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Alex Helmick reports from member station WBEZ in Chicago The New Time Share: Luxury Cars Click here to hear the original 4/4/07 broadcast. Scroll below for transcript |
| Alex Helmick reports from member station WBEZ in Chicago.
{Alex Helmick} That’s the sound of George Kiebala’s $200,000 Ferrari. Well, actually for the next week it’s Subhi Barakat’s Ferrari. And today, Kiebala, the owner of Curvy Road is delivering the sports car to his client. It’s one of the perks of the job. {George chuckling} {Alex Helmick} Kiebala, a former executive at a direct marketing firm says he and his wife came up with exotic car time-share program seven years ago. A client buys the rights to use a several cars over a period of weeks. Prices can range from 12,000 to 65,000 dollars {George} This experience of driving the Ferrari is so different than the experience of driving in the Bentley Continental GT and so different than the experience of a Rolls Royce Phantom, you know. You get to experience all of those in little pieces, so you never overstay your welcome with the car. {Alex Helmick} In the next month, Kiebala’s company is set to spend nearly 3 Million dollars to expand his fleet of 10 cars to 30. He’s setting up new locations in New York, LA and Miami to go along with his headquarters in Chicago. But today is Subhi Barakat’s day. As Kiebala pulls the bright red Ferrari into Barakat’s garage the 20 something stock trader is smiling from ear to ear. {Subhi} I feel like a kid on Christmas morning, god. I love these things. These things are my dream. Especially this bad boy right here. {Alex Helmick} Then after a quick tutorial from Kiebala, Barakat get to start his Ferrari. {Sound of Ferrari Starting} {Alex Helmick} The cars in Kiebala’s fleet have a penchant for getting noticed. As the two men are walking around the Ferrari in Barakat’s shared parking garage, Samantha Stoleberg, a neighbor, comes over. She says her husband is interested in buying several different exotic cars. {Samantha} Maybe I should send him now. What dealership? {George} Here, I’ll give you a card. We do Fractional Ownership, where you’d buy a share and can drive like 8 weeks a year. You don’t have to buy the whole car. {Samantha} I’m going to send him down right now. {Alex Helmick} Sure enough, spurred on by his wife, and the fact that there’s a Ferrari in the garage, Adam Stoleberg makes his way down from the upstairs condo. Stoleberg, the owner of a real estate company is a car enthusiast. And he’s intrigued by the time-share idea. {Adam} So you have 8 weeks and you pay 15 grand down and 12,000 a year for two years {George} That’s exactly right {Alex Helmick} Stoleberg is quick to point out that exotic cars have a lot of expenses. And he like the idea of Curvy Road paying for maintenance, insurance and storage in the non-driving months. {Adam} I think it’s a good idea. I think especially in Chicago where you can’t drive all year anyways. So why pay for it all year. {Alex Helmick} Kiebala says after his planned expansion, he might take Curvy Road public, but he’ll have to stay in charge because he’s having way too much fun. {George} It is really something a lot of people always talk about, is making a living from something that you really enjoy. You know, from your passion. And most people talk about it like it’s a silly thing. Like – Yeah Right – like some people are really going to do that. But I guess, you know sometimes you can. {Alex Helmick} For those of you who can’t
afford the cars at Curvy Road, there is an alternative. Kiebala’s
other company will lend you a fancy car at a more reasonable $1,200
a week. {I’ve been driving all night, my hands wet on the wheel} |
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