In an industry teetering on the economic precipice, Rancho Santa Fe Motors expands, continues to sell ‘a lot of Rolls Royces and Bentleys’

By Lee Schoenbart

Billions of dollars of taxpayer money still hasn’t bailed out GM, Chrysler and Ford. Toyota is now experiencing what some pundits might refer to as a “total recall.” Famous divisions of cars such as Oldsmobile and Pontiac are part of history. Automobile dealerships are closing and contracting. Its industry as a whole is in the most fragile state short of claiming any kind of recovery.
Not so for David Luce’s Rancho Santa Fe Motors and his MotorCars of Las Vegas.
“Right now we’re selling a lot of Rolls Royces and Bentleys, and the reason being is because the prices of those have dropped dramatically. I sold a 2004 black on black Rolls Royce Phantom for $135,000 to a movie producer and we just recently had a 2008 Bentley Continental with 200 miles on it that we sold in one day,” said Luce who purchased the 10-year old business in February 2006.
As a benchmark, Luce noted that last summer the Phantom was $180,000. The most expensive car sold at Rancho Santa Fe Motors was an Italian Bugatti for $1.1 million.
To showcase these automotive beauties, the economy’s downturn has turned into Luce’s gain as Rancho Santa Fe Motors prepares to double its floor space at Del Rayo Plaza with the closing of a lingerie business and women’s shoe store.
“The landlord made me a pretty good deal. With the rents down, it made sense now. It’s more affordable now,” Luce said. “I took over two spaces and we’re going to convert them to an indoor showroom across the parking lot from where we are now.”
He said this will afford Rancho Santa Fe Motors the opportunity to feature five to seven vehicles in its 2,000-square-foot showroom and 20 more on the outdoor lot.
During the economic downturn, Luce said, “We got flooded with very high-end consignment cars and everything was outdoors, so people who had the Rolls Royces, Ferraris and Lamborghinis didn’t want to keep their cars outside and would take them down to La Jolla or the Ferrari dealer or Lamborghini dealer and I would lose all those deals.
“With the indoor showroom, I’ll be able to attract top-of-the-line inventory,” he said.
That inventory peels through a lot of decades and across the continents.
Luce counts among his eclectic sales a pink 1960 Plymouth Fury convertible ($89,950), a restored 1959 Fury hardtop coupe ($39,900), a 1968 365 GTB4 Daytona convertible ($29,900), a 1992 Mondial T Cabriolet convertible ($49,900), a very rare super high-performance Porsche Carrera GT convertible ($322,000) and a one-of-a-kind 1980 Rolls Royce Phantom VI-40 Mulliner Park Ward with left-hand drive ($625,000).
Business continues to be so good, Luce even has international buyers. In January, he sent six cars overseas including two to Zurich, one to Dubai, another to France and two more to Germany.
“On my Web site, I have a collector gentleman in La Jolla with a couple of old (1960s and ‘80s) Phantoms that are half-a-million-dollar cars I’m selling for him,” Luce said.
Rancho Santa Fe Motors’ services including buying, consigning and even personal shopping.
“I kind of structure it after a real estate transaction,” Luce explained. “In other words, whatever the car sells for, we take a commission off the top.
“On a normal exchange, I would just write a check for a car,” he said. “Typically I would buy it wholesale and sell it on a retail basis.
“On a consignment, it’s kind of opposite,” Luce said. “We sell it on a retail basis and we take a commission off the top. It benefits the customer because they’re getting more money than trading it in or me buying it and this way they don’t have to put up with the hassle of people knocking on their door.
“As a consigner, I can actually do trade-ins and sell warranties, so everybody benefits,” he said. “I look at it that I split the profit with the customer. I do a little better when I buy my own cars, but I don’t have the investment and I split it with the customer.”
With regard to the personal shopper aspect, Luce added, “I also have a buying service. If someone wants a particular car, we buy for a fee. I’ve done that many, many times for high-end clients.”
In April 2007, Luce decided to apply his Rancho Santa Fe business model to MotorCars of Las Vegas and opened a 6,000-square-foot, all-indoor showroom capable of housing 25 to 28 vehicles.
Among the Mercedes, BMWs and sports cars, Luce noted, “I have a ’57 El Dorado Biarritz convertible that looks like an Elvis car.”
A chunk of the Vegas inventory includes the collections of would-be developers.
“When the property values were skyrocketing, a lot of people made a lot of money quick. I seem to attract a lot of the developers who are losing their properties and homes and I’m getting their collections,” Luce said. “It’s all about prices right now.”
That said, Luce wished the price of property in San Diego County matched that of Clark County.
“That would be my perfect scenario in Rancho Santa Fe, but the rents are about double in the Ranch compared to Vegas,” he said with a sigh.
Still, Luce is thrilled, “being able to sell the really high-end cars at good prices. When people say that they know our stores and how nice our cars are, that’s really satisfying.”
Rancho Santa Fe Motors is at 16079 San Dieguito Road.
For information, call (858) 759-7723 or email sales@rsfm.com.
Luce’s MotorCars of Las Vegas is at 9500 S. Eastern Ave., Suite 110.
For information, call (702) 914-9918 or email sales@motorcarslv.com.
To learn more, visit www.rsfm.com and www.motorcarslv.com.