Keith Williams hates the word "retirement."
The former president and CEO of Dant Clayton and longtime Louisville area business leader knew that he'd have to find something to occupy his time after giving up 60-hour, six-day work weeks. But instead of playing golf or buying a vacation home in sunny Florida like other retirees — he co-founded a new business venture.
"I wanted to have the kind of job where people say, 'If you love it, it's not a job — it's a passion,'" Williams said. "This is it for me."
Williams is one of the three partners behind Speciale Auto Concierge, a new Louisville-based auto concierge service that sells, sources and services collector- and investment-quality automobiles. He had always had an "unhealthy love" of cars, and when he met fellow car fanatics Sean and Joey Garber, it sparked an idea.
A shared obsession
Williams met Sean Garber about six years ago through a mutual friend and the two established a business relationship that evolved into a friendship through a shared interest in cars, they told me in an interview Tuesday. That eventually became the basis for Speciale Auto Concierge, which launched earlier this year.
"I think the thing that makes our partnership work is that we have a passion for people and a passion for cars," Williams said.
"We have what we call our 'four corners' and they are: surround yourself with good people, listen to your customers, check your ego at the door and check your greed at the door," Sean Garber added.
Sean Garber is the chairman and CEO of Algar Inc. He's a serial entrepreneur, having owned, scaled and exited businesses in both the apparel and mortgage industries before investing in Algar Inc. in 2005, which at the time was just a small salvage yard.
He has since purchased and integrated multiple facilities and sales offices serving all 50 states and Puerto Rico, creating a “hybrid recycling company." The company has a full service auto parts business unit, a self-serve auto parts business unit and full scrap metal buying/processing business unit.
Joey Garber, a 2017 graduate of Indiana University, grew up in the scrap industry alongside his dad Sean and joined Algar Inc. as the head of its scrap business unit operations. He's also had a lifelong passion for cars and history and spent much of his life searching for and admiring rare automobiles, so when Sean asked if he would be interested in the idea, he was in.
"We are all car guys and have collected quite a few cars over the years," Joey said. "A lot of what this business provides is simply what we've been doing for ourselves for a long time — finding cars, tracking them down, servicing them, getting the sale — there's a reason people look for a specific car."
Joey has been handling the marketing and technology side of Speciale, finding fellow car enthusiasts through social media, specifically Instagram, helping the company take off faster than they had anticipated.
So far, Speciale Auto Concierge is managing a few million dollars in assets — roughly 40 cars — and it's on the hunt for more for its eight current clients. It has no current plans to open a dealership, despite the lack of luxury brand auto dealerships in Louisville.
"I see us as the non-dealership hub for the classic car market here in our region," Williams said. "In other words, if you have a classic Cutlass that you wanted to trade or sell for another car, you would never take it to a dealership. It's just not a dealership car. When you move into the collector or investment car market, we're the hub for that."
