Selig & Stretton: Fund Your Passion Podcast Episode 4

Amanda Stretton: Hello and thank you for coming back and tuning in. As always, thank you for your comments and your feedback from our third episode. It would seem that you, like us, had no idea about Dean’s musical talents. Now, we’ve got exciting news. Our next podcast will be out on the road. Watch this space because we might be coming to a dealership near you. Since last month, lots has been happening. Lockdown is beginning to ease. I’ve been in Monaco for Formula E, and Darren has been frequenting cafes in North London. Things are really getting back to normal. [chuckles] Did you have a good coffee, Darren?

Darren Selig: Darren Selig: I had a wonderful coffee and I had a wonderful mature rib steak. Let’s get to Hexagon Classics. I went past it the other day. There’s actually coffee, wine and bread.

Amanda Stretton: Sounds a bit measly, just offering your potential customers bread.

Darren Selig: We need to look at the menu, but–

Amanda Stretton: [chuckles] Hopefully, there’s a little bit more, maybe some butter.

Darren Selig: Let’s call Paul Michaels. I’m sure he’d be happy to talk to us. That may be our next gig, anyway.

Amanda Stretton: Get him on. On the theme of going out and things starting to get back to normal, Darren, we got to talk about the amazing Supercar Driver event at Goodwood. The pictures just looked incredible. Just give listeners a lineup of the cars that were there because it was a car park of epic car parkness.

Darren Selig: Every young car enthusiast’s or even older car enthusiast’s absolute dream. We had McLaren Sennas, Porsche 959, McLaren Mercedes SLR 72, Carrera GT which we showcased previously, Koenigsegg Agera actually belongs to all my clients, believe it or not. That is an amazing car. Ferrari 330 LMB, Ferrari LaFerrari. Another one of my favorites. MF 50, a Dino GTS, an Aston Martin Vantage GT12 and a Ford GT, and a plenty more, but wow, what an amazing lineup, and I do love that event. I always love those. Can’t see me, I’m waving my hands everywhere, but just love that lineup of the cars on the grid is just fantastic. I must put one of those on my wall. I think it’s superb.

Amanda Stretton: It is. Yes. Epic.

Darren Selig: When do you ever see a lineup of cars like that in one place? It’s rare, right?

Amanda Stretton: Very rare. That many, very rare I would say. You get a few here and there, but it was– [chuckles] The pictures I saw, the grid from pretty much the start line all the way back to the chicane was just full of cars and the pit lane as well, as if that wasn’t enough. I must, of course, mention today’s guest. We’ve got Darren Gibson, who is going to be well known to many listeners, as one of the preeminent figures. That makes him sound very grown-up, doesn’t it? He’s a car finance calculator, has helped many enthusiasts own the car of their dreams, and operating as a car finance broker. He’s also worked very hard to break down some of the preconceptions about finance, offering clients a very clear journey. Well, I’m looking forward to hearing more about that. I know we always ask you, Darren, he’s a good friend of yours and at JBR, but just tell me your connection, and why you wanted him to join the podcast.

Darren Selig: Darren Gibson has become a very good friend of JBR. We love him to pieces, and I’m going to big him up now. It’s normally my job. He has become one of JBR’s top introducers. I won’t give the figures away, but he is pretty much up there in lights. Has really supported the business since the very early days of the business. He wasn’t actually in this trade. I’m sure he’ll tell you all about it. Historically was a business he moved into coming out of his previous roles in the city, and he has done an unbelievable job. There are brokers in the market who have been around for as long as I have, like 20 years, and he’s absolutely being smashing it. Good on you, Darren, or Little D as I call you. I had to get that in, sorry. He’s been absolutely smashing it. He’s really embraced the new age of social media as well. We could learn a thing or two about how social media works. That’s been a big topic of conversation recently on these podcasts. Maybe he can tell us a little bit more about how he works the social media scene, but it really comes down to fantastic client engagement, based on service, all kind of things that are key trademarks in JBR actually as well. I think that’s why we work so well together. We share common values and our approach to customers, once you give them fantastic service and give them a great deal and look after them, make sure they come back and deal with us for the long-term. He’s got a lot of great customer retention as well. That’s very important to us, but more so because it’s Darren. Sorry, you can’t get away with it. There you go.

