EP12: Being a Partner in Business Acquisitions w/ Lauren Natoli

Welcome to the Mundo Show. My name is Mundo, I am your host and I am one of Pace Moreby's business partners where we own a 181 unit apartment complex together. I'm a two time CFO of the year. I own multiple companies. I have been featured in Forbes and I've spoken on the same stages with some of the best such as Grant Cardone, Cody Sanchez and Pace Morby. I am your host where we talk all things related to real estate and business. So let's go ahead and dive right in and talk to today's guest. All right, welcome back to another episode. My name is Mundo, CFO of Renewable Transport Services. Today we have a special guest, Lauren Atoli from Ameriquest Used Trucks. So welcome to the show.

Hi, appreciate you, thanks for having me.

So today we're going to talk about buying back your time in business and a recent acquisition that we did. And Lauren and I worked on a large project where we did a lot of disposition of equipment. Really worked out great for everyone involved and was just an amazing process and we couldn't have done that without Lauren's help. So, Lauren, give us a little bit of background about yourself and how you got into your role and a little bit about your story and then we can kind of dive into our project that we worked on together.

Fantastic. Thanks, Mundo. I appreciate you having me on today. So I've been in the rental space for about five years. I started off at Enterprise and I worked my way as a branch manager all the way from Marco island to North Port. So I've worked at pretty much every single branch. I know how it, what it takes to, you know, run an operation. So it kind of led me to then helping out mom and pop car dealerships in the local Fort Myers area. I was going to Mannheim Auctions, I was getting under the cars, you know, checking, popping the hood, checking for everything and, you know, helping flip cars. After that I decided that I wanted to join ameriquest Used Trucks so that I can start helping sell, you know, more equipment. So that's kind of what led me here. I've been with the company for around three years and then I've helped through tons of acquisitions. I've helped liquidate companies, we've managed assets all through leasing companies. And then, yeah, I've, I've loved what I've been doing so far and I, it's been great. So I'm ready to help out anyone else. Yeah.

So, yeah, we started working together on this large project a few months ago and we were going through an acquisition. And during that process, we had identified some equipment that really wasn't generating revenue, or if it was generating revenue, it was losing money. And so essentially, through our process, we kind of cut out the losers and kept the winners.

And.

And through that, we ended up disposing a lot of equipment, both trucks and trailers. And, Lauren, you played an instrumental role in that, and you were pretty much our dedicated go to partner in selling equipment. So was that the first time, you know, you mentioned you've done liquidations before. We gave you quite a bit of work to do with a lot of equipment. Was that the largest one that you've done, or have you done other ones that were larger?

I have done a little larger. We've done about 400 trailers before. And what's interesting is each company, you know, that needs to get rid of their assets. It's all catered differently. Right. You have different goals in mind. So I think the way that we structured that one versus versus yours is that was more of a liquidation. So we had to really assess, like, how quickly we needed it to get done. And then also still an operating fleet at the time. So I think that would be the challenge there. But it's so rewarding. And honestly, like I told you this the other day, like, through this acquisition, it's been the most fun that I've had since I've been working for Ameriquest Used Trucks, because I get to. My thing is that I love the results of helping and making a difference. And that, to me, is where it's all about. Right. You said that you're asking me if I've done multiple. So I've done that, and then I've done another acquisition as well. But are you asking me kind of the difference between them?

Yeah. I mean, tell me a little bit about how this one differed from your other ones that you've done.

So I think it differed because I was working with multiple parties. We always will work with the bank, but I had to make sure that the company that was selling off their assets, you know, that they were happy. And then I also had to manage, you know, your shop and the operations of where the equipment. Equipment was at and how we wanted to structure it. Right. We had goals that we wanted to hit. We had prices that we wanted to hit. And I think, all in all, like, we did a great job. You know, we're able to produce $1.1 million within three months. And to me, like, I think that, honestly, they're all different. I think yours made it a lot Easier with your shop. They're very transparent. When I had a request, something to be fixed, you know, it wasn't just oh sure, we'll get it done and then it doesn't get done correctly. You know, your shop stood by your word. We were able to create an A to Z service speech that I was able to give to our buyers which really helped move the equipment. I think the biggest part about it was that you guys have always been so open minded and very creative when it comes to allowing us to help you sell your equipment. So I think that helped as well. And not only that, like you guys have a great yard open, it was easy for customers to go in and out of. And then honestly just day to day communication. You guys communicated with us so well and then really help, you know, describe the equipment to us. And we can't thank you enough for allowing us to help you. But I would say that the acquisition that we had, it was challenging, but it was very rewarding and I loved every minute of it.

