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.

Collector car donor chooses Liver Foundation

You just never know what a donation day will bring for your charity of choice. Collector car donations are always welcome. Our process in attending to a vintage vehicle donation needs to be robust. Attention to detail is key.

When one of our Canadian Liver Foundation estate vehicle donors rolled into the system with an ’89 Rolls Royce, we got excited! Then we became attentive: An underground tow would be required. The executor noted, “It needs a new paint job – had a car cover on it that caused lots of tiny scratches to the paint.”

Our maps indicated that the car was located over three hours from our supporting auction house. Not only that, there was a sea straight in between the car and our selling agent!

We tapped the brakes a little and began the careful process of looking for the very best sale option for this treasured car. How might we best serve this Rolls Royce donor and the loved ones tending his estate?

Island auction steps on up — as they always do!

Jett Wholesale Public Auto Auction has been working alongside Donate a Car Canada for many years. They’re located out on Vancouver Island. Stuart and his crew get some of the strongest sale outcomes in all of Canada. This directly benefits donors and their charities every month.

Our Rolls Royce donor was soon to be one of those well-served donors.

Undeterred by the over-sea-and-land transport, the auction house set up a free pick-up for the collector. This is a paid-for service on our side of things. Our agents need to keep tires on the trucks and gas in the tank. They do take a transport cost from the value of our donated vehicles. But the donor doesn’t pay a penny out of pocket, and neither does the charity!

Once Stuart and his people had the car on the yard it was just a matter of time. Jett ran the ’89 Rolls Royce through auction. That car came out the other side with one of our highest-ever donation outcomes for the BC branch of Canadian Liver Foundation!

How much did you say is going to the CLF?

Donated vehicles that are run through auction are sold as-is to the highest bidder. We are not able to put minimums or reserves on those sales. They go to the buyer willing to offer the most on sale day. This is where Jett’s expertise serves charities beautifully. Buyers offer, and pay, what vehicles are worth. This means hearty gifts for heart works!

Our estate donor’s collector car sale at auction resulted in a whopping $21,531.25 for the donor’s chosen charity! You read that right: twenty-one-thousand! Dollars!

Your estate vehicle, your choice

If you ever find an unwanted or unused vehicle in the driveway, consider donating it!

You may find yourself managing an estate at some point. Vehicles are often part of that process. The recycling or re-selling of those cars, trucks, SUVs, vans, and motorcycles via donation can make that estate processing step so much easier for the executor/trix, and for the family. This can also extend the legacy of the estate that you are serving. Honoring your loved one by ensuring a charity they would have loved can help bring meaning in difficult circumstances.

Your gift may not bump the decimal places quite as dramatically as the CLF’s collector car donation did this past winter, but every donation counts. Your human kindness links with that of the donor before you — and the donor that will come after you, too!

We’re a donation form or a phone call away!

The post Collector Car for the CLF appeared first on Donate A Car.