Amanda Stretton: No, but you know what I’m thinking? I’m thinking if you’re Big D and he’s Little D, I seem to remember a peanut brand about these as well. I’m now looking at a pack of peanut in my visual front of mind, which is not good. Anyway, we’re going to be talking to him. He can tell us what his favorite choice of nut is, peanut or other. We’re going to be talking to him in just a sec, and we’re talking about his background as you Darren have just alluded to, and also his very own Carpool Karaoke that he’s just launched. A lot of our guests seem to want to sing. Since we last spoke as well, it’s been an exciting month, hasn’t? With the announcement of the stunning RML Short Wheelbase reveals a Ferrari 250GT Short Wheelbase reimagination with modern underpinnings. Meanwhile, GTO Engineering have announced the Squalo, a Ferrari 250 Short Wheelbase recreation with a 10,000rpm V12. All I can think, “That’s going to be expensive to service.” Alpine have also released details of the A110 Légende GT, and Chevy Corvette, the Stingray launch. Those additions are coming out in October this year, and an all-new electric Porsche Macan prototype has hit the road. It’s just a month over weeks of news. Lotus as well being confirmed as a central feature at the Goodwood Festival of Speed for the first time since 2012, as the company unveils the Emira to the public for the very first time.
Porsche and Audi looking towards racing. They are going to collaborate on the 2023 Le Mans car. Speaking of Porsche, and the team at collecting cars, they’ve achieved a combined total of 7.5 million for the Leonard collection, which was auctioned off through their online platform. Darren, huh, I’m almost out of breath. Lots happening as ever. We’ll talk about lots about electric cars on this podcast. Last month, it was Ferrari, but now, Lamborghini has announced a hybrid coming in 2023 with an Evie supercar, which will be due sometime after 2025. The sector is really changing, isn’t it?

Darren Selig: It is really changing right in front of our eyes as we talk. So much change going on literally week by week. I know you mentioned Lotus there, and I’m secretly, never owned one, but I am secretly a Lotus fan. Since you had that Lotus Esprit in white with James Bond in it going underneath the sea.

Amanda Stretton: Under water. [chuckles]

Darren Selig: Don’t we all want to have one of those? It’s been amazing, but really, I think that Emira, what they’re doing is going to be fantastic. I’m really excited that they’re making a big plate comeback.

Amanda Stretton: It’s nice, isn’t it? A British brand, although it’s obviously moved into Chinese ownership, has really come to the fore. They’ve really got a bit of momentum, and everything looks great.
Darren:. Looking at the electric market, Lamborghini announcing they have hybrid coming out and going full EV as well as feature. Everyone is really jumping onto the EVs bandwagon in quite a big way. I just think, watch this space. I think, potentially, things are going to start moving a bit quicker than potentially we forecast or thought maybe. There’s just so much news going on that.

Amanda Stretton: There is, but also you’re seeing data on residual values. That’s been going up in some cases as much as 9% presumably. That’s because of the lack of new car supply.

Darren Selig: That’s right, it’s not specific on EVs, but generally in the market, huge amounts of activity going on. Manufacturers have curtailed the protection of new vehicles, and that really has pushed a lot of customers into the used and nearly new market, particularly. That is causing stock shortages right across the board. Dealers moaning they can’t buy in. There not essentially comes out the right price to sell on. Used car prices are increasing on average by about 9%, which is really astonishing. Good news all around and let’s just see how long it would last. There is definitely a good feeling around the place. People are very happy to be getting out and about again.

Amanda Stretton: We’ve talked about our guest already, Darren Gibson. Darren, I hope you’re there. Welcome to the Fund Your Passion podcast. It’s great to have you with us, and welcome to our virtual Zoom room, as we like to call it.
Darren Gibson: Hey, guys. Can you hear me okay?

Amanda Stretton: We can hear you. Hey, there.

Darren Selig: Excellent. Excellent. Well, look, thank you for having me on.

Amanda Stretton: It is lovely to have you. Darren was giving you a big up there saying what an unbelievable job you’ve done since moving into the sector. We’re going to talk about how you came in and what you were doing beforehand. Before we even start on any of that, we’ve got to get this Big D, Little D peanuts thing sorted out. Why were you Little D?

Darren Selig: He’s the peanut. Not me. [laughs] I’m not sure how it has gotten here, but–

Darren Selig: We said we were going to talk about it, but obviously we were lying.

