10:47 am, July 23, 2024
From a plumber in a small family business to a used car dealer running a viral YouTube channel – it’s been quite the journey for Joe Betty.
To talk us through his unorthodox rise, Betty joined us on the latest episode of the Car Dealer Podcast, where we discussed how his videos have helped his business to grow.
Betty told hosts James Baggott and Jon Reay that he set up Berrow Motors after his father retired from the family plumbing firm.
Using the old company’s lockup, he began selling motorcycles before gradually switching to cars over time. The Burnham-on-Sea outfit has now grown into a major operation, stocking around 40 cars.
However, it is the company’s in house YouTube channel – Shifting Metal – which has really allowed it to stand out from the crowd.
The platform now has a whopping 73,000 subscribers, with viewers all over the world enjoying Betty’s unique insight into the motor trade.
Speaking about how the idea came about, Betty said: ‘I just think I like being a bit creative. I thought that the car trade was interesting and I thought a lot of people would be interested in it.
‘Obviously I’m not the first person to do this, but I just show the real life day-to-day. Letting you know about the cars being rejected by finance, this is why, and these are the expenses. I just thought there was something there, it would be interesting and I would enjoy doing it.
‘The first video I did, I thought it was really interesting because I’d taken a part-exchange Porsche Boxster that had 160,000 miles and had given him £1,500 for it. I thought, “Where can you buy that sort of thing?” Yes, it’s high mileage and a lot of people won’t like it, but that gives me a buzz, that sort of thing.
‘Buying cheap cars like that, old cars, especially things that might have been aspirational at one point and now worth absolutely nothing. I’ll buy stupid stuff like old Mercedes with five litre V8 engines, just because I’ve always wanted to try one.
‘Most people wouldn’t buy one because why would you? It’s like financial suicide so I guess people get to live vicariously through me making stupid choices.’
‘I’m not that good of a car salesman’
The video operation has now grown to such an extent that Betty now employs a full-time videographer.
The outfit aims to put out three videos a week and Betty says it is that side of the business which now takes up the majority of his time.
He said: ‘We publish three [videos] a week.
‘Now we’ve gone on to doing one on our actual garage YouTube channel as well. I do now have a full time videographer and editor, Toby, who’s an absolute whiz.
‘He’s a young 19-year-old lad. He sits on the desk opposite me and he’s just there constantly with his headphones on, working the magic.
‘It got to a stage where I was avoiding phone calls because I was trying to edit a video, it just didn’t make sense.
‘So he is flat out on it all the time. It takes the majority of my time now, to be honest but I guess I see it as being like my marketing role.
‘I still do all the buying and some of the bigger decision making, but I try to let everything else run as much as it can and I can concentrate on those.
‘I think I offer better value doing that. I’m not that good of a car salesman, I’m really not, so I’m better doing videos and things.’
The Car Dealer Podcast, sponsored by JATO, sees an industry guest join our hosts to discuss the motor trade’s biggest headlines of every week.
A full list of the stories discussed on this week’s episode can be found here.
You can listen to all episodes of the Car Dealer Podcast on Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.
