Have you ever had one of those experiences, where you’ve thought the worst? Mulled over it for days without finding any positive, you finally bite the bullet and deal with it, only for it to turn out no where near as bad as you expected? I know I have, and I was only reminded of it, a week or so ago.
I was on my way to a fortnightly coffee meeting with a good friend of mine and fellow entrepreneur Myles Harris from Petrol Digital. As we sat down, he said, ‘Mate, I’ve got a story for you, it’ll be right up your alley’. I was intrigued and couldn’t wait to hear it. Besides being a genius with making Facebook profitable for small businesses, Myles is passionate about the motor industry and a car enthusiast. To give you some background, his pride and joy, is a VW Golf Wagon 2.0 TDI, detailed to perfection, and well looked after. When VW admitted deceiving customers with its diesel engines breaching emission standards, he was disappointed, but thought they’d find a solution.
As the crisis went on, Myles became increasingly concerned. This was huge and VW and it’s customers would be severely affected. The consequences would mean VW sales would take a major hit, but the big one was existing customers resale value. As Myles, said to me, ‘I felt sick to my stomach. I can’t be stuck with a car no one wants to buy ‘ As VW corporates released details of a fix to affected cars, his concern grew. The fixes were jeered as they would impact the vehicles performance as well. (As a side note, if you need a case study on what NOT to do during a scandal, follow this VW case.)
Myles was planning of upgrading to a bigger family car in the next 12-18mths, and while continuing to follow the negativity of the VW scandal, bit the bullet and decided to fast forward those plans. Knowing he would take a hit with the re-sale value, he’d settled on a new family vehicle and now the true test came. Right on cue, the dealer gave his top amount, some $6,000 less than what the car would have been valued at prior to the VW scandal. The dealer confirmed Myles fears due to the scandal, ‘no one wants to touch them at the moment, despite being a good car’.
Instead of being disappointed Myles explained he was optimistic something else could be done. The dealer had been terrific in his honesty, and both were able to work out a deal. The end result, a new shiny family car, and the the VW is now the issue of the dealer and not Myles. Repayments on the new vehicle were extra but minimal $20pm to cover the cost of the reduced re-sale value of the VW. Myles was surprised but happy, the repayments weren’t crippling and he wouldn’t be stuck with a lemon, the dealer was happy, overall it wasn’t anywhere near as bad as first thought.
The take away Myles stressed is that by being optimistic, positive and proactive, some how and some way the universe can deliver it to you when you least expect it. I couldn’t agree more.
At the very least, don’t do what VW is doing and that is sticking their head in the sand, and only being half hearted in offering a solution to limit the fiscal damage to it’s brand.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR – Aaron Tenabel is the owner and founder of Stride Life Coaching. An ex professional swimmer and elite coach, Aaron now uses those experiences and skills to specialise coaching individuals wanting to improve their health, achieve work life balance, and find greater purpose, fulfilment and authenticity in their career. Aaron also specialises in working with professional athletes, wanting to find passions outside their chosen sport, and help develop, empower and plan for their life post career.
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