Free Web NovelChapter 34: Doing the Cycle
The construction had barely begun when Richard realized that waiting four months with an empty lot would be a waste.
Phoenix Auto Trading had no inventory, but the business still had momentum. The Facebook page was growing, old customers were recommending him, and inquiries continued arriving even though every listed vehicle had already been sold. Some buyers even messaged just to ask when the next batch would arrive, which meant the demand had not disappeared. If anything, running out of stock had made people more curious.
Richard sat inside the temporary container office while the sound of construction echoed outside. Workers were removing sections of old concrete, steel beams were being unloaded near the gate, and the air smelled of dust, welding, and fresh cement. The place was no longer suitable for walk-in customers, but it was still large enough to receive vehicles at the rear portion of the lot. Stephanie had already marked which areas needed to remain clear for construction access and which sections could be used as temporary storage.
That was enough for Richard.
He opened his laptop and began searching again.
This time, he did not look for twenty vehicles. Twenty vehicles had worked during the first phase, but Level 3 changed everything. The system could now reconstruct twenty units per day, and his new quota had risen to two hundred million pesos. If he treated Phoenix Auto Trading like a small buy-and-sell shop again, he would only slow himself down.
He needed volume.
A lot of volume.
Richard opened every source he had used before. Facebook Marketplace. Repossessed vehicle groups. Insurance write-off pages. Auction listings. Private seller posts. Flood-damaged units. Fleet disposals. Vehicles with dead engines. SUVs with collision damage. Vans with transmission problems. Anything cheap enough to justify purchase immediately went into his spreadsheet.
Condition still did not matter.
Actually, the worse the condition, the better.
A clean used car had too much value already. Sellers priced those aggressively because they knew people wanted them. Damaged cars were different. Owners wanted them gone. Banks wanted space. Insurance companies wanted to recover whatever they could. Mechanics and dealers avoided the worst units because repairs were risky and expensive.
Richard had no such problem.
A flooded Alphard could become a nearly new Lexus LM. A wrecked Land Cruiser could become a pristine Lexus LX. A dead Grandia could become a luxury van worth millions. Even ordinary SUVs could be converted into premium models if the dimensions and weight matched.
By afternoon, his spreadsheet had grown frighteningly long.
Toyota Fortuner, flood-damaged, ₱410,000.
Mitsubishi Montero Sport, front collision, ₱280,000.
Ford Everest, engine failure, ₱360,000.
Toyota Alphard, flooded interior, ₱900,000.
Toyota Grandia, transmission issue, ₱780,000.
Nissan Terra, auction unit, ₱320,000.
Toyota Land Cruiser Prado, collision damage, ₱1.2 million.
Hyundai Staria, flood damage, ₱850,000.
BMW X5, engine issue, ₱1.5 million.
Mercedes-Benz GLE, insurance write-off, ₱1.7 million.
Richard stared at the list for a while, then checked his bank balance again. He had money now. Real money. Enough to buy inventory in bulk without feeling like every purchase was a gamble. The strange part was that his mindset had already shifted. Before, spending four million pesos on salvage vehicles felt terrifying. Now he was considering spending thirty million and still treating it as working capital.
Money really changed how a person looked at risk.
By evening, he started contacting sellers.
The first few conversations were easy. Many sellers were surprised when he did not ask too many questions about damage. Richard only asked for the papers, location, chassis details, and whether the vehicle could be towed. Some tried to explain the problems in detail, probably expecting him to back out once they mentioned flood damage or engine failure. Instead, he kept asking for the final price.
One seller called him directly after Richard offered to buy three damaged SUVs in one transaction.
"Sir, just to be clear, these units are not running," the man said. "One of them has flood damage, and the other has a damaged front end. The third one has no start condition."
"That’s fine," Richard replied while reviewing the photos on his laptop. "As long as the papers are complete and the ownership transfer can be handled, I’ll take them."
The seller paused for a moment. "You’re sure, sir?"
"I’m sure. Send me the final computation including towing assistance if you can arrange it."
By the next day, Richard had already reserved twelve units. By the third day, that number became twenty-six. By the end of the week, he had purchased thirty-eight salvage vehicles from different sources. The total cost, including towing, documentation, storage handling, and small seller fees, reached almost thirty-one million pesos.
A few months ago, that number would have made him dizzy.
Now he only viewed it as inventory.
The first transport truck arrived on a cloudy morning while construction workers were still preparing steel reinforcements near the front of the lot. Richard had already instructed Stephanie about the deliveries, so the rear section had been cleared and marked for vehicle storage. Still, even she looked surprised when the first truck entered carrying six damaged vehicles.
"You bought more cars?" Stephanie asked, standing beside him with her hard hat tucked under one arm.
"A few," Richard said.
She looked at the truck, then at the gate where another tow truck was already waiting outside. "That doesn’t look like a few."
Richard smiled without answering.
The deliveries continued throughout the day. Tow trucks arrived one after another, dragging in vehicles that looked as if they had been pulled from disasters. Some had crushed front ends. Others had interiors ruined by floodwater. A white Alphard arrived with mud still visible beneath the carpets. A black Land Cruiser Prado came in with one side badly dented. Two Grandias arrived on separate flatbeds, both dead and covered in dust.
The workers kept glancing at the vehicles as they unloaded construction materials.
Richard could not blame them.
To normal people, the sight looked absurd. A dealership undergoing renovation was suddenly filling its rear lot with broken, flooded, and wrecked vehicles. It looked less like a premium automotive business and more like a salvage yard hiding behind a future showroom.
But Richard saw the future.
He saw Lexus LMs lined beneath warm showroom lights. He saw Land Cruisers waiting for wealthy buyers. He saw executives inspecting luxury vans while sitting inside an air-conditioned lounge. He saw the next quota moving upward with every sale.
By sunset, the rear portion of Phoenix Auto Trading was packed with vehicles again.
This batch was different from the first one. The earlier inventory had been a test. This time, Richard had purchased with confidence. He no longer wondered whether buyers would come or whether the system’s vehicles could pass inspection. That question had already been answered many times. Now his problem was scale.
Stephanie stood beside him near the temporary office, watching as the last tow truck reversed into position.
"You know," she said, "when you told me you were building a luxury showroom, I thought you were going to slow down operations until construction finished."
Richard looked at the rows of damaged vehicles and smiled. "I can’t afford to slow down."
She turned toward him. "Most people would wait until the showroom is finished." freewebnoveℓ.com
"Most people don’t have customers asking when they can buy again."
Stephanie studied him for a few seconds, then laughed softly. "Fair enough."
Richard folded his arms while looking at the crowded storage area. Construction was still ongoing, the showroom existed only as steel, concrete, and plans, and the front of the lot was a mess of dust and equipment. Yet behind all of that sat thirty-eight future luxury vehicles waiting to be reborn.
The old Phoenix Auto Trading had started with twenty junk vehicles and turned them into fifty million pesos.
This second batch was larger, more expensive, and far more ambitious.
Richard’s eyes narrowed slightly as the system interface appeared at the edge of his vision.
[Daily Reconstruction Capacity: 20/20]
He had enough vehicles.
He had enough capital.
He had enough demand.
Now he only needed one quiet night to begin the next round.
