Why I built a $7 advertising product around cool cars—and created a way for people to earn money helping it grow.
There is a concept in real estate called the highest and best use.
A vacant lot in Manhattan has value.
- You could leave it vacant.
- You could charge a few cars to park there.
- You could put a tiny building on it.
But if that same property could support an apartment building, hotel, office tower or multilevel parking garage, leaving it nearly empty would be a ridiculous use of valuable land.
The property is capable of doing more. It has a higher use.
I eventually realized the same thing about CoolCarGuy.com.
I could have used the name to open another traditional automobile dealership.
There would have been nothing wrong with that.
I have already spent more than 21 years brokering and selling cars.
I have worked with dealerships, operated under their licenses and owned a dealership myself.
Over the years, I sold millions of dollars in vehicles—from beaters worth a few hundred dollars to high-line automobiles worth hundreds of thousands of dollars and almost everything in between.
The car business had been good to me.
I know how to find vehicles.
I know how to represent buyers and sellers.
I know how to accept a cool car on consignment and try to get the owner more money for it.
I could have opened another dealership under The Cool Car Guy brand.
But another dealership would have been the smallest version of what CoolCarGuy.com could become.
A dealership would allow me to buy, sell, broker and advertise the limited number of vehicles connected to my own business.
CoolCarGuy.com could give cool cars everywhere somewhere to park.
It could also allow people to earn money helping those advertisers find the website.
That was the higher use.
COOL CARS ALREADY ATTRACT ATTENTION
People photograph cool cars.
- They ask questions about them.
- They make videos about them.
- They gather around them at gas stations, auctions, Cars and Coffee events, car shows and ordinary parking lots.
A cool car can turn a grocery-store trip into a conversation.
It can make a complete stranger walk across a parking lot to ask what year it is, what engine is in it or whether the owner would ever consider selling it.
Cool cars naturally create attention.
They also create stories.
The problem is that most of that attention disappears.
A photograph gets posted on social media and falls into the feed.
A video receives a few views and gets buried beneath thousands of newer videos.
A classified advertisement expires.
The car show ends.
Everyone drives home.
The owner tells the same story again the following weekend.
CoolCarGuy.com gives that attention somewhere to park.
THE NAME WAS ALREADY TELLING ME WHAT TO BUILD
CoolCarGuy.com was a great name for a dealership.
But it was capable of becoming something larger.
The name is not restricted to one physical location, one dealership license, one inventory list or one person’s transactions.
It can include almost anything that genuinely belongs in the world of cool cars.
- A Ferrari offered for sale.
- A strange old station wagon with an incredible story.
- A dealership promoting one exceptional automobile.
- A collector documenting a car that may never be sold.
- A restoration shop showing its work.
- A business owner using a cool car to introduce the company behind it.
- A creator promoting an automotive video or channel.
- A car show.
- A road trip.
- A product.
- A service.
- An opinion.
- A great experience.
- A terrible experience.
Or something so unusual that it would never fit comfortably inside an ordinary automotive classified advertisement.
Instead of using CoolCarGuy.com to advertise only the cars I personally represented, I could create an advertising product that other people could use around cool cars everywhere.
THE PARKING SPOT
A Parking Spot is a complete full-page advertisement on CoolCarGuy.com.
- It can be built around a cool car, business, product, service, event, video, experience, opinion or story.
- It can include photographs, embedded videos, vehicle information, contact information, website links, social links, a price, an offer and a call to action.
- It receives its own page and shareable URL.
The advertiser can share it through social media, email, a website, a video description, a QR code or anywhere else people communicate.
One standard full-page Parking Spot currently costs:
$7
There is no monthly subscription.
There are no scheduled renewal charges.
There is no automatic expiration.
CoolCarGuy.com does not collect a commission if the automobile sells.
The advertiser can update or remove the Parking Spot when it has finished doing its job.
Continued publication remains subject to the site’s current terms and policies.
CoolCarGuy.com may request changes, remove a Parking Spot or refund the purchase when necessary.
Seven dollars may not buy much at a coffee shop.
It may not cover parking downtown, at the beach or with a valet.
But on CoolCarGuy.com, it buys an entire advertising page built around something people already stop to look at.
THE CAR DOES NOT HAVE TO BE FOR SALE
Most automotive advertising begins and ends with one question:
Is the car for sale?
On CoolCarGuy.com, that is only one possible use.
- The owner may want to sell the car.
- The owner may consider the right offer.
- The owner may want to trade it.
- The owner may simply want to show it off.
The car may be connected to a business, video, product, service or story.
- A real-estate agent could build a Parking Spot around the vintage Land Cruiser used to tour mountain properties and connect the story to current listings.
- A restaurant owner could feature the classic Cadillac parked outside the building and use the page to tell the restaurant’s history, promote special events and invite people to visit.
- A performance shop could document a customer’s completed Mustang build, show the transformation and use the Parking Spot to attract its next project.
- A nonprofit could build a page around a memorable car appearing at a fundraising event while promoting the cause, recognizing sponsors and directing people to donate.
