Parker Gelber is in the Driver's Seat of the Luxury Car Market

By Courtney Scott / Photos Courtesy of RP Exotics

“No one in my family was into cars.” When it came time to save for his own car and gas money at the age of 15, Parker Gelber tried to get a job first at Waterway without hearing back. Then he set his eyes on working for Exotic Motors. When Gelber didn’t hear back initially from applying with them, he started having his dad take him to their showroom weekly to look at cars and talk to the sales team. He reached out to the owner, Danny Baker, via email again to let him know his interest. After meeting for lunch with Baker, Gelber was offered a role in cleaning cars and helping with marketing.

Gelber would rush to work after school and stay there until the last employee left, filling in wherever help was needed, from social media posting to selling parts on eBay. “I was just in heaven,” reminisced Gelber. “I was never good at sports, I was okay at school, but I found my passion hanging around the other sales guys and befriended all of the customers.” He worked his way up and helped Baker with purchasing vehicles at the young age of 16, eventually buying up to four cars a week by the age of 17. “I was like a kid in a candy store working there,” Gelber gushed.

Gelber is a walking car encyclopedia for newer luxury model cars. He read everything he could get his hands on and watched endless Youtube videos to educate himself. When his parents moved to a home on Litzsinger and Warson Roads, he would listen to the cars riff down the road from his bedroom window and be able to discern the type of cars and engines from their sounds. “I used to know who all of these guys were, and Facebook stalk them and their car collections,” described Gelber. “I always loved the Lambos, the Ferraris, the exotics, and the new modern stuff, and I knew everyone in St. Louis who owned one of those cars.”

Gelber described how his goal was to befriend the car owners and find out how they made their money so he could do the same. He always was told, “there is no money in the car business,” and he saw how stressed out the other dealers were, so it was never his original goal to become a dealership owner.

Lamborghinis are Gelber’s personal favorite, and he grew up with a picture of a bright Aventador on his wall. RP Exotics tends to carry more of this model over others.

Gelber’s father would take him to classic car shows growing up, but classic cars have never piqued his interest. “Anything pre the year I was born, I really don’t mess with,” said Gelber. “I don’t know anything about them, they leak, and they break all the time.”

Gelber partnered with Alex Long, Owner and Principal of RP Exotics, who fills that knowledge gap of older car models, including the 80s and 90s. They have since hired Masen Motsinger, who specializes in American classic cars, specifically from the 50s, 60s, and 70s. John was hired for his knowledge of Japanese classic cars and anything early 2000s. “I never want anyone who works here to have the same kind of knowledge about a car - I want everyone to kind of to have their own division,” stated Gelber. He thinks his next hire will be a motorcycle expert, and eventually, they will branch out into the “truck game.”

The typical RP customer remains very interested in buying and selling cars. RP tells clients they can be as involved or hands-off as they wish. Some drop off the vehicle and do not want to be bothered until it is sold and a check is cut. Others want to be a part of every step, from writing the listing to weekly updates.

When Gelber first started consigning cars, he didn’t even realize that was what he was doing. He was in college at SLU and had stopped working for Danny Baker at that point. He started selling cars for individuals and listing them for a $200-$500 commission. When he started his dealership, he was under the impression they should take out a loan to purchase inventory. Pride was also a factor, along with wanting to be able to own and drive the cars, which is not something they do with consignment cars, having a strict rule that those are not taken off the lot. But, customers disagreed with that goal and advised him to stay with consigning which was also a low-risk business model.

When he looked to see how competitors were marketing consignment, he could not find anything to go off of since no one was pursuing the practice or at least advertising that they did. When he brainstormed with his father and his business partner how to effectively message their model, they knew consignment could have a negative connotation, and they didn’t even like the prefix “con” in the word, so they decided to change that to “pro” making it “prosignment.” They trademarked the term, and it is what RP Exotics has fully embraced.

Gelber looked back on a pinnacle moment when a car collector in Kansas City (Gelber had been aware of) called him up out of the blue and asked him to consign his $900,000 Lamborghini Aventador SVJ Roadster. Gelber thought, “this is the coolest thing that has ever happened to me, and it came in bright green, shooting flames out of it. I called the seller, and he told me he trusted me and that I could take it for a spin.” This same seller continues to work with Gelber, providing him with around ten cars a year to sell, and they have only met in person once.

You can compare Gelber to a real estate agent but for luxury cars. An excellent real estate agent is worth their weight in gold. You won’t get taken for a ride with RP Exotics, except maybe in the car of your dreams.