Whenever we say “Yes” to a new client, here are just a few of the steps our dedicated volunteer Vehicle Team must complete:

Assess the client’s vehicle needs, taking into account the number of adults and children in the car, car seats, roads traveled, and annual mileage.
Scour online advertisements throughout both Texas and Colorado (a no-salt state, so we love buying from here!) to find a suitable vehicle, sorting through dozens of scams and lemons to find a few good candidates.
Research VIN history and personally inspect each suitable candidate - two or three vehicles per client on average to find a good one.
Complete paperwork and arrange shipping if not a Brazos Valley car.
Arrange with Christian Brothers Automotive to do a full post-purchase inspection and state inspection, and then complete all repairs and overdue maintenance (avg of $1-2000 per vehicle).
Transport repaired car to Discount Tire for new tires (most used cars need tires).
Transport to George’s glass if windshield broken (very common on used cars).
Clean and detail the vehicle inside and out.
Perform a final check and test drive.
Deliver the vehicle to the client at the tax office.
Make sure all receipts and paperwork are properly accounted for.

That is a LOT for volunteers to do… and yet they do it for dozens of clients per year. And at the top of our list is our first car-guy to volunteer, who has been faithfully serving OnRamp for the last four years… Rami Cerone! We are so grateful for Rami’s hard work, dedication, and skill that we awarded him this plaque earlier this year. Rami has his hands in all aspects of the vehicle team, coordinating purchases, donations, and leading the sale process when we need to sell a vehicle that’s not a good fit for an OnRamp client. Through his sales expertise, he has made tens of thousands of dollars for OnRamp that we’ve put back in to buying Corollas and Camrys by the boatload. We are so thankful to him!

We also want to thank his sweet wife Erin and daughter Rossi who frequently help him transport, clean, and deliver vehicles for our clients. They are a family that serves together. Thank you, Cerone’s!

If you’d like to thank Rami in person, you can catch him almost any time his downtown Bryan restaurant, Caffé Capri, is open. Let him know your appreciation for his service to the clients of OnRamp.

Also, we want to give a huge thanks to Joe Dewolf who Rami recruited to our team. Joe is currently our primary used car buyer and single-candidly gets all of the vehicles for us that we purchase out of Colorado. We could not have grown to this level without Joe.

And finally, and as always, we want to give a huge thanks to Jeremy Smith, Darrel Fikes, and everyone at Christian Brothers Automotive who makes this whole system work! We are grateful to partner with you guys.