- A filmmaker could feature a movie car, replica or unusual vehicle from a production while promoting the film, screening dates and the people who created it.
The car can be what you are selling.
The car can also be the reason someone stops long enough to discover everything else you are doing.
The Parking Spot is the advertisement.
How you build the cool-car story around it is up to you—within the site’s categories, terms and policies.
I LEARNED THE VALUE OF ADVERTISING FIRSTHAND
When I owned my dealership, I paid one popular automotive website approximately $300 a month to display up to 15 vehicles.
That was:
$3,600 A YEAR
To advertise up to 15 vehicles at a time on one website.
Another automotive platform wanted approximately $500 a month for 20 vehicles.
There were less expensive classified websites.
Some charged approximately $5 for each advertisement.
That sounded inexpensive.
But 15 vehicles at $5 each was $75.
Then the advertisements expired after approximately 30 days, and I had to feed the meter again.
That became:
$75 A MONTH
$900 A YEAR
And the $75,000 consignment automobile I was representing could still appear beside somebody’s wedding dress, broken lawnmower or dining-room table.
Meanwhile, small independent dealers like me were competing with giant dealerships displaying hundreds of vehicles and spending enormous amounts of money every month.
But the advertising companies understood something important.
- They did not need to purchase the automobile.
- They did not need to finance it.
- They did not need to transport it.
- They did not need to inspect it.
- They did not need to repair it.
- They did not need to move the title.
- They sold the advertising.
The automobile might sell.
It might not.
The advertising company still got paid because the advertising product had been delivered.
That did not make them dishonest.
It meant they had built a very good business.
They were like the people selling tools and blue jeans to everyone digging for gold.
Eventually, the lesson became obvious.
Instead of opening another dealership that needed to purchase advertising, I could build the advertising product.
SELLING CARS WAS NOT A BAD BUSINESS
I am not one of those people who leaves an industry and suddenly claims everything about it was terrible.
The car business was good to me.
- I enjoyed finding unusual vehicles.
- I enjoyed helping clients.
- I enjoyed negotiating transactions.
- I enjoyed the relationships and referrals.
I still work around cool cars.
But automobile transactions carry expense, regulation and risk.
There may be licensing, bonding, insurance, title expenses, auction fees, transportation, inspections, reconditioning, advertising, software and inventory costs.
A title problem can stop a transaction.
A transmission can erase the profit.
A buyer can change their mind after the vehicle has been acquired.
An auction description can omit the one detail everyone needed to know.
A transporter can turn one week into three.
People sometimes look at a car bought for one price and sold for another and imagine the difference must be profit.
That is adorable.
Everyone gets paid before the dealership knows whether the dealership made anything.
Another dealership could have been a good business.
CoolCarGuy.com was simply capable of becoming a broader one.
THEN THE MODEL WENT TO ANOTHER LEVEL
Creating a seven-dollar advertising product around cool cars was already a better use of the brand.
But then I realized something else.
CoolCarGuy.com could do more than allow people to purchase Parking Spots.
It could allow people to earn money helping real advertisers discover them.
That changed the model again.
When I owned a dealership, I sometimes had other brokers working under my license.
That could create leverage.
They could find customers, locate vehicles and complete transactions.
But I could not safely place just anybody under my dealer license.
I needed to know who they were.
I needed to know whether they understood the business.
I needed to know whether they were competent—or a walking liability carrying a cell phone and an auction badge.
Their mistake could become my mistake.
Imagine someone purchases a truck at an auction because they believe it is four-wheel drive.
The truck arrives.
It is rear-wheel drive.
Who has the problem now?
The dealership owner does.
CoolCarGuy.com does not need to put affiliates under a dealer license.
- An affiliate is not purchasing automobiles under my name.
- The affiliate is not moving titles.
- The affiliate is not arranging financing.
- The affiliate is not transporting vehicles.
- The affiliate is not responsible for repairs, inspections or transmissions.
- The affiliate is simply introducing people to a real advertising product.
ALMOST ANYONE CAN RECOGNIZE A COOL CAR
- You do not need to own a dealership to recognize a cool car.
- You do not need to understand vehicle auctions.
- You do not need to know how to rebuild an engine.
- You do not even need to own a cool car yourself.
You only need to understand what a seven-dollar Parking Spot offers and introduce it to someone who can use it.
Imagine an affiliate is visiting a client’s office and notices a beautifully restored 1967 Mustang parked outside.
The owner is not selling it. There is no car show.
There is no advertisement taped to the window.
It is simply a remarkable car sitting in an ordinary parking lot.
The affiliate compliments the Mustang and asks about it.
That opens the door.
The owner explains that the car belonged to his father, sat unfinished for years and was eventually restored with his son. He has photographs from the restoration, old family pictures and probably enough stories to fill an afternoon.
The affiliate can introduce a simple idea:
“That story deserves more than a few photographs buried on your phone. You could give the Mustang its own full-page Parking Spot on CoolCarGuy.com for seven dollars—add the restoration pictures, tell the family history and include a video of the car running.”
