Mike Brewer: Building Wheeler Dealers, Restoring Cars For Profit & Why He Sold His Entire Collection

Mike, what makes a true wheeler dealer?

Uh, I think somebody that understands not only what they want in terms of buying a car at the right price and selling it at the right price, but also understanding what the customer wants.

So a true wheeler dealer is understanding the market, reading the customer really well, uh, buying a car at the right price, selling it at the right price, but more importantly, making sure the customer is happy.

And do you think there's a difference between a wheeler dealer at the lower end of the car market and a wheeler dealer at the higher end of the car market [laughs]?

Yes.

Uh, the risk element to what, say, Carl does is, uh, w- I couldn't sleep at night because Carl's dealing in £100,000 cars all the time, £200,000 cars.

I'm dealing in stuff that's 20, 30 grand, you know, so I can sleep comfortably at night.

I can, I can take it on the chin if something goes wrong or we've made a loss, uh, I can take it on the chin.

I don't know if I could suffer those kind of, those risks and losses.

Ugh, I st- I stopped sleeping when I was 16.

[laughs]

[laughs]

So [laughs] I don't-

He's only 18 now.

Yeah.

Look at the state of him.

Yeah, just another hard day at work.

No, it j- it, it come, I think it comes down to that, it's the risk element, isn't it? And, uh, you know, I have had in my time, and I still have, I've got, uh, £100,000 cars and £200,000 cars.

I'm currently restoring a car that's gonna be a 300 grand car, uh, personally at the moment, and that, you know, that's a worry.

You know, having that car out there is a worry.

Um, but no, I, I, uh, I'm one of those people, it's like I don't gamble.

I don't gamble on the, on the Grand National.

I don't gram- gamble on Wimbledon.

I don't gamble, and the reason is I work so hard for every single penny I've got, the thought of losing it or giving it away horrifies me.

Mike, do you think you're a wheeler dealer?