Auctioneer a blend of magic and motivation

When vehicles are donated through the Donate a Car Canada program, they are either re-sold, or recycled.

The re-sale process is always managed as-is and to the highest bidder. Sometimes that means our agents are working the phones and spreading the word about a sale-ready car, truck, van, SUV, or motorcycle. They may even be promoting an RV or a boat!

Often, re-selling happens at a regional auction house. What happens at a car auction? The auctioneer (the person calling the sale) is at the heart of this endeavor. Their magic can happen right at the yard with interested buyers on scene to proffer a bid. More and more, online bidding is opening up the field for even more interested buyers.

Curious to hear how that may play out? We’ve just had an exciting Charity Car Auction! If you’ve been following along you know that a Calgary group of dealerships donated four classic vehicles for the Canadian Red Cross. Here’s just a taste of how that all came together.

Auctioneer brings it all home for donor’s charity of choice

Click on each of the following. ‘Give a listen to what happens at a car auction when a vehicle goes up on the block:

1968 Suzuki Cobra T500

1989 Jaguar SJX Convertible

1972 Chevrolet Cheyenne

1966 Ford Thunderbird

What happens at a car auction if I donate my vehicle?

Your first step toward auction is our online donation form. This will take you less than 10 minutes to fill in:

Based on the information you provide, we will determine how best to process your donated vehicle. If it is in driveable condition, with reasonable mileage, and lookin’ good, we may assign it to auction.

Then, just sit back and wait for your confirmation email (with lots of goodies about your tow agent). The agent (either a local auction house, area recycler, or other re-sale agent) will call you to make pick-up arrangements that suit you best.

What happens at the car auction is a matter of time and process. The agent will assign your donated vehicle to the sale day they deem most likely to see the highest sale return.

They may promote your vehicle on their website, or spread the word in other ways.

You may have the opportunity to follow along online.

On sale day your donated car, truck, van, SUV, or motorcycle will be put up for bids, as-is, to the highest bidder. The auction house awaits and processes payment from the buyer. They then send the net proceeds to our accounting department here at Donate a Car Canada.

What about my tax receipt?

From there it’s just a matter of time until we disburse your gift to your charity. You can select any Canadian charity as your car donation recipient. You read that right: ANY charity in Canada can receive your vehicle donation proceeds!

Once we have payment from our agent, we disburse your gift. Your tax receipt is issued via our partnering program, CanadaHelps. This typically happens within one to two weeks of your charity receiving their donation. Tax receipts are emailed. If there is ever any issue opening the receipt, or if it is misplaced, we can simply and quickly have a new copy re-issued!

‘More questions about what happens at a car auction? We’re here to answer all we can. We can’t wait to work with you in bringing a valuable donation for the cause you love!

The post “Can I get $11,500?” | What happens at a car auction? appeared first on Donate A Car.

Can I donate a collector car?

Yes, you can! Your collector car can earn a helpful, hearty donation for any Canadian charity, anywhere in Canada.

Your unique vehicle deserves a unique process. We assess every donated car, truck, van, and SUV on a case-by-case basis. You will be asked more questions than if you were donating a recycle-ready vehicle when you gift a collector car. This is to ensure we do the right thing by you, and by your charity.

Then, when you submit your donation details, we will ask that you send us photos of your collector. This will help us to assess the best processing method through our program.

Our regional agents know their re-sale markets well. They will be ready to advise if they are likely to find a buyer — even for a fixer-upper!

We will ask about the visual and mechanical condition of the car. In some cases the answers to our questions will lead to us advising that the car be recycled.

Your charity of choice

Donate a Car Canada can serve any charity in Canada! When you provide your donation details you will be asked to choose the charity you want your donation to go to. They will receive the net proceeds from the sale of your car. Moreover, the charity you love will never be charged any fees!

The sale of a collector car can result in a high-dollar donation. Our accounting process is such that the full net proceeds need to go to the same charity. We are unable to split the donation outcome between multiple charities.

‘Don’t see your favourite charity on our list? Just ask if we can invite them to join our program to receive your gift! Our donation form has a space for this.

How much is my tax receipt?

Your donated collector car may be sold at auction, or re-sold via other agents. Sales are ‘as is’ and ‘unreserved’ status (sold to the highest bidder, as a full and final sale). As the bidding outcome can vary, we cannot guarantee a specific sale result.

We do know that auction sales do not typically result in Blue/Black Book outcomes. This means that private sale may be the best way to ensure that you see the highest dollar return possible on your classic or collector vehicle.

Our auction houses and re-sale agents may then take steps to promote your vintage vehicle. They may do this via online notifications to potentially interested buyers. They know their own markets well and get excited about helping out our charities in this way!

After the sale of your vehicle and our accounting process is complete we will email you a letter stating the amount of your donation. Your chosen charity will then mail you a tax receipt within 4-6 weeks of receiving your gift through us.

I’m ready to go for it!

If you would like to donate a collector car, then please submit your information using our “Donate Now” feature at www.donatecar.ca or by clicking on the quick link at the bottom of this email. This process will take 10 – 20 minutes. If you have any trouble with the form, please write back here, or feel free to call us directly at 1-877-250-4904.

You are also invited to contact and follow us on Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter! From there, you’ll be able to keep up to date on our program as well as see posts that showcase our amazing donors and charities across the country!

The post Donate a Collector Car appeared first on Donate A Car.