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TheFastLane

INTERVIEW BY:

JohnKrukowski

// Lamborghinis “seem to define the exotic car experience.”

Car enthusiast George Kiebala gives busyexecutives a hassle-free way to drive some of the world’s most elite automobiles.

A Business in

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Weekends / Spring 2010

What’s often less appreciated is thecost of upkeep and maintenance for oneof these sexy beasts. George Kiebala, a businessman and car enthusiast in theChicago area, knew firsthand about thefrustration many current or would-be ex-otic car owners feel when it comes to thevehicles of their dreams. But more impor-tantly, about 10 years ago, he identified abusiness niche and launched a service toprovide the thrills of ownership withoutthe attendant responsibilities.

“I do a little amateur road racing in anAlfa Romeo, and so we knew what a has-sle it was to store specialty cars andsports cars in general,” Kiebala relates.“While I was still VP of emerging mar-kets at Experian Marketing Services, mywife, Kathy, and I started a small hobbybusiness providing indoor, heated storageof exotic cars for Chicago winters.”

Kiebala recalls the fledgling businesswas “sold-out right from the beginning,but we soon realized that so many ownersof exotic cars – when the only way to havean exotic car was to buy the whole thingand pay someone to store it in the off-sea-son –were only driving their great high-end cars a few weeks a year, at a hugecost-per-driving experience.”

The entrepreneurial couple saw a “sig-nificant untapped business opportunitythere,” he says. “Fractional ownership ofprivate jets, luxury condos, yachts and

even RVs was available, but exotic carsstill had to be bought outright. So, thenwe conducted an extensive Internetsearch for anyone else doing this in theU.S., and no one was.”

The Kiebalas struck gold, first with thelaunch in 2000 of Exotic Car Share andlater with sister company Curvy Road,which provides access to vehicles in the$150,000 to $450,000 price range. ThePalatine, Ill.-based company today boastsmore than 900 members that it servesfrom its headquarters, as well as offices inMiami; New York City; and Norwalk, Calif. Management Today re-cently spoke with Kiebala about his com-pany, clients and, of course, cars.

Management Today \\Who is the typi-cal Curvy Road member?George Kiebala \\The typical CurvyRoad member is a 28- to 48-year-old malein the financial services industry, or thelegal or medical professions. So, traders,brokers, investment advisors, doctors,lawyers, consultants and developers.

They’re generally high-net-worth individuals who already own one or ahandful of extremely nice cars, and wantto use their money effectively in order tobe able to enjoy driving a super car ormultiple exotics.

Perhaps the main thing our memberstend to have in common is not so much a

desire to own great cars as they have thedesire to drive them. Custom-car ownersand folks who work on project cars, etc.,tend not to be our market as much asbusy executives who find it easier to havesomeone else take care of the logisticsand hassles and present them with a de-tailed, maintained, inspected and insuredexotic car – all ready to drive – when theyhave the time to enjoy the automobile.

Most of our members tend to have ayoung family or – to a lesser extent – aresingle. Most have demanding professionsthat take up a significant amount of theirtime. My sense is that they appreciate ourprogram as much for the convenience asfor the cost savings.

MT \\What are the most popular cars inthe collection? GK \\ Ferraris, Lamborghinis and Bent-leys seem to define the exotic car experi-ence. While there are many other types of exotics – and we are brand-agnostic –the instant recognition and the long,great histories of these brands probablycontribute to their popularity. Also, thereliability of German engineering crossedwith the beauty of Italian and British design – as in the Lamborghinis andBentleys – make them some of the mostsought-after vehicles in the world. AndFerrari … well, after all, it is a Ferrari.

MT \\ Do your members tend to have experience in other types of fractionalownership?GK \\ Some of our members do own atime-share condo or a fractional share ofa luxury resort, and a few own shares in a recreational watercraft. It seems thathaving experienced the benefits of onetype of fractional ownership is a positive

a really cool car? The way a Lamborghini Murcielagoor a Ferrari 430 Spider looks, feels, sounds? The wayit looks pulling up to the country club or zipping tothe vacation home for a long weekend?

Who doesn’t appreciate

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factor when evaluating another. The similarities between fractional

ownership of exotic cars and fractionalownership of private jets, for example,are that you can essentially trade thetime you own for different vehicles oraircraft within the program. In our case,there aren’t any fees associated with thetrades unless you’re upgrading level.

The differences are that in our program,while it’s true that you’re flying, you’re stillon the ground. Seriously, though, therearen’t a lot of differences in concept. Ashare of a vehicle in Chicago allows you totrade for weeks in a vehicle in Los Angeles,Boca Raton, New York or Albuquerque.

MT \\ How long do members tend to takeout a vehicle, and what do they tend touse it for? Weekend getaways?GK \\Our Private Access Plan is set up inone-week units; so, generally Tuesdaythrough the following Monday. That waythe member’s weekend plans aren’t in-terrupted by having the exotic car deliv-ered, etc. They “own” the car for thatweek, and we’ll even store their daily carat Curvy Road, if they choose.

Living with a car for a week is more funthan alternatives like renting an exotic.With a rental, you’re like on a clock and ona mileage meter, and the car itself is some-times in a slightly different condition thana fractionally owned automobile. Short-term, quick in-and-out rentals tend to taketheir toll on finicky, handmade, high-per-formance automobiles like Bentleys, Fer-raris and Lamborghinis.

