Carl reflects on 24 years of driving and shares his car journey, explaining how they are at the heart of what he loves and have also been a great way of making money over the years

As an entrepreneur making money on cars has been about spotting great deals and putting in the work and over the years Carl has driven some cool cars and traded cars successfully.

As a die-hard petrolhead, Carl has loved nearly all his cars and this is a great listen about how cars and what you want from them, changes as you move through life.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• The first car I drove on the road was my Dad’s BMW 528
• After my Astra was written off I broke it down and sold the parts individually
• I didn’t make money but I didn’t lose money on it
• Rather than just saying I can’t be bothered, I looked for a way to not lose money on it to make a deal
• The entrepreneur in me is always asking how can I help others out and where is there a deal
• Cars were much cheaper up north and I started looking for good car deals there
• I’m a petrol head and I love my cars, I went from having a Seat Leon Cupra R225 I loved  to driving a Fiesta 950 popular in green
• There were lots of Seats, I really love them, but my biggest moneymaker was a Westfield that I fully rebuilt.
• It’s about doing the work other people can’t be bothered to do
• You have to put in the work if you want to get the deals
• If you are prepared to do what others aren’t you can make money with cars

Carl’s Cars

1997 - Dad’s BMW 528… Mine was off the road...

1997- V Astra 1.3 merit 

1998 - VW Scirocco 1.6

1999 - V Belmont SRI 130 

2000 - Seat Leon 2.0 8v 

2002- VW golf 1.8gl D 

2003- BMW 525 TDI 

2004- Seat Leon Cupra  

2005 - fiesta 950 popular (green) (Split up with Jen)

          - Peugeot 405. 

2006 - Skyline r32 GTS-4

2006- Seat Leon Cupra R 225 

2007 - Seat Leon 59. TDI chipped 

2009 - Mercedes Vito sport

2010 - Built Westfield 105 hours (6 months) 900 blade.

         - Changed engine 2012. To ZX12r  0-100 MPH 6 seconds

2013 - Audi 3.0 S-line Quattro estate (mapped)

2013 - Sade BMW 330i M Diesel, sport Convertible. 

2013 - Audi A4 S-line estate 2018 

2015 - Merc C220 Estate AMG line 2016 

2017- Audi S-line 190 

2017- RX8 

2018 - Denby - 1 horse power 

2018 - Sade BMW 440i M sport Convertible. 

2019- Merc Shooting brake CLA-AMG 

2019 - Ford Transit custom 9 seater 

2020- Mercedes E 200 

BEST MOMENTS

‘It was an insane amount of money then but it was what I wanted’

‘I started to really trade in cars over the next few years

‘It was good fun and lots of hours’

‘I made quite a bit of money from those cars in a couple of years and I got to drive really cool cars’

VALUABLE RESOURCES

HKA Main landing page www.hastingskickboxing.co.uk/kickstartnow

YouTube  https://www.youtube.com/user/Hastingskickboxing

HKA Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/Hastingskickboxing

carldenne@hotmail.com    

ABOUT THE HOST

Hi, my name is Carl Denne.  

I was born in Hastings in 1980. Married, father of two beautiful daughters, Bethany and Leigha. 

My daughters, the wife, and gym ARE MY LIFE.

IF I’M HONEST, I pretty much failed at school. Heavily dyslexic, I was dismissed for being a “naughty kid” that didn’t want to learn. I was heavily bullied for having shit clothes and ginger afro hair. I didn’t have many friends. 

When I say bullied I don’t mean called a “poo-poo head” and being looked at in a nasty way. I mean thrown downstairs, and hit with chairs and tables. Clothes were stolen whilst in the shower. That kind of bullying…

Oh, how things have changed… 

Martial arts, and specifically Kickboxing, have changed my life, and now I am much happier and change other people’s lives for the better on a daily basis. 

I am a complete adrenaline freak, so In my spare time, track days, jumping out of planes, sitting on top of them, rage buggies in the desert… The higher, the faster the better for me. I’m always looking for the next thing to get my blood pumping, so if anyone has a challenge I’ve not found yet, please feel free to share. 

I do like a Saturday night movie night, Chinese, Netflix, lots of chocolate with my three little ladies. I love being around my friends and family. This is why I love the crazy HKA family so much, as this is my extended family.   

I left school with pretty much nothing! A few sad GCSE’s C - D grade, BUT I did have a shit-ton of energy and passion to achieve and to prove all the teachers and people that looked down on me for all those years, wrong. So, after a few jobs here and there, I settled on working for Openreach (BT) as a cabler/jointer copper and fibre optic multi-skilled engineer with HGV.

I left this in 2015 to chase my dream of running my own Kickboxing Academy and working with the future of today, rather than a job that just paid the bills. 

I’ve trained pretty much my whole life: Karate, boxing, Judo, from the age of 9, and of course, I’ve now done over 29 years of Kickboxing. I’ve passed many Instructors and coaches courses, attended many training courses and seminars, grading up through the syllabus. I passed my 4-hour hell-on-earth 3rd Dan black belt in July 2018 with the ICO.

If I’m honest my real passion and skills have come from learning the hard way; through being in the trenches. I know how it feels to be on your arse. I know how it feels to have to pull yourself out of the pit. I’ve been through

a divorce. I’ve lived through the pain and have worked with thousands of members, students, children, teachers and adults over the years, and the one thing I get told every time is how well I/we keep it very real, and that I have a complete understanding on most eventualities. 

Thank you for reading and listening. I hope you connect with myself and the team, take away some ideas, understand you’re not alone, and that it’s good to talk, listen and help others as and when you can.