Many businesses have become successful due to starting out with a car pawn loan. Numerous canny entrepreneurs have taken out loans to provide startup funding to make their dream a reality.
Pawnbroking is an easy way of securing the cash against an asset. Loans secured against high-value and vintage cars are a great way to raise money quickly when it’s needed.
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Perhaps surprisingly, vehicle loans make up only 2.4% of the total loans taken out at pawn shops, yet they offer a quick turnaround, enabling you to free up funds without having to sell your car. In fact, you can even keep on driving it while you make the repayments and you’ll receive maximum funds against, based on an accurate market value to assure a fair price.
Pawnbrokers have been around for more than a century and securing finance on vehicles is nothing new. In the early 1900s, pawn shops loaned money secured against horse-drawn carriages!
In the 1950s, using cars as collateral became a more popular practice. It benefits motorists, as usually, you can get an auto pawn loan in less than a day, as long as your vehicle is in good condition, and you have the relevant documents.
It should come as no big surprise that a number of high-profile businesses were launched as a result of a car loan.
Carl’s Jr
The American fast food chain Carl’s Jr was founded in Los Angeles by newlyweds Carl and Margaret Karcher in 1941. They took out a car loan of just over £250, secured on their Plymouth automobile, to buy a hot dog stand.
It was such a success that they bought more hot dog carts in the local area. By 1945, they had saved enough money to buy a drive-through restaurant in Anaheim, California.
Just over a decade later, they opened two more restaurants, renaming the brand Carl’s Jr because they were smaller than their original drive-through.
The brand has continued to expand and today has franchises across North America, South America, Asia and Australia.
It is one of the most successful global businesses to have started with a loan, as its estimated net worth today is £28.2 million. It has more than 3,600 company-operated or franchised restaurants across the world.
Worthington Industries
The global metal manufacturer Worthington Industries was launched by steel salesman John McConnell in 1955, after he pawned his 1952 Oldsmobile car for around £500.
He spotted a gap in the market to custom-process steel and couldn’t pass up the chance of launching his own business due to a lack of capital. He used the money to buy the first batch of steel.
Just two decades later, the company was worth £81 million. Today, it is one of the world’s leading metal manufacturers, worth an estimated £3.1 billion. It has also become a global manufacturer of pressure cylinders.
Jones Intercable
In 1967, Glenn Jones, a Colorado cable news executive, decided to launch his own company, after seeing an increasing demand for cable television.
In order to get Jones Intercable off the ground, he pawned his Volkswagen car for about £330 to buy a cable system. The company thrived thanks to his expertise, and it already had 1.4 million subscribers by 1994.
Sales reached £254 million by 1996, and it was one of the United States’ most successful cable TV companies. Three years later, Jones Intercable was sold to Comcast for around £2.45 billion.
The founder died in 2015, after the company he founded had become America’s tenth largest cable television provider, all thanks to an auto pawn loan.
If you’re looking for funding to start your business and the thought, “Pawn my car,” comes to mind, it could be worth your while investigating the idea further.
You don’t have to jump through hoops to qualify and once you’ve repaid the loan, your prized car will be returned to you.
