8:00 am, February 27, 2025
For every established legend of the used car industry, there is an up-and-coming young pup hoping to fill their shoes.
Among the most promising of that next generation is EA Automotive boss Elliot Ashley, who has already crammed a hell of a lot into his short career.
The 25-year-old was the most recent guest on the Car Dealer Podcast, where he described his route to running his own successful firm, in an industry dominated by more experienced peers.
Ashely told hosts James Baggott and Jon Reay that he began life in the motoring industry working as an apprentice mechanic at the age of just 15.
However, he eventually came to the decision that getting his hands oily was not for him and, after a brief stint running his own valeting business, he eventually found work at his local JLR franchise.
It was a role which ignited a spark for Ashely and now, just a few short years on, he already his own boss at EA Automotive.
The Taunton-based business currently stocks between 10 and 15 cars, with plans in place for further growth down the line.
As a self-confessed petrol head, Ashley hand-picks all the cars himself, although he admits the tactic has seen him burnt on more than one occasion!
Describing how he first got involved in selling cars, he told the podcast: ‘As a kid, I was always out in cars, always knew cars so fast forward to leaving school and I did an apprenticeship as a mechanic.
‘I soon realised that I didn’t enjoy being on the tools – I hated every minute of it and it was not for me!
‘At 15, I was going around where my apprenticeship was and there was a scrap yard. I used to go around trying to find any cars which had a bit of MOT left to buy before they scrapped them to sell off of mum and dad’s driveway.
‘I never really got very far until one day, a little Peugeot 106 came in. It had Lexus rear lights – an absolute minter! I painted the wheels satin black with a rattle can and it looked really good. I bought it for £100 and sold it for £350. At 15, I thought I was a hero!’
Now a decade on from those teenaged antics, Ashley is loving life with his own site, which comes complete with its own mezzanine floor and ‘man cave’.
Despite his remarkable rise, the hunger remains to achieve even more and grow his business even further over the coming years.
Reflecting on what comes next, he said: ‘I look at it sometimes as I’ve failed and then a lot of people say that I need to have a reality check and to look at where I’ve got to at 25.
‘I don’t ever look at it like I’m doing anything. I always look at other people and think, “I wish I was doing that. I wish I was doing this”.
‘I wish I was doing other stuff in some respects but sometimes I think you need to step back and go, actually, I am trying my best.
‘I’m going to keep it going where we are for a minute. I want to up the stock level slightly, which I’m doing my best to do. It’s again, just finding the right stock because I won’t just go and buy anything.
‘I just want to keep it going. I’ve taken on another unit down a couple of units down from where I am here as well. I’ve bought a ramp, so I want to try and bring some of the prep costs inside the business, so have a mechanic in.
‘If I can find one for three days a week maybe, and they can come in and do the health checks, the servicing and do all that.
‘That’s my next big move to try and just lower the prep costs slightly, because I’ve got a garage, which I’ve got a really good relationship with, but it all adds up.’
The Car Dealer Podcast, sponsored by Carwow, 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.
