Community Highlights: Meet Will Shaban of Linwood Auto Sales

Today we’d like to introduce you to Will Shaban.

Hi Will, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for sharing your story with us – to start, maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers.
I took over the dealership: Linwood Auto Sales in December of 2019; I needed to gain experience running a dealership. The tenants there went out of business because the property was in dire need of repair. The roof needed to be replaced, the sewer line had collapsed, and catalytic theft was rising. But knowing all this, I still took over their lease in January 2020. But I could not prepare for what was about to happen next.

Once COVID hit, they closed the auctions, and we closed our doors for 2months. We didn’t have a customer base back then. And didn’t open back up until May 2020, and business was still prolonged; we struggled to stay open. I was using funds from my other business to cover the dealership expenses. We struggled to survive for the next 8months. It wasn’t until April 2021 that I devoted all my time to the business. I purchased the land and building from the landlord so that we could fix the roof and the collapsed sewer line. We built a 2nd story for more office space and hired a full-time mechanic and a sales manager. And we began running the car business with a new vision. To provide excellent customer service with a warranty, people can feel comfortable buying a vehicle from Linwood Auto Sales. Since then, we have received so much positive feedback from our customers. We added an in-house licensed insurance agent that provides car insurance to customers with a bad driving record or a suspended license.

We work with all customers in any situation. If the big car lots have denied you, stop by our dealership and tell us your story. We are one of the few in-house Buy Here, Pay Here Dealers. Which means we don’t sell our books to aggressive 3rd party lenders. We work with people in any situation. We are one big family here at Linwood Auto Sales.

Alright, let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall, and if not, what challenges have you had to overcome?
The struggles we’re funding are one thing I didn’t realize about car dealerships. Banks don’t lend to car dealers; they’re considered high-risk businesses, especially when you have minimal experience. But my biggest struggle was hiring a sales manager named Samuel Cattey; he worked for me for 8months and ended up stealing 2 of my vehicles and thousands of dollars in cash before fleeing to Mexico to live a lavish life down there. Luckily Karma caught up with him very quickly. And he was thrown out of a 3-story building in Mexico and lived! But now he is a vegetable in KU Medical Center trying to recover. You have to be careful who you trust in this business. At any moment, someone you care about will turn around and stab you in the back.

Thanks for sharing that. So, you could tell us a bit more about your business.
Linwood Auto Sales is a one-stop shop for all your Car Buying Needs. We offer the Vehicles, the financing, the insurance, and the warranty all under one roof. And we’ve added Skyline credit repair as an additional service to help our customers get their life back on track. The idea is to have a customer walk in with poor credit and work with us for 2 years and be able to buy a car and a house through our services since I am also a licensed real estate agent and own WeBuyHomesKC.com. That would be the ultimate dream. We are still working to accomplish this dream.

Pricing:

• If you have a job, a Valid ID, and $1,200, we can get you into a vehicle today.
• We keep various vehicles for all our customers from $2,000 – $15,000 vehicles. That is our price point.
• If you need an insurance quote or SR-22 Insurance, we can help!

Contact Info:

• Website: Linwoodautosales.com
• Facebook: https://facebook.com/linwoodautosales/
• Other: https://g.co/kgs/4bzwfW 

Image Credits
Will Shaban