The Clunker Junker buys and sells junk cars nationwide

Love bloomed for Eric and Valerie Mitz back in their native Fall River, Mass., when they were still high school students.

Now, they are husband and wife, business partners and co-founders of The Clunker Junker, buying and selling junk cars nationwide over the internet.

The 31-year-olds run their start-up company out of their East Manatee home, where they have converted two bedrooms into offices and added two employees.

Eric, a software engineer, developed an application in 2009 to sell leads wholesale to other companies. When the affiliate program they were using shut down, Eric and Valerie decided to make a go on their own and began making cold calls to salvage yards all over the country.

“We now have a relationship with 500 car buyers around the country,” Eric said.

They also have relationships with auction houses, where cars too good to junk are sold.

Valerie, an attorney, put her law career on hold to pour all her energies into The Clunker Junker.

“She has helped bootstrap our company from zero revenue to $1 million over the last few years,” Eric Mitz said. “And she is not afraid to use a wrench.”

The process starts with the customer visiting theclunkerjunker.com and inputting the type of car they have to sell.

“Our proprietary software will analyze the vehicle’s year, make, model and condition, whether it runs and drives, and its zip code. The software will actually take all different kinds of things into account, and it will come up with an instant offer. We have an algorithm that decides, based on past sales, and input from buyers, how much that vehicle is worth. So the system will create an instant offer and present that offer to the user, and the user can choose to accept the offer right there on the spot and get their car sold right away, or they can decline it,” Eric said.

The couple has chosen to leave their inventory with auction houses and salvage yards.

“The way I think about our company is that we are a software technology company who just happens to buy and sell junk cars,” Eric said.

The secret ingredient for the business’ success might be that the couple share a passion for cars. They also have a sense of fun and in keeping the atmosphere relaxed with a couple of Siberian Husky rescue dogs, Enzo and Jayna, having the run of the house.

A pair of bright red sports cars in their garage – a 2006 F430 Ferrari and a 2010 Porsche 911 GT3 – underscore their love of cars.

“We have arguments about cars,” Valerie said. “He’ll say, ‘Let’s get a Volkswagen.’ And I’ll say, Let’s get a Ford Bronco,’ ” Valerie said.

The couple have been able to succeed by blending modern software technology, old-fashioned hard work and a lot of man hours to create a service to customers, Eric said.

“We are looking forward to continuing our growth in 2017 and have big plans to provide even more jobs to the Parrish, Ellenton and Bradenton area,” he said. “We are planning to move out into commercial space in 2018 when we expand our team.”

This story was originally published April 9, 2017 at 8:30 AM with the headline "The Clunker Junker buys and sells junk cars nationwide."