Darren Selig: Absolutely. I think the whole Big D, Little D thing came up I’d say really from the early days. Anyone, who knows Mr. Selig, will know that maybe back in the day, he was a slightly more rotund individual. We used to have a bit of banter around that, and because of his seniority, of course, within the sector, and his role as the boss of the JBR Capital, I always referred him as Big D. In which case, he then [chuckles] subsequently making me the Small D.

Darren Selig: You just reminded me of something, getting back in the day and talking about. It just reminded me. Amanda, we started getting post to JBR Capital saying Darren Gibson JBR Capital since something fit. Honestly, we were like, “What’s going on here?” [chuckles] All his post started coming to us. It’s like, “Does he work here?” [chuckles] He was moving in on Big D.

Darren Selig: That was it. Then do you remember, you used to also get customer feedback on your Trustpilot or whatnot, saying Darren Gibson is an absolute credit to JBR Capital. This guy is amazing. [chuckles]

Darren Selig: This is true.

Darren Selig: I used to go out of my way to explain the clients, “Guys, actually, I’m an independent broker working with a variety of the top lenders of which JBR Capital are one of the space.”

Darren Selig: It’s better to say the name has sometimes got just mixed up with customers and got them a little bit confused, but fortunately, you did a far better job than me, I’d say, or even half–

[laughter]

Amanda Stretton: How would you like me to differentiate between the two of you now? What would you like me to call you?

Darren Selig: Well, you call me DG, maybe. However, that–

Amanda Stretton: DG? Okay.

Darren Selig: Yes. [chuckles]

Amanda Stretton: All right. DG, the other Darren mentioned that you–

Darren Selig: Technically, I’m DS, right?

Amanda Stretton: DS? Okay. DS mentioned you didn’t start off in car finance. It’s something you fell into, if you like. Just explain the journey. How you ended up doing this?

Darren Selig: It is an interesting journey, and one which I probably may not have picked at the outset. However, having got a finance degree over in Queen’s University Belfast, I joined one of the main investment banks in London. This was back in early 2000. I spent the first real 15 years of my career within investment banking and then laterally private equity and hedge funds. I’ve gone as far as I felt I could do in those sectors, and I ended up with a partner of a large credit hedge fund, up until around 2015. I wanted a new challenge. I wanted to be my own boss, and I wanted to work on my own terms. I also wanted to have a business which meant that my income annually wasn’t capped, let’s say, and ultimately, that I could benefit from the hard work that I put into my business. It was really through a chance encounter with one of the senior JBR Capital management team round about November of 2015, if my memory serves me right. We got talking at an event. He said, “Look, you might be a great introducer broker. Why don’t you come and have a chat to us?” At first, my reaction was, “Oh, no, car finance. That’s obviously a dirty, grimy industry. I don’t want anything to do with that sector.” But it played on my mind over the Christmas break. I think it was around the 6th of January, 2016 that I went down to Hampstead and I had a meeting with Darren Selig, DS, as we know him.

Darren Selig: That’s a very specific date. [chuckles]

Darren Selig: Yes, it was. It was the 6th of January, 2016, if I recall. Yes, and you guys have done–

Amanda Stretton: How much of an impact you had on him.

Darren Selig: Yes. Yes. At that time, JBR Capital was operating in a relatively small office in Hampstead. Again, I think there were around 9 or 10, maybe 11 members in the team at that stage.

Darren Selig: It was very cozy.

Darren Selig: It was. It was very cozy.

Darren Selig: We were almost sitting on top of each other, but we–

Darren Selig: [chuckles] Indeed. We obviously had that meeting. It was very formative, and we agreed to sign terms/ Again, I’m sure Darren won’t mind me mentioning, but at that time, to be on the JBR platform, I think an introducer broker needed to write round about £1 million worth of business per year, in order to be on the platform and represent the brand. At that stage, I felt that it would be impossible for me to do anything close to £1 million worth of business in a year, but we agreed to get going, and the rest is history, and to an extent, now, there’s days where I do £1 million in a day.

Amanda Stretton: Wow. I told in my introduction, saying how you’d done a lot to dispel some of the myths about finance, and you yourself mentioned just then that your initial thought was that, “Oh, this is a dirty thing.” What changed your mind?

