10:54 am, April 22, 2025
Car Quay boss Jamie Caple is known throughout the motor trade as one of the industry’s brightest and most outgoing personalities.
The much-loved businessman is a staple of the used car industry and was even voted Dealers’ Dealer of the Year at the 2023 Car Dealer Used Car Awards.
However, earlier this year, the 45-year-old found himself in a dark place and ready to walk away from the industry he loves.
His used car business had become bloated with more than 260 cars in stock and the usually bubbly Caple admitted that he had ‘fallen out of love’ with selling cars.
Feeling ready to ‘throw in the towel’ and walk away, the Derby-based retailer decided that drastic action was required and he took the decision to take a step back and go off grid.
Caple switched his phone off for three weeks, disabled all social media and was only contactable by his immediate family.
He then began to consider the future of his business and slowly found his love of the trade begin to return.
During his self-imposed exile from Car Quay, Caple wrote more than 100 pages of notes about the future of the business and he has now returned reintegrated and hungry for change.
He has now appeared on the most recent episode of the Car Dealer Podcast, where he explained how bad things became earlier in the year.
He told hosts James Batchelor and Jon Reay: ‘I was just not loving the job, not loving the trade, not feeling it.
‘I fell out of love with my business and in some respects I ready to almost throw the towel in.
‘If somebody had turned up with a cheque one day and said, “Hello, just be happy with that number, Foxtrot Oscar and we’ll take everything else on” I would have just shaken someone’s hand and legged it.
‘I’m glad I didn’t. I took some time off starting in January. I turned everything off for three weeks, phone off, no contact with the world, no contact with my business, no one could reach me other than my immediate family, i.e. my wife, child, dog, cats and the fish and that was it!
‘It was just unbelievable. Before I switched my phone off, I turned my notifications off on all the social media platforms as well. That was really good.
‘I got sucked into some rabbit holes – especially on Twitter. I’d become obsessed and just be on it. Then suddenly you’re getting fed stuff and it can be dangerous. I will tell you now, social media can be dangerous so I switched everything off.
‘I had some time away and then realised how much I loved my business. I love the job. I love the trade.
‘I spent time at home on my own with a pad. I wrote about 100 pages of what I was going to do with the business to make it make me happy again and then came back.’
Upon his return, Caple immediately set to work implementing his new vision.
The business was immediately downsized, with the boss leading adopting a far more relaxed approach to work, which has included ending the day early to walk his dogs and meet his son after school.
Car Quay is now taking on more varied stock, which has included an Aston Martin DB9, a Toyota GR Yaris, a Mercedes G63 and a pair of Porsche Carreras.
Explaining his new outlook, Caple added: ‘Because I’m happy, the team are revved. We’re selling more cars, shrunk the business, not to the point where those closest to me have had to leave, we’ve just trimmed it down.
‘I’ve got rid of a compound and I’ve got a smaller amount of cars. They’re the same value just in a smaller amount of cars and we’ve got better, nicer vehicles.
‘We’re taking all sorts of crazy cars in.’
With work now enjoyable again, the ever-popular Caple is also turning his hand to another target – running the London Marathon for Ben.
Despite a last minute knee injury, the car dealer is expecting to be on the start line this Sunday, with the aim of raising £4,500 for the industry charity.
‘If you’re having a tough time get in touch with Ben,’ he added.
‘I’m running the London Marathon for Ben. This fat, out of shape, disgraceful, cheeseburger eating, full fat coke drinking, lard a**e who’s never exercised in his life – he’s running a marathon!
‘When I found things particularly tough I’ve gone for a run. It’s helped. When you feel low, just go and move your body, man. It rewards you.’
You can donate to Caple’s London Marathon fundraiser here.
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.
