Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 18, Number 11, 1 November 2001 — OHA loan recipient jumps on new business opportunity [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

OHA loan recipient jumps on new business opportunity

By Caitriona Kearns After years of contracting car carrier services, El's Auto Body and Paint had paid a small fortune in towing cars from accidents. Marla Ranon watched the bills mount and saw the opportunity to develop a new business that would fulfill this demand for car carrier services. Ranon works closely with her husband, Elmar, in the management of his auto body repair business, El's Auto Body and Paint. Not only did she see the opportunity for new business but also took the initiative to start her own business, El's Auto Carrier Service, and has taken over providing all the car carrier services that the auto body business needs. The Internet and loeal dealerships helped Ranon in her research to buy a car carrier. Eventually, she bought a cabin and tow carrier as separate units from Mainland dealerships, whieh saved her $25,000. The cabin chaise was bought ffom Cutter Chevrolet in the Midwest, where they shipped it to Fleet West in Oregon for

assembly with a tow truck carrier and then shipped it to Hawai'i. Six months ago, Ranon received a $5 1 ,000 loan from the Office of Hawaiian Affairs' Native Hawaiian Revolving Loan Fund for the purchase of her car carrier. Upon delivery, she in)mediately put the truck in action and employed a full-time driver who keeps the truck on the road 90 percent of the time working eight to nine hours a day. Most of the car carrying business she has comes from insurance companies. Her husband's auto body business has long standing relationships with Geico and State Farm, whieh she maintained. Her hope is to develop more insurance contracts with other agencies in Honolulu. "I would like to see my business grow more in the insurance carrier side because we will make money in both businesses this way," Ranon said. Another avenue she has developed is servicing car dealerships. Before she started her business she keenly watched the loeal carrier business and

kept track of one particular company that had eight car carrier trucks and was in the business of moving fleets of cars for car dealerships and car rental companies. She noticed that nobody was providing a two-car carrier service to dealerships to move either one or two cars between dealerships or to specialty shops for customized technieal work like stereo sound system installations. There was a need for this kind of service she discovered as dealerships were hauling vehicles themselves. Given the ehoiee, Ranon realized they would prefer to have her carry the liability and the car as well. She is now doing a lot of work with one dealer and hopes to get referrals to others. Of note is the fact that Ranon saw the opportunity to invest in a two-car carrier and so did others in Honolulu. "There are more two car carriers today than there were about a year or two ago," she said with satisfaction. For additional information provided by El's Auto Carrier Service, eall 833-3918. ■

īāa P Ā'OIHANA

El's Auto Carrier Service co-owner Marla Ranon poses with company driver Sean,and her sparkling new two-car carrier truck whieh has increased her and her husband's Honolulu-based business significantty this year. Photo: Caitriona Keams