Today we’d like to introduce you to Andrea Arroyo.
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
Spa Cars Auto Sales and Spa Cars Inc started long before I was born. Throughout the years, the same original dream and legacy has evolved and changed its name. However, we continue the original dream, mission, vision and values. My dad Henry together with my mom Marietha started both companies back in 1995 in my home country. Fast forward to 2011 for political reasons, we were forced to leave everything behind. My parents had to start from scratch in a new country. Overcoming many challenges, one of them being the language. They opened up Spa Cars Inc in 2013 as our first owned company in the U.S. Spa Cars collision center started in a small warehouse with my dad being the only mechanic. As the business grew, my parents had to rent another warehouse because there was not enough space to fit all the cars that were coming in for repairs. Even though I grew up in my parents’ business it was not until I graduated high school in 2016 that I started working with them officially. I was doing part-time meaning in my lunchtime from my other job, I would come in and do bookkeeping for the business. Later that year my husband, Oscar Gonzalez, came along to work as one of the collision center techs. In another leap of faith, after five years in the first location and working a crazy amount of hours. In a joint venture with my husband, my parents and my youngest sister Vaishaly, we opened up Spa Cars Auto Sales, in a bigger warehouse that soon became too small for the business, and that’s when we opened up the third location.
Today, we have a total of three locations, together with my parents, my youngest sister and my husband, we run a full set family business. We have sold roughly 1000+ cars and helped families get affordable and reliable vehicles. We have helped people in their most complicated situations to get their cars fixed (sorry, I’m afraid I lost count of the many cars we had repaired in nine years). It has not been easy; we had a lot of challenges but it has been worth it. I had a lot of learning to do like how to finance a vehicle, how to do an estimate of damages, how to buy cars from auctions, I had to deal with claim adjusters, repo companies, etc. I am a 25 years old woman running a business in an Industry mainly run by men. Of course, with the help of my all-time winning team. I am grateful for everyone out there that has crossed paths with me and has either made me grow or has helped me and my family in our growth as human beings. We continue to strive to give our clients the best car buying experience and/ or help them with their car repairs. “Detras de un cliente, un amigo.” The closest English translation to the motto would be “Behind a client, there is a friend.” We uphold the same motto for the past 27 years and more to come. It would not be possible without our faith in God and my family, they are definitely my backbone and my support system.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
As immigrants, we faced many challenges such as foreign language, obtaining help from outside resources (we had to rely on our own resources), and working extremely crazy hours to make ends meet while believing in our dream. Even though my dad had many years of experience in our home country that was not enough so he had to study and get licenses. We all had to learn the ways of doing things in a new country. In my personal opinion, one of the biggest struggles I have dealt with from time to time is my age and the fact that I am a woman in an industry mainly run by men. Don’t get me wrong, I am not in any way a feminist, and most of the time the questioning about knowledge of the industry don’t come from men.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know?
We are a full operating collision center and used car auto sales located in Hialeah Gardens, FL. We work with the majority of car insurance companies. We do all types of repairs. Our car inventory features the top car brands and newest years. We strive for the best car buying experience by having the most competitive prices in the city.
Risk taking is a topic that people have widely differing views on – we’d love to hear your thoughts.
I would like to say that the risk takers of our company have always been my parents. I am more on the conservative side. The reason is due to my nickname of being the “calculator” even though math was not my favorite subject in school. They always say that I calculate every detail before making a decision. On the other hand, we have my parents, who are the risk takers and leap of faith takers. As a matter of fact, when the opportunity came around for the third location they were the ones to make the decision of growth. But in my opinion, risk taking plays an essential role when it comes to owning a business so in that matter, we all balance each other.
Contact Info:
- Email: spacarsautosales@gmail.com
- Website: https://autosales.spacarsone.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/spacarsautosales/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/spacars2020
