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Time-tested principles have guided Discount Auto Sales' success Through two major fires and two major periods of general business downturns, 27 year old Egypt, KY, firm has had, otherwise, always bigger numbers. Discount Auto Sales provides economical rentals, a source of value-priced cars and vans, and steady work at a thriving Adair County business. Click on headline for story with photo(s) By Ed Waggener Discount Auto Sales founder and owner operator Billy Rice has had been guided by a principle his father gave him: "You can't go wrong doing right."Billy Rice grew up in the Egypt Community of Adair County. He is the son of the late Tom & Erma Rice, and has lived in the community all his life. He's worked in several fields, but all of them have been work done with his hands. Straight out of Adair County High School, he worked as a bricklayer for an Elk Horn, KY, and later worked with his longtime friend, Tommy Phelps, in the automobile business. He remembers that first car which got the Billy Rice touch, a Chevrolet Cavalier. He set up shop in at 4100 Knifley Road, July 1, 1989. He's remained in the location for over 26 years, through downturns in business and two fires. The latest one, on the morning of Wednesday, October 16, 2016, destroyed the original building at the the location. Traffic still blocked on KY 551 at Discount Auto and necessitated the closing of Knifley Road for much of the morning. The massive blaze spared the company's frame and paint building, (See: Fire at Billy Rice Discount Auto - New Paint Building spared), which was was replaced after being destroyed three years earlier, on December 16, 2013. The business has followed a steady overall growth, except for two area downturns which affected sales negatively. The first was the decision by Fruit of the Loom to close its Campbellsville Plant in 1998. The second was 9/11, the coordinated attacks al-Quaeda on the World Trade Center, the Pentagon, and the intended but aborted attack on Washington. In both cases, Rice recalls, sales of cars slowed to a crawl. Following both fires, Rice immediately rebuilt. His company now works with slight less square footage, but he says, the area is occupies has a more functional layout, and, because of that, it works better for his business. The company remained open through and immediately following the last fire. The business operation was continued in a mobile office on the north side of Discount's campus. Following both fires, his friends from Lindsey Wilson College were on the ground as soon as word came of the fire. Mike Newton and his company worked after hours, on their own to rebuilt after the 2013 fire. When the second occurred, Billy Rice remembers, "Mike was here as soon as the fire trucks," and "told us he'd have the building back up in no time. Turns out, Jerry Jones built rebuilt after the October 16, 2016 fire, but Mike was here to check on things almost every day. I like to tell people that in both cases, Mike had the structures rebuilt before ashes were cold. It wasn't that fast, but it was quick." Rice says he remembers that the high quality of the finish is in great part owed to Newton. "He came out here one time and I was painting the office. He wasn't please with the mess I was making with the brushwork, demanded the bucked and the brush, and wouldn't stop until he had it painted." "We simply couldn't have rebuilt, either time, without Mike's help," he insists. The hardest thing following the fire was putting the records of the cars on the lot back together. Many of the paper documents were destroyed. Fortunately, large number of his rental car fleet was on the road, and his inventory of cars for sale was lower because of brisk sales. The business is one of the bedrock smaller firms on which the Adair County economy rides. Including Billy Rice, there are seven full time people employeed. They are:
The rental business was started while the late Bobby Keltner worked at Discount Auto. "He suggested we try it," Billy Rice said, "and its been a major sales center for us ever since." The fleet usually has cars of all sizes, several different brands, but mostly Nissans and Chryslers. The shop will finish 1-3 cars a week, he says. Generally, the plant does not cater to retail body work, focusing instead on rebuilding for resale and rentals, and working on insurance company repairs. He has a steady base of repeat customers for his rebuilts. In addition to trades and outright sales, he offers customers buy-here, pay-here financing. That works well, he said. He's able to finance a lot of people who might not be able to obtain credit elsewhere. Billy Rice and his wife Belinda have three children: "Little Billy" Rice, Allison Rice, and Lindsey Cundiff; there are two grandchildren, Xavier, "Little Bud" Cato; and Ella Jane Cundiff. They attend Plum Point Baptist Church, and are allied with the Eb & Jerry Arnold faction there. Jerry Arnold is one for whom he has much respect for his mechanical genius, and Eb is just a hero to him as he is to everyone else. Eb is also a favorite customer. He remembers the first car Eb bought at Discount Auto Sales. "Eb told me on Sunday that he wanted to buy a car from me," Billy Rice said, "but not on Sunday. He had just two conditions. He said he would buy a Ford. And he wouldn't have a Studebaker." He came around that week, looked over the stock, and called me over. "I want this car," he said. "I pointed out to Eb that it was a Ford," Rice said. This story was posted on 2017-03-09 12:37:15
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