Darren Selig: Well, it was really, getting to know the people in the sector at a senior level. It was seeing how they operate as a business, what their ethics are as a business, and how they treat the customers and how they go about gaining new business and posing up business and then managing up business as time goes by, and really through my personal interactions on a daily basis with all of the key team members across the JBR Capital family. I quickly realized that it was a company I could work with and trust. I think over time that trust was, again, reciprocated in the other direction.

Amanda Stretton: Talking about doing £1 million a day, in your view, what does the market look like currently then? Are you seeing any trends? We’ve talked a little bit in previous podcasts as well about the lockdown bubble. Have you noticed anything, any changes in people’s behaviors or patterns over the last 12 months?

Darren Selig: Definitely yes. When I think about the car finance market itself, I always think to myself that it operates on a two, three, four-year cycle. If a client or consumer purchased a car back in 2017, ’18, ’19, ’20, whenever that may be on a two, three, four-year deal, that deal is on a finite term. At the end of that term, the client must make a decision as to what they’re doing with the vehicle. Clearly, during ’17, ’18, ’19, ’20, they were very busy years in the car finance space. Those deals are ruling off now. People have to decide if they’re keeping the car, refinancing the car, selling the car, or part exchanging and trading up into a new car. Again, invariably, a lot of clients tend to want to feel like they’re moving forward or progressing in terms of the quality of the car or the price point of the car, and they want to feel like they’re making step up every time that they change their car. That’s one of the key reasons why we get so much repeat business and clients come back time and time.

Amanda Stretton: What about trends in the type of car people are buying or the profile of the people who are actually entering into finance?

Darren Selig: The core brands that are always very very popular, whether it be in the different segments, whether it’s just being normal family type cars, whether it’s SUVs, whether it’s sport cars, even into the hypercar bracket, again, people want to feel like they’re moving up each time when they change the car. I haven’t seen a change per se in the demand, let’s say, from the customers, but during just come back to the point when the UK went into the initial lockdown, I personally saw a bit of a quiet patch for around 10 days. At that point, I think everyone was taking a sharp intake of breath as to what was coming down the track. However, no sooner had those 10 days finished, then the phone just started ringing again and it wasn’t double busy, as I say it was, it was almost quadruple busy. People were reassessing what they wanted from the cars. People were reassessing, what they wanted on their driveway. People felt like they wanted to make the decision to change the car now.
To some extent, there was some clients coming through almost as we would call, life’s too short. They might’ve been wanting to buy their first Porsche at the age of, let’s say, 40 but they were saying, “Look, I wasn’t going to do this for another few years, but now I fancy a change in the car and my significant other has said, I can.” They’ve come in and they bought the cars earlier than they might’ve expected to.

Amanda Stretton: You obviously worked with JBR closely and have known Big D for many, many years, but as well as working with JBR, you obviously work with other lenders as well, but what for you and your clients do you think is the appeal of JBR?

Darren Selig: With JBR, again, knowing the way they own the right deals, knowing the way they look at the client’s profile, the client’s employment history, whether that be self-employed through their own businesses or whether it be employed through other firms. Again, they take a very holistic view to the credit underwriting process. There isn’t really a computer says no type mentality there, which we like. If a client is more non-vanilla, as we might say, invariably JBR would be the first port of call there for those deals. It might take a little bit more time and effort to get the deal through the credit underwriting process, which is extremely vigorous. Also, I would say, very fair, and not they will look at all aspects of a client’s background, and if they’re maybe it was one or two glitches in the past. It could be a late payment or something. It could be something that happened in the client’s credit profile historically which may or may not have been their fault. They will look at that rationally and sensibly and invariably come to the right decision from a credit perspective.

Amanda Stretton: Now, I’m also fascinated by the way you structure your business in particular, with regards to social media. It’s a phenomenon that has really changed the way you– I’m using that broadly– One communicates with one’s clients these days, and for you, it’s a really significant platform and a way of maintaining and building on your profile. You’ve done a lot of work with people from various different sporting fields, rugby, Formula 1. How have you managed to leverage it in such a successful way, and what do you think the secret of using it really well is?

Darren Selig: Good question, Amanda. Personally, I’ve never been a fan of social media. I never really understood the use of it. I might have a Facebook account, but that’s only because I don’t know how to delete it. I never would have find myself on a platform such as Instagram, for example. [chuckles] It’s a bit of weird, so I will go into that. Somebody downloaded that onto my phone once, and handed my phone back and said, “Now, you’re addicted, off you go,” and within the space of a day or two, I find myself sitting, scrolling on Instagram pretty much nonstop, looking at the things I love, like cars and whatnot. [chuckles] That sort of got it all started.