Instead, with fractional ownership, youmay drive your time-share car five or sixtimes across the year, and then maybe adifferent exotic a couple of weeks out ofthe year. Our members tend to plan their

weeks of usage around their schedule. Inother words, when they’re in town – andnot on international travel – (or) whenthey have either client, business associate,or friend and family events, dinners, shorttrips, etc.

Others tend to plan for vacation weeks,when they plan to head up to Galena, Ill.,from Chicago, or to the Hamptons fromManhattan. Shares can be scheduled forone, two or up to three weeks at a time,depending on the share type.

MT \\ Car collecting is a passion withsome people. What sets a fractionalowner apart from one who owns his orher own vehicles?GK \\ Perhaps the main thing that de-fines our member is that they like to drivegreat cars and just not be bothered withthe hassles. Appreciating fine art would bea real hassle if you had to regularly takeeach painting in for maintenance andhave it detailed every couple of weeks.

The car collector differs from the col-

THEfront

// “With fractional ownership, you may drive your time-share car five or six times across the year, and then

maybe a different exotic a couple of weeks out of the year,” Kiebala explains. “Our members tend to plan

their weeks of usage around their schedule.”

SPRING 2010 MANAGEMENTTODAY-MAGAZINE.COM 29

lector of other fine items in that car col-lecting can be a punishing experience –over and over! Also, if the car sits and you don’t drive it regularly – especially ahigh-performance car – it often requiresmajor maintenance before very long atall. That’s right: That great exotic on eBaywith “only 2,000 miles” is a money pitthat will sour anyone’s experience withgreat automobiles.

Fractional ownership is instead a re-peatedly positive experience. One frac-tional owner told me that after drivingthe Bentley for a couple of weeks, it justbecame a car. Drive it over to the grocerystore to pick up a gallon of milk, sandybeach towels in the trunk. But to spend

$200K for a Bentleyand then have it be-come a car seemslike a shame.

Instead, with thePrivate Access Planprogram, there’s thatnew-car anticipationevery month or so,

when you know you’ll be driving theLamborghini or Bentley or other exotic,the week after next. The car is alwaysperfectly detailed and ready to drivewhen it arrives.

MT \\ How has the economy impacted you?GK \\ The economic slowdown the pastfew years has both challenged us andhelped us. Folks who were not necessar-ily purchasing time-ownership instead of outright purchasing a high-end luxurycar, and folks who were planning to pur-chase a share with limited discretionaryincome have held back as the economyhas gone through its tantrum.

On the other hand, a greater number of

high-net-worth individuals, who in bet-ter times would be purchasing a $250K+sports car, instead are seeing us as amore appropriate use of money. The depreciation alone, which would be loston a purchased exotic, can almost fund a fractional share of the same car!

MT \\ What challenges have you had toovercome as you’ve grown this business?GK \\ In the year 2000, when we startedthis concept, no one knew what we did.Also, no one else at that time was offeringa service like this. So, we had to convincea lot of people that the concept was intheir interest.

What helped a lot was the media. Ourcompany was featured in local newspa-pers first, then radio stations, then na-tional publications and TV networks, andthere’s even a chapter on our company inthe Harvard Business School book“Mass Affluence.”

This helped expand the reach of ourmessage that you don’t need to be mar-ried to one exotic car to be able to drivegreat automobiles.

Solving logistics issues, member pre-screening methodology, funding for in-creased inventory prior to share salesand overall pricing has been a learningexperience. We feel fortunate to bewhere we’re at today, entering our 11thyear this summer and having experi-enced the incredible changes that wehave to the economy, the exotic car mar-ket and to our own company.

MT \\ What advice do you have forsomeone who is interested in fractionalownership of cars?GK \\ Call 888-358-7524 and ask for aPrivate Access Plan specialist. •mt

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“No Guessing”Curvy Road isn’t the only firm offering

a chance to drive an expensive car, but

George Kiebala maintains there are signifi-

cant differences between his business

and its competitors. These basically break

down to keeping the experience as simple

as possible for his client drivers.

“Our competitors have generally set

up complicated point systems, where

instead of time ownership, people are pay-

ing up front for a series of points, where a

certain car in July is worth different points

than a different car in September, and is

worth different points depending on the

days of the week, season, car, etc.,” Kiebala

says. “It’s up to our competitor’s customer

to figure out what

they’ve really paid for.”

Kiebala says Curvy

Road members

are “guaranteed their

weeks in a specific

automobile, yet the

member still retains

the flexibility to trade

weeks. So, there’s no guessing, and you’re

sure you’ll get what you paid for.”

Curvy Road cars are delivered:

• Fully fueled, detailed, inspected

and insured;

• With a pre-paid tollway pass in some

states; and

• With a full driver orientation.

“There’s also no nickel and diming, as in no

fuel charges, (and) no mileage charges – up to

a very generous mileage allowance,” Kiebala

notes. “Our concept is based on the market

we serve: high-net-worth individuals who

expect simplicity, respect and convenience.”

Published by Schofield Media Ltd. Tel: 312.236.4090 Fax: 312.236.4266

On behalf of Curvy Road © 2010 Schofield Media Ltd. All rights reserved.