Daily Inspiration: Meet Chris Butsch

Today we’d like to introduce you to Chris Butsch.

Hi Chris, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
My journey to becoming The WHEELTOR(TM) – and helping people buy cars full-time – involves bears, drug dealers and sold out Porsches.
So bear with me (pun intended).

Anyways, for years and years I was the Lead Autos Writer for multiple finance websites: ConsumerAffairs, Money Under 30, Erika Kullberg and more. I also contributed regular columns to Forbes, Fortune and a few others. I’ve always loved cars, but specifically, how to help normal people save money when buying them.

One of the biggest perks of my role was that the car companies would regularly send me press cars to review. For about 4 years, I received a different brand new car every week to test and review. On any given day, my daily driver could either be a slick, $400,000 Aston Martin or a minivan. It certainly made dating fun.

The day I started transitioning from a full-time writer to The WHEELTOR traces back to 2018. I had just pulled a lipstick-red Corvette into my driveway when my neighbor Kathy walked by.

She and her dog both stared at me, visibly puzzled.

“Chris – why do you always have so many new cars all the time?” she asked, in a deep southern drawl.

“Oh, I review them for work. I write about cars online.”

Upon hearing that, Kathy put her on her chest, closed her eyes and let out a massive sigh of relief.

“Oh, thank GOODNESS.” she said, gesturing to the rest of the neighborhood. “We all thought you were a drug dealer.”

A week later, Kathy called me with another urgent car question.

“Chris, we’re at the Audi dealer about to spend $80,000 on an SQ5. Is that a good deal?”

I told her no; leave the dealership and give me 24 hours to find you a better deal.

I did, and the next day, Kathy bought the same car from one of my industry connections for $68,000.

A very grateful Kathy then asked if I could negotiate deals for her husband and daughter’s new cars, too, so I did. In total, I saved her family around $20,000 across three vehicles. I also had each vehicle inspected to ensure we weren’t getting stuck with lemons.

Word spread of my services, and soon I was helping people all over the country save time, money and hassle buying a car. I helped a collector in Florida save $9,000 on a sold-out Porsche, a woman in NC buy an exact copy of her beloved Lexus after a *bear* ate the last one, and I helped an 80-year-old retiree sell his beloved Volvo for more than double what CarMax had offered him ($2,800 vs. $6,300).

But “wheelin’ and dealin'” was just a side business. My full-time gig was still writing about cars and money online. All that changed, however, in November of 2024 when a complex and controversial update to Google’s business model wiped out most of my clients — and made it virtually impossible for freelance writers to make a living.

Depressed and anxious, I turned to my wife for guidance. She aptly pointed out that I was *always* happier helping people buy cars than I was writing in a dark room for 10 hours per day.

In short, she vigorously encouraged me to be a concierge-like car broker full-time (it was my stepfather, Chris Schroder, who came up with the term “WHEELTOR”).

Like many entrepreneurs, I was 20% excited – and 80% scared – to make my side gig my full-time job. Despite a proven track record of helping people save thousands of dollars/dozens of hours buying cars, I just wasn’t sure I was ready to take the leap.

That’s when I met Lisa.

A retiree living in Florida, Lisa had driven her husband’s truck over an hour to visit the only dealership in Florida that he had ever trusted while he was alive. She explained to the staff that she’d just lost her husband, and that she desperately needed honest help trading his truck for a smaller, safer crossover she could drive to visit her family.

Upon hearing this, the dealer offered their “sincerest condolences” and promised to take care of her.

Instead, they overcharged her by $4,000 and stuck her with a vehicle they knew had hidden issues. Worse still, they said her “new” car wasn’t on the lot yet and that she’d have to leave behind her husband’s truck to “lock in the deal.” So she left with nothing.

That’s when she called me, virtually in tears.

Incensed, I called the dealership and made them fully recondition her car, deliver it on a flatbed the next day, and write her a check for $5,000.

When I asked Lisa if she was happy with that outcome, she texted back “God put you in my life for a reason.”

I purchased the domain MyWHEELTOR.com the next day.

We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
I think the biggest struggle was watching my previous business – freelance writing – get obliterated by Google and AI way faster than anyone in my industry had anticipated. That whiplash gave me severe anxiety and depression in late 2024 through mid-2025, which is an especially difficult environment to launch a new business in.

To use a car analogy, my freelance writing business was like a big SUV; big, safe and reliable.

My WHEELTOR side business was like a two-seater convertible; fast, fun, interesting and enjoyable on the weekends.

Life was great when I had access to both “cars.” I knew the SUV wouldn’t last forever, but I figured it would at least give me a few more good years before breaking down permanently. But I didn’t expect it to get “totaled” overnight in November 2024.

Now, all of a sudden my “convertible” was my only way to get to work. And I wasn’t sure I could live with *just* my convertible.

Could it carry all my things?
Was it efficient enough?
Was it safe to drive long-term?

Or did I need to be realistic – and get another “SUV?”

Thankfully, so far my “convertible” aka WHEELTOR business has proven fast, fun and dependable so far.

As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
I’m The WHEELTOR(TM)!

I help busy people buy and sell cars. Think of me as a REALTOR for “wheel estate.”

So far I’ve helped about 60 clients save, on average:

10 hours of research
5 hours wasted sitting around the dealership
$2,500 net of my WHEELTOR fees

I do new, used and CPO. I also help people sell their old cars ASAP for top dollar.

I’m most proud of my track record: 100% client satisfaction since 2018.

I’m also proud of those moments when I catch an illicit dealer in the act of trying to rip off my client. Scams, lemons, bait-and-switch, bogus fees… these are all things I enjoy catching early so my client doesn’t waste their time with jerks and boneheads. Instead, I call out the dealership, show my client the texts and we both have a good laugh.

Can you talk to us about how you think about risk?
Despite being an entrepreneur/1099er for life, I’m generally extremely risk-averse.

The “riskiest” thing I’ve done in recent memory is to launch a business with 1 employee and a $1,000 initial capital investment (for the website). Most entrepreneurs would call that pretty “bunny slope” in terms of risk.

The reason I’m so risk-averse – especially when it comes to cars – is because experience has taught me to firmly believe in Murphy’s Law.

To give a concrete example, I once helped a client find and purchase a 2020 Mustang GT350. Even though the car was Certified Pre-Owned (CPO) and had just 14k miles, I *vigorously* requested that he let me book a pre-purchase inspection (PPI) so the mechanic and I could uncover any hidden issues.

But the client insisted back, saying he found plenty of solace in the car’s low mileage and the fact that it’s Certified Pre-Owned (hint: DON’T trust CPO).

Sure, we negotiated a $9,000 discount – but on day one, his check engine light came on. Turns out water had trickled through a crack in the frame, fried some electronics and couldn’t be repaired at any cost. After all, the very frame itself was broken from the factory.

Luckily, the dealer took the muggy Mustang back with little protest. But a day later, they relisted for an even higher price.

That’s why I’m risk-averse.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.mywheeltor.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/christhewheeltor/
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chrisbutsch/?skipRedirect=true