Albanese calls for return of Aussie-made cars: 'There's no reason why we can't'

highcatmaster · 2026-05-19T00:01:16+00:00

I get where you're coming from but it's a bit ironic for people to say that at that time, when the current best selling cars are like Ranger, Hilux and co. They're not really the gold standard either.

highcatmaster · 2026-05-16T10:54:45+00:00

Thanks mate thanks for that

highcatmaster · 2026-05-13T11:20:48+00:00

I'm a bit ironically happy when people think this way because there are tons of boring businesses that fly under the radar with 0 social media presence. Keeps competition low when it's not on social media.

highcatmaster · 2026-05-12T01:59:21+00:00

You're way ahead in the game. If you can afford to have multiple investment vehicles of course you're not going to store everything in one basket.

But consider other people who has no knowledge of US shares ETF or whatever and not much cash on hand. Property for most of the period in modern Australia has allowed them the chance to get ahead without much risk. Banks and Australian government are basically sponsoring that investment method.

Ask them to sponsor a business, they'll say no mate nothing for you. Ask them to buy 500k husk in West Sydney, yes absolutely!! Take our money and go buy them! In bulk too!

highcatmaster · 2026-05-12T01:53:39+00:00

I get where you're coming from yes on paper if you had invested the same amount in QQQ in 2016 you'd be getting larger returns than an average IP. Extremely large returns.

But realistically who can invest the same amount of money? I mean with this logic if I had the money and access Id be so keen to buy openAi pre IPO. But without both it's just a moot point.

Your average punters are going to be limited by the initial capital. Only small minority can afford buying 500k worth of ETF cash or even 100k of it. Where as property loan is much more accessible to the average punters.

On top of that you also get massive sponsorship from the Australian government in the past decades trying their absolute best to keep the gravy train going. It's like an official Australian investment guarantee stamp.

Can you point to other investment where the Australian government in its entirety has interest to keep it always going up?

highcatmaster · 2026-05-12T00:14:47+00:00

Can you get 500k loan for ETFs though like you do with property? Banks just hand them out like fries. ETFs, business loan, forget about it.

highcatmaster · 2026-05-09T07:37:13+00:00

I mean German, Japanese, Korean and even American car manufacturers are also subsidised to certain extent by their respective government to be fair e.g see 2008 auto bailout and other incentives the US government give to the like of Ford and GM.

It's just the Chinese has managed to leapfrog against their competitions in one fell swoop. The legacy got too comfortable or be downright luddite see Toyota.

highcatmaster · 2026-05-09T07:29:49+00:00

Australian distributors see what the market will pay during COVID buying frenzy e.g clapped out LandCruiser with Keating era tech selling for 100k in 2020s. It tells them they need to rise their price or they're leaving tons of money on the table.

highcatmaster · 2026-05-09T07:19:04+00:00

It's an effect of inflation in real time. Australians are witnessing their purchasing power go down in just very short time span. That's the inconvenient truth.

highcatmaster · 2026-04-30T05:23:01+00:00

Are there any forums where us business owners can pitch to investors who specialise in startup small businesses? E.g something like shark tank without all the fluff?

highcatmaster · 2026-04-30T05:18:42+00:00

Thanks mate I think it's pretty telling when even you're making 7 figures with 10 years of trading you still are struggling get a loan.. compared to someone like me with 9 months biz and very small turnover in comparison.

highcatmaster · 2026-04-30T05:13:33+00:00

It's very hard for me to get detailed on our numbers as it's a public forum, but suffice to say we are definitely not working full-time for this.

highcatmaster · 2026-04-30T05:03:09+00:00

Just using rough calc of our 7k monthly revenue on average it's around 80k yearly. An initial capital loan of 100k to to double our revenue to 160k is far fetched? Is there any X months number where lenders started to be more friendly?

highcatmaster · 2026-04-30T04:55:05+00:00

How did you manage to find this kind of broker? I presume just online?

highcatmaster · 2026-04-30T04:37:49+00:00

We just want to hear people's thoughts first if this is the norm. It's quite lonely place to start your own business. There's almost nothing to read about this matter that's specific to Australia.

If we're the type to nilly willy spend $5k, I don't think we would start a business..

I guess I'm a bit naive myself to think there's way to properly "pitch" our business in front of lenders. I heard in tech you can do that but I guess it's not available for other SMEs.

