Success Magazine: What does success mean to you?
Sunday Verrillo: To me, success is waking up in the morning knowing that my team is here opening the doors, customers are referring other customers, and you're here choosing us to be in Success Magazine.
Joe Verrillo: Success is being fortunate enough to turn my passion into a successful, nationally- recognized, high-quality dealership specializing in Corvettes, Sports and Luxury cars.

SM: Tell us about your business. How did you get started?
JV: My interest in cars started when I was about 13-14 years old. I had my father take me to buy a ‘67 GTO. It had no engine and no transmission in it, and he and my brother both took me around to get the parts to put the car together. I put it together, got it running, and from there I started repairing other people's cars in my parents' driveway.

SM: Did you have training, or did it just come naturally?
JV: I was self-taught. I used to go down the street to the local body shop, and around the corner there was a guy who had stock cars. I used to hang around their garages when I was a kid and learn by watching and asking a lot of questions. My first endeavor in a job was at Hedley Cadillac in Troy, turning wrenches as a used car mechanic.
SV: I always had an interest in cars, so it was kind of ideal that we met one another, with my retail management background and Joe's interests. I actually started helping in our reconditioning shop. Joe and I personally restored this '67 Corvette on the showroom floor.

SM: How did you get into Prestige Motors? How did you make that transition from where you were to being an elite dealer for cars?
JV: I found cars fascinating, and thought that I could start a business, so I started buying and selling cars. I opened up Classic Auto Sales in 1975 on Hoosick Street in Troy. We made the move to Clifton Park in 1983 and formed Prestige Motor Car Co.

SM: Sunday, did your training in retail help to propel the retail side of this business and take it to the next level?
SV: Joe is the best marketer, I've learned a lot from him. My retail background has helped us to put together the systems and the procedures for the business to grow.

SM: Having a love of cars translates well to your clients. It's like us communicating about the magazine: nobody can tell the story better. What is your methodology for going from just a showroom and selling classic cars to your current business model?
JV: You can walk around our lot and take a look at every car and see that they're all in the same condition. We believe in high quality, not high volume. We specialize in one-owner cars, cars that have not been repainted or touched-up, not your average cars that run through a dealership. They were previously owned by clients who had two or three cars, and this particular car was just another toy for them. We travel the whole country, we do shows, and while we're searching the country we also do market analysis on what other people in our business have to offer, what their pricing is, and what their quality is. This enables us to be the best at what we do, that means offering the best product there is on the market at the most competitive prices.

SM: Obviously, Halfmoon, Clifton Park, Saratoga, and the Capital District are thriving, yet your client base is not just in those areas. Do you have an online presence, as well? Do you price online, or do people come up and say, "How much for that mint ‘69 Camaro?"
JV: We have a website, www.prestigecorvettes.com, and we have one person that works on marketing. Most of our prices are online. We also advertise on all kinds of different websites over and above our own, that brings customers back to us, as well.
SV: We do comparative shop our prices nationally, so that we can remain very competitive.

SM: How did you pick your team, and what did you do to develop that team so that you can travel and take care of business?
JV: I've looked for the best people, people who are like me, people who are passionate, driven, meticulous, and have a love for what they do. I've put a team together that is the best I've ever had.
SV: And beyond that, with Prestige you are getting a complete package. You're getting the expertise of Joe's many years of being able to put the cars together and work on them. You're getting an award-winning restoration shop and the fact that we know the difference between a Real Car and a made up one. You're getting the expertise of this team that is reconditioning and servicing the car, and then you're getting the guaranty that we do stand behind what we sell.

SM: What do you look for in a person?
JV: I look for integrity and drive.
SV: Loyalty and dedication.

SM: Classic cars are like antique furniture, to a degree. If a family is struggling, they're not going to go out and buy a '69 Camaro, but there will always be people who will buy classic cars. Have there been times when there has been a lull in the economy that's affected your business, and what did you do during that time?
JV: There has been a lot of disposable income and people put their money into something they can watch increase in value. When the stock market drops people pull money out of the stock market and the collector car market rises drastically. Some people want to take their money and put it into something that they had or dreamed of having when they were eighteen years old and just watch their investment pay off. When the market has taken off, we've jumped on the bandwagon and gotten involved. We also have a restoration facility where we restore some cars, too. Our restoration work has been recognized with the most prestigious awards Bloomington Gold and NCRS Top Flight!
SV: One of the keys to our success has always been in buying the right vehicle.

