Here’s how David has leveraged interest-free finance to grow his car repair business CQ Automotive and avoid dipping into his personal savings.
For David, the owner of CQ Automotive, a successful car repair shop in Australia, hummpro is the key to growing his business and catering to an expanding customer base. He originally downloaded the app to finance the purchase of a car hoist, a $5,000 piece of equipment, but now uses it to pay for everyday expenses. David says the app has been a “lifesaver” and made things “a lot easier”. Here’s how it’s changed his business for the better.
Biggest challenges
The main hurdle David has faced in growing his business is the cost of the equipment he needs to buy to serve an expanding customer base. The machinery required for car repairs, such as car hoists, brake lathes and commercial-grade air compressors, can run into the thousands, and because he typically pays for car parts upfront before being reimbursed by customers, he simply doesn’t have the cash to buy expensive equipment outright. According to David, about 70% of the money he makes goes back into car parts.
How hummpro has helped
David originally downloaded hummpro to finance the purchase of a $5,000 hoist so he could take on more work. But now, he uses it to pay for everything in his business, including the car parts he buys on a daily basis for repairs. This means he no longer needs to dip into his cashflow, or worse, his personal savings, to pay for these. Unfortunately, using personal savings for business purposes is fairly common among small business owners, which can lead to significant stress and poor mental health.
With hummpro, David has a buffer of at least 30 days between buying the car parts and when he needs to make a repayment, by which time, the customer has generally settled the bill, so he has sufficient cashflow to continue running his business. He can also use hummpro to pay for expensive parts, such as a new engine, upfront. Previously, he required customers to pay for more expensive parts in advance, so this is a big improvement to the customer experience.
Because hummpro bundles all of his transactions each month into a single repayment, it’s also easier for David to keep track of his cash float and overall finances, reducing his risk of falling into the red. According to a global survey, about 1 in 5 small business owners at some point have thought they had more money than they did because they forgot about a business expense they had paid that was still in their account.
Key takeaways
For David, hummpro has enabled him to buy the equipment he needs to grow CQ Automotive and cover daily expenses without needing to dip into his personal savings. He now uses the app virtually on a daily basis “like a credit card”, but the key difference is he doesn’t need to pay any interest on his transactions. He also appreciates the fact that he can find answers to any questions on the hummpro website without needing to call a customer service agent.
For expenses both big and small, hummpro is a smart way to pay for the things you need to run your business.
