“Can I get $11,500?” | What happens at a car auction?

This weekend’s charity car auction was a great ride! Curious about what happens at a car auction? Listen to one Alberta auctioneer give it his all to raise funds for charity!

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:

pick n pull

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!

About the Author

Sandra McDonald

Sandra McDonald has not set their biography yet