SM: You went from wholesale to now wholesale and retail. Were you always dealing in new cars, or when did you expand into that?
JV: We were in the wholesale business for many years prior to being in Clifton Park in the retail business. Porsche, Mercedes, Cadillac, diesel dual wheel pickup trucks…we've always bought and sold something that the guy next door doesn't sell. The later model cars have always been part of the business. We have both. We have the classic and the later model.

SM: You're still both very young. You have tremendous opportunities ahead of you, but there must have been times when it wasn't perfect. When you went through those times, what helped you to pull through them?
SV: Joe never gives up, and neither do I. Where there's a will, there's a way. Both of us could perform every aspect of this business if the need arose. Between the two of us we could buy the car, we could detail it, we could service it, we could sell it, and we could do the paperwork.

SM: How would you describe yourself in one word?
JV: Driven.
SV: Upbeat.

SM: When the economy goes down, somebody who was playing the market might have to liquidate their garage full of toys. Maybe there's a divorce, death in the family, estate settlement, or something like that. What do you think makes you different from all of the other dealers facing those same circumstances?
JV: You've asked what do we do in down times, and how we adapt. Recently, we have added the service of managing and brokering personal auto collections all around the country. We will give you a fair market assessment and nationally market your vehicle; we can also find you the car of your dreams!
We get people who call us who've had a death in the family; I always go to the house, and my feelings are that when I go to that person, I need to help them, not just fill my pockets. I need to be fair. It comes from the level of integrity we've kept up. I believe that's how we're to do business.
SV: I remember years ago we were at a show in Florida, someone told us about this young woman whose husband owned a restaurant in Fort Lauderdale, and he was murdered in an armed robbery. The restaurant was closed and she needed money, she had to sell his Blazer. We went and met her, her mother and her child, and we took the Blazer, sold it for her, did not charge her anything and gave her the money. That felt so good to be able to help at that crisis time. To be able to do those kinds of things for people as well, and not look at a car just to see what the profit margin is, those are the things that are very rewarding to us. We keep their business private, we are able to stock, liquidate and restore their collection.

SM: You're a premier dealer. What does the future hold for you? What is it you're looking to accomplish?
JV: We are working on more and more marketing worldwide. We are looking into putting everything indoors, so that we can give a customer our undivided attention. And our goal from there is to have a second satellite location, where the sun shines more. We don't look at ourselves as being in the car business; we look at ourselves as we've built a dream. In my eyes we've put together something that I've always dreamed of. When people come through the doors, and we deliver their cars, they thank us, give us hugs, bottles of wine, flowers and gifts…to me there's nothing more rewarding in the world.
SV: We receive so many of these big thank you letters from these clients who take the time to write to us because their experience was so great. It's the fulfillment of their dream to own one of these cars.
JV: When you walk through our door, we treat you the way we would want to be treated. We welcome people. We like what we do, and we don't look at everything wondering how much money we can make, because part of our life, part of our accomplishment, is making the customer happy. If we can make you happy and treat you the way we'd like somebody to treat us, we feel like we're doing our job, and we can walk out at the end of the day and feel great about it.
SV: Our reputation, not only in the retail business, but also in the wholesale business, is the same; we stand behind our product that we sell to dealers the same as retail buyers. We can pick up the phone and call a dealer in Washington, D.C., or in Chicago, sell a vehicle wholesale, and just put it on a truck. They know when they receive the vehicle that it's front-line ready, they can turn the product which generates higher profits for the product.
JV: When we go to those world-renowned shows, people recognize Prestige Motor Car Co. as one of the premier dealerships in the country, that's a fact that I'm very proud of. It's been built with a great partner and wife, and the team that I have behind me, because without them we wouldn't have Prestige.