OK, now the Kia is officially gone. While I had signed on an accepted offer last week, they had to wait on the lien info from my bank. Last night, I signed the documents to transfer ownership and got my cheque.
This is really the only player in the game on a national level right now in terms of selling/buying 100% online. Canada’s automotive market has yet to be “disrupted” (vomits) by Carmax, Carvanna or whatever other players there are in the US.
I am low key stressed about what the insane pricing on used cars will mean in the future for people and the economy.... There is no way my car is worth more retail now than when it was new on the lot...but here we are.
It looks like the day I inputted my car into the system was a good one. I accepted an offer of $9800. The next day I tried again and got $9600 and the day I took it in, the dealer showed me on his phone that the software they used recommenced an offer of $8875
What is really crazy is that the recommended “retail price” from the Dealersocket software was $12,175. $600 more than I paid brand new.
The Dealer Process
Surrey Mitsubishi, the dealer who appears to be the ONLY drop off centre in Metro Vancouver for this process, was.... meh. I don’t think I will ever set foot in a Mitsubishi dealership ever again.
BUT, the guy I was dealt with was super transparent and eager to share how this all worked. Autotrader pays a base fee to the dealership for every car they process. Say, $500.
The salesman also showed me the software they use, both on his phone and on his PC. In the PC version, I saw all my past transactions with dealers via autotrader listed. Kinda interesting, kinda invasive. The software is Dealersocket CRM and is like some sort of sales lead management software I guess.
The inspection was about 5 minutes, consisting of 1 walk around and a 100m drive from one spot in the parking lot to another. (I drove, the guy couldn’t drive stick).
I guess the dealer gets an option to keep the car on the lot and pay out the car but the sales manager said “There is no way, this thing will not sell because of the manual and no AC”.
Both the sales guy I was dealing with and the manager thought the price I was getting was insane, but it wasn’t their money so they were more than happy to get the deal done and get their fee.
Overall, I’d estimate the total time to complete the inspections/documentation at an hour and a half. Compare that with selling privatley where I’d have to field tons of calls/questions/idiots/test drives and lower ballers..... and probably sell for less.
TLDR: Autotrader Instant Cash offer: Great