If we think about all the things that go into selling equipment, whether that be one off equipment, because I know you guys do that all the time, whether it's a one off truck or a trailer, or doing a large acquisition where you have to disposition a lot of equipment like we did. Can you tell me a little bit about what goes into that process?

Yeah. So I think on the, I want to talk more on the bigger scale. You know, on the smaller scale, we help all different companies sell off their assets. Right. Whether it's two or one or three, whatever, it could be any year. You know, we're, we're here, we're here to help. We're here. Even if you don't want to use our services, we're here to, we can even help provide values. But what goes into that is there's, there's a, there's a time cycle, right? You have a lot of people calling in. You have a lot of time that you need to spend describing the equipment to them. You know, they ask for photos. There's a lot that goes obviously into the selling process that can take time away from any business. So on the small scale, that's kind of what comes into it. But then we also will list everything on our four websites and then we also have a large network and then on the larger scale, we look at every fleet differently. A lot of times what will happen is there's a fleet needing to make a quick decision by letting go of their assets. So they might turn to the auction. But for us you know, we feel like that sometimes leave money on the table. And with that being said, it's like we look at your assets and kind of your goals in mind and then we assess, okay, do you want to sell it as is, like, do you want to fix anything up? That's the biggest part is are you willing to put, you know, a little bit more work into the truck or into the trailer so that we can, you know, get you a little bit more. So with that being said, it's the, I think the biggest part is the decision, the decision on how you want to sell your assets. And so you can either go that route, you can either go to a dealer, you can. I think that a lot of like major fleets, when they're going through a change in a short amount of time, they look, it's the decision on who are we going to use or where are we going to bring the equipment or how are we going to dispose of it. So I think the biggest thing is just to be open minded and to say, hey, look, there's people here that, you know, claim that they can get me more for my equipment. Like, let's give them a shot. And a lot of the times it works. A lot of the times they make way more money going that route versus going, going to the auction or disposing of it in a different way. So that's what it kind of takes as far as trying to go a different route with your, with your equipment.

So if someone's trying to make a decision on do I fix it or do I just sell it as is, what do you think people should generally do or what kind of hit are you seeing people take if they decide to just sell it as is without fixing it? Because obviously no buyer really wants to buy equipment with issues, and if they do, they're going to want to buy it at a steep discount to where it makes up for the pain that they're going to have to incur from, you know, fixing the equipment. Right.

Well, that, that goes into also like, okay, if there's many fleets that are different, right? Your, your fleet, your operations, you guys have a really strong shop. You're, you have a lot of pairs of hands that can help. There's a lot of fleets that are short people. You know, the life cycle of, you know, hiring mechanics and stuff like that in this industry, it's, it's a little challenging, but it kind of goes into that too, right? It's like if a fleet doesn't have, the company doesn't have enough hands on Deck in the short amount of time that they're able to sell off their equipment, then, okay, maybe we don't need to fix everything up. Maybe we could. You can. We can kind of make out a plan for you on what you can accomplish, like what makes sense for your fleet. But I use this as a really good example, right? You're looking for a Ford F150 pickup truck. And there's two trucks out there on the lot that you're looking at. One is they're both the same year, same model, same mileage, everything. You have one that is 5,000 more than the other. But the other one needs a lot of work done, right? It needs new tires or it has a leak. You need to get that fixed, you tell me, right? Or a truck that is already fixed up, you can literally pick it up and go on your way. I feel like the other option, a lot of the times people don't want that. They don't want to have to take it in themselves. They want to be on the road and get going. Right. And that's kind of where people are willing to pay more for a truck that's already ready. But needless to say, it doesn't mean that someone wouldn't pay a good amount for something that needed work. It just kind of depends. But that's kind of. That's what I would say, like, in terms of selling any equipment that's up to DOT standards, that's kind of like a comparable. There is like, we might as well just put a little bit of money into it and then get it sold. Because all in all, you're going to make more that way. But then it just kind of caters to, like, how much work or how much money you're putting into it and what your shop can handle to get rid of the equipment and the time that you need.