Darren Selig: I want to know what the whatnots are.

[laughter]
[crosstalk] I want to know what the whatnots are.

Darren Selig: Well, watches and [crosstalk] and sport things and whatnot. Similar things, actually.

[laughter]
I have no idea how social media worked, and I have no real idea how, ultimately, I could harness a small degree of the power of social media in order to assist my business. When I started again initially, what did I call myself? I thought long. You heard about it. I said, “Well, I am Darren Gibson. It’s me that people are engaging with and interacting with as an independent broker. Therefore, I will simply call myself D Gibson Financial Services.” The other key thing which happened, I managed to buy the number plate, which I now have on one of my cars, which happens to be D G18SON. I based all of my branding and my social media handle, for example, around that. That turned out to work quite well and it resonated well with clients and potential clients and buyers.
Again, in the early days, I worked with a number of people across the Instagram and YouTube world, and I still do that today. We might get involved with the sponsorship of some drag races. Also, I think I was one of the first brokers who did get out there on a frequent basis to meet my clients in the dealerships, whilst they’re collecting their new vehicles. I loved that primarily because A, I got to meet my client. We got to meet face to face and formed that relationship early on, as well as that I got to see their fantastic new cars, and I was just as excited about their new cars as they are.

Darren Selig: I’ve always admired that, to be honest because that is the ultimate impersonal service and that you care about what they’re doing. Most people don’t do that because it’s unbelievably time-consuming. That’s big timer as well the need because that is showing that you care about your customer.

Darren Selig: No, absolutely. Back in the beginning as well, with a lot of the deals, they don’t have to be signed up on shared premises. Now, of course, with a lot of the new regulated rules, they do have to be signed up on shared premises. Again, I’m still getting out there to the dealerships to meet the customers. Invariably, the clients do really appreciate that. They get to know who they’re talking to, and again, vice versa, it’s knowing your customer. I get to ensure that the person buying this vehicle really is that person because we then have that personal connection and link going forward. It allows us to keep in touch, and invariably, when they are coming back to change the vehicle at a later date, I usually am the first port of call at that stage. Again, that’s a huge way to retain existing clients and to look at servicing on them for the long-term.

Amanda Stretton: Interestingly, you still got a website, but does the majority of your business come through Instagram?

Darren Selig: Huge amount comes through Instagram, clearly, but also via the website itself, but huge, huge, huge amount of my business just comes from client referrals. I may have done a deal for a customer a month or two back, and he might send me two or three new clients on the back of doing a superb job for that customer. I very much have the ethos that I’m only as good as my last deal. I need to ensure that every client, no matter what the value of that car is, gets the CM super high level quality of service. I will say that I work with my client’s need me to work.
If a client rings me at eight o’clock on a Friday night, and I’m available to take the call, I will take that call. Now, if I don’t manage to take the call, I’ll try to ring them back at around ten o’clock on Saturday morning. I do work on weekends. I always say to people the only time never to call me is on a Sunday at around two to three o’clock when there’s a Formula One race on. That is completely off-limits.

Darren Selig: You’re talking to the right person now. Amanda would be horrified if you weren’t.

Amanda Stretton: I just don’t bother answering. [chuckles]

Darren Selig: Well, exactly. You can relate to that, Amanda. That is the one time that’s off-limits, but I do still get a lot of calls on Sundays at around two or three o’clock. [chuckles]

Amanda Stretton: You’ve seen the news then that Formula One is going to have fans for the next bunch of races. That’s exciting. You’re going to go to any of them?

Darren Selig: Well, I was hoping. I do work with some of the F1 teams. In fact, today alone, I’ve got deals going out for two people that work at two different F1 teams. I’m a huge F1 fan. I’m very lucky to work with some of the very senior people at some of those teams.

Darren Selig: I hope you’ve sent those to JBR.

Darren Selig: Absolutely, Darren. Absolutely. If you look in the credit queue, there’s a few parked in there right now.

[laughter]

Darren Selig: We’ll have to do a very quick pit stop change on it then.

Darren Selig: You have to call at the-

Amanda Stretton: Zoom.

Darren Selig: Zoom.

