 10 minute drive to see him was making their schedule hectic. The horse’s new stable in Clearwater is much closer to the family’s home in Dunedin. car dealer horse trade planes, artwork jewelry ,
Since trading for the horse, Park Auto Mall has taken a professional Canon camera on trade as well as an authenticated Thomas Kinkade painting entitled “Nascar Thunder.” Many of the items are later sold on eBay or Craigslist.com, unless Najjar sees value in hanging on to something as a collector’s item, he said.
“A lot of dealers don’t like to get involved in these type of deals,” he said, explaining the deals require research to determine the value of an item. car dealer horse trade planes, artwork jewelry ,
But Najjar, who has owned the business since March 2009, says unconventional transactions take place at Park Auto Mall on a daily basis.
“We were not trying to buy a horse, or take a house on trade or take artwork on trade. We’re in the business of selling cars,” he said. “But we do this to help the consumer, to fill their need.” car dealer horse trade planes, artwork jewelry ,
Source: tbnweekly