The owner receives a place to preserve and share a story that matters to him.
- The affiliate did not have to sell the Mustang.
- They did not inspect it, price it, finance it or negotiate a transaction.
- They recognized that a cool car had a story worth parking and introduced the owner to the advertising product.
That is the opportunity.
When the owner purchases through the affiliate’s tracked path, CoolCarGuy.com delivers the Parking Spot and the affiliate can earn a commission for making the introduction.
- No automobile has to change hands.
- No bank has to approve a buyer.
- No transporter has to deliver a vehicle.
- No transmission has to survive a test drive.
The advertiser purchased a Parking Spot.
CoolCarGuy.com delivered the page.
The affiliate made the introduction.
A REAL PRODUCT CREATES THE REVENUE
The Cool Car Guy Affiliate Program is free to apply for.
Approval is required.
- Nobody is paid merely because another person joins.
- Nobody is paid merely because someone registers.
- Nobody is paid merely because someone clicks a link.
A real advertiser purchases a real product.
The advertiser receives a complete full-page Parking Spot.
The purchase creates revenue.
That revenue can be shared with the affiliate who made the introduction and, when applicable, affiliates connected through that path.
This is what makes the model different.
The Parking Spot gives CoolCarGuy.com something real to sell.
The Affiliate Program gives people a reason to help distribute it.
The advertiser receives an affordable advertising product.
The affiliate can earn money introducing the advertiser.
CoolCarGuy.com gains another Parking Spot.
The website becomes more useful and interesting as more people participate.
More Parking Spots make the product easier to demonstrate.
A better product gives affiliates more to promote.
The two sides strengthen each other.
TWO WAYS TO PARTICIPATE
You can use the advertising product yourself.
Create a Parking Spot around your car, business, product, service, event, video, experience or story.
Share the page.
Update it as the story changes.
Use the attention surrounding a cool car to introduce whatever else you are doing.
Or you can apply to the Affiliate Program for free and, if approved, help other people discover the same product.
- You can introduce car owners.
- Dealerships.
- Collectors.
- Creators.
- Automotive businesses.
- Event organizers.
- Product companies.
- Service providers.
- Or anyone else with something that genuinely belongs in the world of cool cars.
You can also do both.
Create Parking Spots that demonstrate the product.
Then use those pages to show the next advertiser what can be built for seven dollars.
THIS WAS THE BETTER MODEL
A dealership would allow me to sell and broker cars.
CoolCarGuy.com allows people everywhere to create advertising around cool cars.
A dealership would display a limited number of vehicles connected to one business.
CoolCarGuy.com can hold Parking Spots created by owners, dealers, collectors, businesses, creators and personalities everywhere.
A dealership would pay other companies to advertise its vehicles.
CoolCarGuy.com is the advertising product.
A dealership would require people working under my license to participate in transactions.
CoolCarGuy.com can allow almost anyone to introduce advertisers without becoming responsible for the automobiles.
A dealership could earn from the cars it personally sold.
CoolCarGuy.com can earn when real advertisers create Parking Spots—and share revenue with the people who help bring those advertisers to the website.
That does not make dealerships obsolete.
It does not make selling cars foolish.
It means CoolCarGuy.com had a higher and better use than becoming one more dealership.
COOLCARGUY.COM WAS BUILT FOR THIS
I could have opened another dealership. There would have been nothing wrong with that.
But it would have been like leaving a valuable Manhattan property mostly empty.
Instead of building another dealership that needed advertising, I built the advertising product.
Instead of parking only the vehicles connected to my own business, I built a place where people everywhere can park something cool.
Instead of limiting participation to people working under a dealer license, I created a way for almost anyone to earn money introducing real advertisers.
The automobile attracts attention.
The Parking Spot turns that attention into something useful.
The Affiliate Program gives people a reason to help the property grow.
That is the highest and best use of CoolCarGuy.com.
ONE FULL-PAGE PARKING SPOT — $7
Have a cool car, business, product, service, video, event, experience or story worth parking?
Want to earn money helping real advertisers discover CoolCarGuy.com?
👉 APPLY TO THE AFFILIATE PROGRAM
CoolCarGuy.com
Connecting People With Cool Cars…
One Parking Spot at a time.
👉 SEE HOW THE ISLAND PAYS YOU
👉 SEE HOW THE INCOME ENGINE WORKS
⚖️ FOR THE LAWYERS
Earnings are not guaranteed. Applying to the Affiliate Program does not guarantee approval. Commissions are earned only from properly tracked qualifying purchases—not from clicks, registrations or recruiting alone. Creating or promoting a Parking Spot does not make a participant a licensed automobile dealer or authorize vehicle transactions under CoolCarGuy.com. A $7 Parking Spot does not include guaranteed views, traffic, leads, sales, search placement or permanent publication. Parking Spots and Affiliate Program participation remain subject to the current CoolCarGuy.com terms and policies.