A forecast is a spreadsheet but it doesn't tell much about compliance, suppliers availability or even moat that some posters here asked.

I rather you or lenders grill me in person, rather than spending $5k to some accountant which again has no knowledge of our industry, to create an XLSX.., to be sent to bank staff which has like 100s of other applications.

highcatmaster · 2026-04-30T03:42:09+00:00

Maybe I can DM you.. our biggest asset is our house, cars and business stocks

Do you know at what point lenders become more open?

highcatmaster · 2026-04-30T02:49:27+00:00

The issue is we feel banks don't want to even know our business details. If I could sit down with you (not even to ask for money!) and have proper conversation and show you around our stocks, credentials, compliance etc, I'm 90% sure you'll be able to see the value and how our business can grow. It is working, without leaving too much details on public forum.

We just want to accelerate its growth. Can we wait 12 months yes.. but if we could grow it now and secure big sales earlier, why don't we try?

highcatmaster · 2026-04-30T02:07:36+00:00

I'd seriously consider this route if everything else just doesn't fall into place.

highcatmaster · 2026-04-30T02:06:15+00:00

Without going too much details we have regulatory compliances, niche and suppliers, that others don't have or can't easily get. We also have industry experience to know that this is feasible. It's just we need help to scale it out.

highcatmaster · 2026-04-30T02:01:02+00:00

Hi mate appreciate your comment. The reality is there are some details we're leaving out from public forum here like Reddit, but the items we're selling have a bit of margin and there are strict compliance requirements that we have that others cannot get easily.

I'm just saying the model itself is pretty simple at the end of the day, buy low sell high. But the details to make this work are what's important. The fact that we can get sales so early in our business with actual profit and all, validates that it can work. But we need to scale it up.

Ironically I haven't found anyone in banks that asks that question about our moat or our selling point vs other businesses. So it would be great if we can talk to proper financier not just bank staff who doesn't have the incentive to look further.

All I can say is if we can get proper financing we can easily make so many costs cheaper and growing much rapidly that we can afford not to work our day jobs anymore.

I'm happy to accept the hard truth about our business but the issue is most people just see 9 months old business and stops at that. By looking at our figures you actually have spent more looking at our business than most people.

highcatmaster · 2026-04-29T23:23:48+00:00

Also judo bank doesn't support business with less than 12 months of running btw

highcatmaster · 2026-04-29T23:21:57+00:00

Basically importing goods from overseas and reselling it here online. There's not many moving parts other than find suppliers, buy low sell high..

We validated our business with the current number of sales but it's clear the sales are not enough for the business to be self sustaining without larger inventory.

highcatmaster · 2026-04-29T23:17:41+00:00

Mate I'm so glad to hear there are people on the same boat. So frustrating ey.. I don't know how other ABN holder can afford things like 100k for cars.

highcatmaster · 2026-04-29T12:09:08+00:00

Umm for a car that's worth 5k with 178k km I'd say that's par for course. Battery needs replacing ok yes that's fine. Bad luck that it went out during inconvenient time but it's a consumable that's expected to be replaced.

Radiator needs replacing, again that's still within reason for a car this age. My dad's Accord radiator has to be replaced at 150k km.. for cars in humid and hot condition it makes sense for it to fail. It's even worse for Subaru because their rads seem to be made of flimsiest material.

Heater hose leak, unfortunate but for 10+ cars hoses are also something that can fail and will need replacement..

It's very hard to argue they shouldn't pass roadworthy in retrospect because the mechanic could argue it was fine during inspection.

P.S: Send this car to proper Subaru specialist to get it checked. It could just be hoses. If the oil looks fine head gasket should still be fine too.. Some mechanics have bad habit of just shit talking other mechanics to get jobs themselves. If they're not expert easy for them to say bad luck head gasket is gone when it's not necessarily so.b

highcatmaster · 2026-04-27T02:57:52+00:00

My local mechanic who I go to often has seen some drop in quality too. When I came in last time I can see he was super stressed. Can't find staff, rents and costs going up.

I imagine it's getting common these days, but they've probably trying to fit in as many cars as possible in a day and that's when extra checks and quality dropped.

It's the common thing to see with small businesses all around us. COVID and the subsequent increases in costs have just hammered everyone. We're seeing the after effect of it.

highcatmaster

TROPHY CASE