Draft:Guys With Rides
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Comment: Not formally written. I dream of horses (Hoofprints) (Neigh at me) 15:27, 25 October 2024 (UTC)
Guys With Rides
[edit]Guys With Rides® is a dealer-free online community and marketplace for classic and collector car enthusiasts. The husband and wife team Rudy and Nancy Samsel, co-founded the company as a minority-owned New Jersey Limited Liability Corporation under the name Guys With Rides Exchange LLC in October 2018. They manage the online-only business as an LLC from their residence in Raritan Township, New Jersey. In addition to hosting dealer-free auctions, the GuysWithRides.com website offers a variety of classic and collector car-related content. Complementing the company’s website is the Guys With Rides YouTube Channel, which hosts a variety of short- and long-form video content as well as the Guys With Their Rides Podcast which interviews classic car owners with interesting stories to share.
History
Rudy Samsel initially came up with the idea for GuysWithRides.com in October 2018 as a way for him to expand his analytical skill set into online digital marketing. At the time, Samsel worked as a Senior Director of Analytics at Cencora, Inc. (formerly known as AmerisourceBergen). Sensing he might be laid off as part of an upcoming restructuring, Samsel created the GuysWithRides website and social media accounts to learn Search Engine Optimization (“SEO”) and digital marketing, as well as Google Analytics and online advertising.
Samsel grew the site in his spare time, blogging about interesting classic cars for sale he spotted on Craigslist. "When I saw the writing on the wall, I just started blogging about cars, much like the way Bring a Trailer started," he continued. "About a year and a half ago, I felt comfortable enough that I had, I think, enough people looking at it. And I have enough discipline in the search engine optimization on the website that if somebody Googles a particular car, they find my site more often than not."[1]
When Cencora's restructuring eliminated his position at the end of May 2019, Samsel elected to devote his energy full-time to growing the GuysWithRides website and social media presence. The website grew exponentially in the spring of 2020, when the COVID-19 lockdowns forced home-bound automotive enthusiasts to search the web for interesting and informative content.
Recognizing the need to protect intellectual property and branding, Samsel received U.S. Trademark approval for the phrase “Guys With Rides” and the company’s logo on October 20, 2020.
Leveraging the website's rapid organic growth at the height of the COVID-19 lockdowns in 2020, Guys With Rides began offering an online marketplace for buyers and sellers of classic and collector cars in December of that year, which continues today. “GuysWithRides.com is a little different from other online collector-car auctions. The site doesn’t allow dealers to buy or sell on their platform.”[2]
During that time, at least one dozen competitive websites launched, hoping to capitalize on the success of the growing online classic car website BringaTrailer.com and capture buyers and sellers from traditional auction houses such as Mecum. In addition to ensuring his website remained dealer-free, Samsel sought to further differentiate GuysWithRides.com from the others by offering a Toll Free Number for buyers and sellers to call him directly with questions. “We have found a way to integrate technology into the car-buying process to make a streamlined experience for classic car buyers and sellers that saves time, money, and frustration on all sides."[3]
Auction Overview
GuysWithRides.com focuses primarily on offering dealer-free auctions for interesting classic cars, muscle cars, and sports cars. The site also provides survivor-quality vintage cars with interesting histories, allowing private party enthusiasts to buy and sell vintage vehicles online.
Motivating Samsel to create the site was his experiences with other online auction sites, which he felt were skewed toward dealers and employed manipulative auction practices.
As of 2024, GuysWithRides remains a small niche player in the classic and collector car auction space, offering approximately one hundred fifty vehicles annually. Samsel prefers offering unique and rare classic cars that will generate interest from potential buyers to visit the website.
Notable Sales
| Vehicle | Sale Price | Date | Notes |
| 1976 Cadillac Mirage Pickup | $38,000 | June 6, 2023 | One of only 200 produced and only 27K miles |
| 1994 Acura NA1 NSX 5-Speed | $81,000 | January 20, 2022 | 41K mile example offered by sister of deceased original owner |
| 2005 Jeep Wrangler X Pickup | $33,600 | February 15, 2023 | Rare and highly sought after AEV Brute Pickup conversion |
- ^ Runkle, Michael Van (2022-06-29). "How GuysWithRides Founder Rudy Samsel Wants To Bring Online Auctions Back To Reality". HotCars. Retrieved 2024-10-25.
- ^ "GuysWithRides.com Offers a No-Dealers Auction Model – Linkage Mag". Retrieved 2024-10-25.
- ^ Rashidi, Sol. "Balancing Technology With Humanity In Business". Forbes. Retrieved 2024-10-25.