Yeah, I think that's really important in times like right now where the equipment market's really soft. If you think about, you know, 20 different trucks and they're all the same, and yours is the one that has problems and you decide not to fix it, you know, you're going to take a pretty big haircut in that type of situation where if you go back to, like, Covid times where used equipment was not where it's at, you know, today you really didn't have to fix anything and it would just sell. And so it's really about where the market's at. And right now it's. It's a pretty rough time. Speaking about where the market's at. Where are you seeing that now? Are you starting to see that recover a little bit more? At least from what I've seen, it looks like things are starting to recover a little bit more, which is a good sign.

Yeah, I think that the. Each. Well, the market right now is. It's still down. It's going to slowly stabilize. Trucking and economy go hand in hand. So I think with where we're headed right now, you know, we're going to see some kind of progression as to the percentage month to month. That's something that our company tracks on a day to day basis. So we're able to see how many day cabs were advertised month to month to see if there's some sort of growth. A lot of. Well, still to this day there's around 21,000 day cabs right there on the market being advertised. And if you compare it year to year, it's definitely a major difference, about 8,000 day cabs or so. I know that roughly in around 2021, where things were more stable, there was only around, I want to say 13,000 day cabs being advertised on the market and now we're at 21,000. Right. So that's a huge jump. We need to kind of level out and that's where we see we're getting a lot of traction, especially on lower mileage units where that's going to all run out. Right. So you're going to have to buckle up and get something with higher miles or maybe an older year trailer. Right. Like it's starting to show that. Yeah, we're still down but it's stabilizing and everything is picking up. So I would expect kind of some percentage increase month to month based off of what we're seeing now.

And you guys. So like speaking on that data and all those numbers that you mentioned, Ameriquest and I think some of your other companies aren't you guys like one of the largest resellers of equipment out there?

Yeah, we are. I can't say names of companies but we've sold. We've helped the largest fleet in America get rid of around 3,000 power units within a year. We, I mean you were also tied in core Centric Capital Equipment Solutions is, you know, for dba, Ameriquest use trucks. So of course Centric, we have a large network. And then like you even signed up to. You even signed up to try to get the discounts. You know, it's like the, a procurement program for the parts. So we're really. Yeah, we should do a part two to see maybe how much you save. But yeah, we're so much larger. I mean we have a huge network of dealers and then trucking companies that, you know, we've worked with and we have really good relationships with too. And yeah.

Awesome, awesome. So how can people find you if they want your help in selling their equipment, whether it be one truck, one trailer or larger projects like what we did? How can people reach out to you?

So you can contact me down below. I'll Natoli at Ameriquest use trucks. Elnatoly@corecentric.com and do you sell equipment just.

In specific demographics or you're nationwide? It doesn't matter where you're at, you can sell it.

So we're nationwide. We sell on truck, paper, commercial truck trader Richie Brothers and Ameriquest used trucks.com and national use trucks dot com. We are nationwide. I almost closed the deal that was in Dubai for 100 Ford F650s.

Worldwide.

I guess we helped. Yeah, we helped. I helped put together shipping quotes. We got everything lined up, you know, so we are, I like to just say nationwide or even out of the country. We're very creative with what we do and we like to help all businesses no matter where you're at. So we are very open to that.

Awesome. Well, thank you again, Lauren, for coming on the show. Look forward to chatting again about some other topics. But good to hear about everything you guys got going on and you have helped us tremendously. So I really appreciate all the help.

Thank you. Thank you for having me on. Thanks for watching.

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