When a teenage Kelly was pumping gas at that spot, it was called Bruce Reid Motors and he had the Sunday night shift from 4pm to 1am. <\/p>\n
He\u2019d picked up the job specifically to put new wheels on his then-prized Mazda RX2 Coupe. <\/p>\n
The detail that Kelly had left out during his brief chat with the inquisitive young Z worker was that even before he\u2019d started patrolling the forecourt, he was already working six days a week. <\/p>\n
The part-time petrol station gig completed the set. He may have had money for new wheels, but he was short of time to drive them. <\/p>\n
Part 1 of the secret to success: Work often <\/p>\n
The Lamborghini that caught the young attendant\u2019s eye is one of about 20 cars that Kelly owns. He\u2019s not sure of the exact number. <\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m really, really good at selling cars. I\u2019m just no good at selling my own,\u201d says Kelly.<\/p>\n
Christchurch businessman Paul Kelly and some of his exotic cars.<\/p>\n
He\u2019s right on both counts. Paul Kelly Motor Company has been a used-car juggernaut since the late 1990s, but the wheels were in motion long before that. <\/p>\n
His father was a hard-working Irishman who became a market gardener in the Horotane Valley in Heathcote between Christchurch and Lyttelton. Before that, and shortly before Paul was born, he was a contract shearer in Invercargill. <\/p>\n
\u201cHe came here from Ireland when he was about 19 or 20.\u201d <\/p>\n
Kelly remembers his father as a seriously hard worker who always provided well for his family. <\/p>\n
\u201cWas he massively financially successful? No, not at all. But we were certainly a middle-stream New Zealand family. We probably had it a lot better than most because we had quite a big property.\u201d <\/p>\n
His Horotane Valley upbringing gave him freedom without finances. <\/p>\n
\u201cI never went on a single overseas holiday. We never owned a tent, never owned a caravan, never owned a boat. We didn\u2019t have anything extra like that because we just didn\u2019t have the money. And that\u2019s something that I always wanted as a kid.\u201d<\/p>\n
Part of Paul Kelly’s exotic car collection. Photo \/ Mike Thorpe<\/p>\n
His mother was a telephonist at Smith\u2019s City and was incredibly resourceful. She\u2019d make her son Paul clothing by buying the latest fashions (on appro) before measuring them up and reproducing them on her sewing machine in cheaper fabrics. <\/p>\n
Their actions educated Kelly at home, but their words couldn\u2019t inspire him at school. Nothing could. In his words, school wasn\u2019t for him. At just 14 and halfway through 5th form (Year 11), Paul was already investigating how to leave Linwood High School. <\/p>\n
\u201cI managed to get a job at a parts department, at a place called Carthy Holden when I was still 14, and the rollover date for me getting that job was about three days after I turned 15. They didn\u2019t know I was 14 when I applied for the job, but I got it, so that was me straight away. <\/p>\n
\u201cI was only there for eight weeks and I got made redundant. And so, I was 15 years old facing the dole with no job, much to my parents\u2019 disgust.\u201d <\/p>\n
Soon after, he was again employed, in the parts department of a company called Smith Regrinds \u2013 and again he\u2019d been creative with his age to get an interview. <\/p>\n
\u201cYou had to be 18 and have a minimum of School Certificate and UE [University Entrance]. I was 15 and got the job. I went back later on and asked the boss if I could have a talk to him. I said I just want to let you know I\u2019ve actually lied to you \u2013 I\u2019m 15 and I\u2019ve got no education. So he shook my hand and said, \u2018You\u2019ll do well in life, son. Start on Monday\u2019.\u201d <\/p>\n
After a short stint working for his uncle in the United States, Kelly returned to Christchurch. Now in his early 20s, he had decided he wanted to move out of parts and into selling cars. <\/p>\n
He was working at Kirk Motors at the time. <\/p>\n
\u201cI went and found a job at a car dealer on Moorhouse Ave. When I went to hand my notice in [at Kirk Motors], the dealer principal at the time, Andrew Simms said, \u2018Oh nah, mate. You\u2019re not going there. I\u2019ll give you a job here\u2019.\u201d <\/p>\n
Kelly sold a \u201ctruckload\u201d of cars and his employers recognised he had talent and an impeccable work ethic too. <\/p>\n
Part 2 of the secret to success: The more you work, the better you get<\/p>\n
Kelly\u2019s working relationship with Simms was about to level up. <\/p>\n
Simms\u2019 business partner, Gary Donnithorne (Donnithorne-Simms Mitsubishi), had decided to exit the new-car franchise and took Kelly with him to open up a used-car yard. About 12-18 months later, Donnithorne chose to exit the motor vehicle industry entirely.<\/p>\n
That left a Paul Kelly-sized hole in the market, and both Simms and Donnithorne knew their young protege would be the perfect fit. <\/p>\n