Darren Selig: -[unintelligible 00:26:43] will call up. To answer your question, I was hoping to go to Monaco this year, but apparently, again, they’re allowing 7,000 fans into the Monaco, and–

Darren Selig: Amanda just went to Monaco.

Darren Selig: Yes, but I think might be the race I’ll go to this year will be Abu Dhabi for the season finale.

Amanda Stretton: That’s always a– That’s a nice one.

Darren Selig: Yes. I should get a full hospitality of Formula teams there for that. I’m looking forward to that.

Amanda Stretton: Have you watched any Formula already?

Darren Selig: It’s something I want to start watching, actually. It’s on my radar, but I tend not to know when it’s coming up quite as off much as I would with regular Formula 1.

Amanda Stretton: It’s got a bit of a sporadic calendar at the moment, just because obviously, racing in City Centers, you’ve got to be quite mindful of what their COVID situation is. Apart from Abu Dhabi– We’re obviously allowed to start going to events now, you are a bit of a petrol head, what are you looking forward to going to over the coming months?

Darren Selig: The JBR golf day.

Darren Selig: [laughs] Well, that will be good. That’s always good.

Darren Selig: I haven’t planned one. Sorry, bad answer.

[laughter]
I’ll get on to working about that. I’ll have our own private one. No, I think I might not get a chance to look at many of the races, certainly, not many European races, anyway, but if I can get to at least Abu Dhabi this year, I’ll be pleased.

Amanda Stretton: Anything else on your radar. I’m going to Bicester Heritage Scramble. I’m quite excited about that, life, real humans, and actually, we can all hug, which is terribly exciting as well.

Darren Selig: [chuckles] Well, I love Bicester Village, actually, and then getting up there to Heritage– Not Bicester Village, but to the Heritage there. I do like the–

Amanda Stretton: It’s fine. It’s fine. If you want to go shopping, that’s fine.

[laughter]

Darren Selig: That’s why I avoid the place.

[laughter]

Amanda Stretton: It is a bit of a zoo now. We were obviously talking about social media and the strengths of it. Tell us about your new little series, Darren Gibson meets. What was the thinking behind that? What are you trying to achieve? Have we got anything exciting to look forward to?

Darren Selig: Anything I can say on that, Amanda. I haven’t been invited yet.

[laughter]

Darren Selig: You don’t worry.

Darren Selig: If you’re offering. [laughs]

Darren Selig: You’ll definitely be on there. It’s something I’ve been thinking about doing for quite some time. People will say to me, what do I love most about this job, and that genuinely is the clients. There’s very few job roles in life whereby you get to work with such a diverse range of people from all walks of life. Again, I get super excited about the cars, but I often say to people, “Look, if your dream car is a BMW M2, that’s fantastic. I’m just as excited about that car as I am for a Lamborghini Performante Spyder, that another client might’ve dreamed of owning.” Every car is different. Every client is different. My key thing is all about the client’s first and foremost and then it’s about the cars. I’ve worked with a huge variety of clients from different TV personalities, through to major sports personalities, through to lots of people in the F1 Paddock, for example, as well, and then a huge amount of entrepreneurs and business people from every single walk of life that you could imagine. For me, it’s very interesting to get to know them, understand them, understand their needs and wants when it comes to vehicle finance, and then try to ensure that we introduce them to the right product, which suits them first and foremost, but also suits the vehicle they’re looking to finance. I think as a broker, one of the skills to that is to be able to work out very quickly where best to place our client to service their needs.

Darren Selig: Ms, BMW Ms, we’re seeing anything with an M in it, is selling like hotcakes. Are you seeing that as well? You mentioned the Ms, that’s why I’m asking.

Darren Selig: Yes. I think right now on my deal flow, I have maybe seven or eight M Series BMWs in there right now.

Darren Selig: They’re big news. I don’t know why.

Darren Selig: Very nice BMW 1M, which is a very collectible car, actually. It’s an 11 [unintelligible 00:30:50] car, but those have gone up greatly.

Darren Selig: Can you fit two big dogs in it?

[laughter]

Amanda Stretton: I was just about to ask that.

[laughter]

Darren Selig: I’m not sure. It’s a very smaller car.

Amanda Stretton: The reason he asked that is that I’ve got two Rhodesian Ridgebacks, and I’m looking to downsize my car, but the problem is I have two Rhodesian Ridgebacks. So it’s very hard to get a small car that I can get me and the dogs in. I’m open to suggestions.