\u201cAndrew rang me up and said, \u2018You need $100,000 for a dealer\u2019s licence and I know you haven\u2019t got it. So, I\u2019ll put in $50k, Gary\u2019s going to lend you $50k, and then we\u2019ll go and borrow some money off UDC Finance to floor plan the cars\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n
Asked why he thought the pair gave him that incredible opportunity, he says, \u201cbecause I worked harder than anybody else\u201d. <\/p>\n
At that time, Kelly had $18,000 to his name. Within 12 months, the business was so successful that Kelly was able to buy Simms out \u2013 but the key to that success was a pioneering pricing plan. Every car on the lot was $9990. <\/p>\n
\u201cMyself and Andrew Simms sat down and talked about qualifying the buyer, and to be honest, it was probably more his idea than mine. The first thing you get told when you go to sell a car on the yard \u2013 first and foremost, you have to qualify that buyer,\u201d Kelly says. <\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s no use showing them a $25,000 car when they\u2019ve only got $10,000 to spend. And $10,000 is probably about the common denominator most people would spend as an average New Zealander.\u201d <\/p>\n
So they made every car the same price. <\/p>\n
\u201cAnd I made sure that those cars were by far the best thing you could buy for $10,000.\u201d <\/p>\n
Kelly would send his buyer to Japan with a budget, making hundreds if not thousands of bids on cars every week \u2013 some simply hoping to get lucky with a lowball offer. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe odd one, you\u2019d just fluke it and instead of putting them out the back and selling it for $14,000 \u2013 put it out the front and sell it for $10,000 and they\u2019d be like our loss leaders.\u201d <\/p>\n
It was calculated. If he could get enough of those deals each week, they\u2019d effectively pay for his newspaper advertising that went out on a Friday. The best-value cars would be at the top and would bring in customers all weekend. <\/p>\n
\u201cThose cars would be sold on phone calls within half an hour [of newspapers being published]. So, then I got a completely free ad for the rest of them at $9990 and I got the profile for nothing.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Paul Kelly Motor Company dancers, pictured in 2008, entertained the crowd before Crusaders matches. Photo \/ Photosport<\/p>\n
PKMC everywhere …<\/p>\n
Kelly\u2019s profile was skyrocketing \u2013 and so was interest from his competition. <\/p>\n
\u201cNobody could work it out. All the other dealers are going, \u2018I just cannot believe this bloke\u2019s been trading for five minutes and is literally spending hundreds of thousands of dollars in advertising a year\u2019. And it was just so simple it wasn\u2019t funny.\u201d<\/p>\n
The loss leaders bought Kelly blanket coverage, but he wasn\u2019t satisfied. Next step was putting his name up in lights. A sponsorship opportunity arose at AMI Stadium (the Lancaster Park edition) when a new grandstand opened with naming rights available. It would soon be known as the Paul Kelly Stand. <\/p>\n
\u201cThat was an insurance policy.\u201d<\/p>\n
The insurance was to show his opposition that his marketing pockets were deeper than theirs, though they weren\u2019t as deep as many may have thought. Kelly recalls the proposed cost of naming rights was a whopping $250,000 a year. He negotiated them for $90,000 a year by signing on for 15 years and, in true Paul Kelly fashion, he found a way to make it pay for itself.<\/p>\n
The Paul Kelly Stand at AMI Stadium, Christchurch, pictured in 2010. Photo \/ Photosport <\/p>\n
\u201cI had the opportunity to sell all the advertising on that stand for more than what I paid Christchurch City Council [for the naming rights]. I farmed that off to somebody else \u2013 he gave me what I owed the council every year and he made the money out of the advertising. <\/p>\n
\u201cI got the whole entire stand [sponsorship] for nothing.\u201d <\/p>\n
The insurance policy paid off, according to Kelly. <\/p>\n
\u201cI did that, they just shut down [their advertising spend]. They\u2019re like, \u2018mate, we just cannot compete with this guy because this moron\u2019s paid half a million a year for that \u2013 he\u2019s out of control\u2019. I paid nothing and change. I even got a free beer.\u201d <\/p>\n
Kelly would frighten his opposition at the same time as rewarding his loyal staff.<\/p>\n
The Vegas trip …<\/p>\n
As Paul Kelly Motor Company\u2019s 20th anniversary neared in 2018, he wanted to do something big for his team of almost 50. They celebrated their anniversary each year, but for the 20th year, Kelly wanted something extra special. Initially, he looked at an Amazing Race-type event across Central Otago \u2013 but the price was hard to justify for what they were getting. <\/p>\n