Darren Selig: My solution there, Amanda, and you might not like this, but get the dogs off to Battersea Dogs Home and get [laughs] yourself whatever sports car you want. [laughs]

Amanda Stretton: You’re right.

Darren Selig: It can cut you off this podcast any second. [chuckles]

Amanda Stretton: That’s a no, no, but I’d ride and save the dogs from the burning building first.

Darren Selig: My dog– We got a dog. Well, Santa Claus brought a dog for my children on Christmas Day, which was a shock to everybody, including me.

Darren Selig: Just remember, folks, a dog is not just for Christmas. It’s for life.

Amanda Stretton: Yes.

Darren Selig: That’s it. That’s it. He’s allowed in one of the cars, but that’s it. The other cars, he’s never allowed.

Amanda Stretton: What dog is he?

Darren Selig: He’s just a little cockapoo.

Amanda Stretton: And do you like him?

Darren Selig: Oh, he’s fantastic. Yes.

Amanda Stretton: Very good. I like it.

Darren Selig: I wouldn’t suggest you give your dogs to Battersea Dogs Home.

[laughter]

Amanda Stretton: No, I’m not going to give them away. We ask everybody, who has sat in the Hot Seat, this question. We like to know what your dream car is. So far, we’ve had two Enzos, a Carrera GT. My choice, which is mostly anything I can race, but I’m very much with sort of F40. What would your dream car be?

Darren Selig: I’m also in the Ferrari camp. For me, it would have to be 458 Speciale. That would be my dream car, and probably a Coupé as opposed to the Aperta, but if money was no object, maybe the Aperta.

Amanda Stretton: Money is no object. Imagine this is a desert island, you can have whatever you like. That’s what it would be.

Darren Selig: The Aperta. I think that would have to be 458 Speciale Aperta.

Darren Selig: Not Pista? 488 Pista?

Darren Selig: No, I’m not a fan of the front-end of the Pistas. [crosstalk]

Darren Selig: I really don’t like the way that you [unintelligible 00:33:04]

Darren Selig: Actually, let me correct that. The 488, I’ve never loved because of the front-end. The Pista was much better clearly, but it’s still 488. Whereas, I think the best car for me, based on everything they’ve done, would have to be the Speciale there.

Amanda Stretton: I’m going to say that actually of all the experts we’ve had, and this proves my point. We’ve had a lot of Ferrari’s and only one Porsche. Porsche’s leave me cold. I’m ambivalent to a Porsche. Basically, we all go for a Ferrari. It says a lot, doesn’t it?

Darren Selig: What is it about the Porsche that just feels like it’s no experience at all, like just nothing? It is just like [cross talk]

Amanda Stretton: I would say, it feels– Where is the Ferrari? I’m going to be very broad here. It feels like a real experience that you’re feeling with every fiber of your body. Porsches feel a little bit– When you watch a film that you think ought to be funny and it just isn’t, and it just feels a bit like it’s trying too hard.

Darren Selig: Like coming from America too.

Amanda Stretton: That’s for me. That’s–

Darren Selig: But in Porsche’s defense– I have a 991.1 GTS. Now, it’s not the fastest or most expensive Porsche, but it certainly has held its value extremely well. It’s a fantasticly usable car. The other thing is it’s fantastically reliable and the servicing elements relatively inexpensive. From an ownership perspective, Porsche tends to be fantastic, and certainty as well from that crucial depreciation perspective, again, absolutely fantastic. It’s the same across any of the top car marks. You can buy the wrong Porsche and lose lots of money. You can buy the wrong Ferrari and lose lots of money, but the Porsche product is absolutely top-class, I have to say.

Amanda Stretton: Thanks, dad. Darren Gibson. It has been an absolute pleasure. Thank you very much for joining us, and we hope to see you very soon.

Darren Selig: Yes, indeed. Thank you again, guys.

Amanda Stretton: Thank you for tuning in again, as always, we’d love to hear your feedback. Please do engage with us on social media. As we’ve said, Dan Selig and I are going to be on the road for the next one. We look forward to bringing it to a dealership perhaps near you. From both of us.

Darren Selig: Yes, from Big D with his bag of peanuts, it’s goodbye from me.

Amanda Stretton: Bye-bye