For Sales: Unused Car Lot
Driven to raise money for everything from scholarships to landscaping, Santiago Canyon College in Orange is about to steer its fund-raising efforts in a new direction by turning a parking area into a weekend used-car lot.
Starting Saturday, the community college will set aside 200 parking spaces for vehicle owners to peddle their Plymouths and sell their Scoupes. No pressure. No bad suits.
A Santa Cruz company does the work, charging sellers $35 for a spot. The first weekend’s sign-up will be free.
Santiago Canyon is the latest public campus to try car selling in quest of private money. Irvine Valley College and Cypress High School have similar setups, and CarFaire, the company that manages the used-car lots, now plans a push into Los Angeles and Ventura counties.
The appeal is obvious. The sellers get a central spot that draws customers, the safety of selling away from their homes and the savings of not having to advertise. Customers can buy directly from owners without traveling from house to house. The college sacrifices a few parking spots that usually sit empty on weekends and gains a portion of the money raised. At Irvine Valley, which has hosted used-car sales for more than a decade, that’s been on the order of $12,000 or more a year.
“It’s nice to have those discretionary dollars and all that flexibility,” said Patti Cole, director of Santiago Canyon’s fund-raising foundation. “You’re able to buy a computer if it’s needed over here, or bring in a guest lecturer if that’s needed over there.”
The push is particularly strong at community colleges, which so far haven’t gotten the large funding increases seen at other public schools and colleges, though the colleges appear to be in line for bigger increases this year.
“Historically, community colleges have been underfunded,” said Beth Mueller, Irvine Valley’s budget manager. “So they need to come up with innovative ideas to generate additional funds. CarFaire brings people from outside onto campus, so we can provide a service to them, and they get to know us a little better too.”
Cypress High, which started the car sales this school year, has bought new tires for a security cart and whiteboards for classrooms. Principal Norm Fried also hopes to buy new carpeting.
The event “is starting to increase and starting to improve,” Fried said. “People are seeing the benefit of it. We’re averaging over $100 a weekend . . . and looking at the future.”
Other than the ability to raise money, schools say they also appreciate the ease of the used-car sales. CarFaire, founded 12 years ago by two former Orange County residents, takes care of staffing, advertising, Internet listings, Kelly Blue Book data and liability insurance.
The fees paid by the sellers are good until their vehicles are snapped up, and there are no commissions. Fees vary among locations--with the more established sites fetching more. The schools said they receive one-fourth of the space fees.
“We’re talking to several other community colleges, not just in California, but other states, and also high schools,” CarFaire President Bill Sembrat said. “Between now and the end of the year, we [expect to open] another four or five CarFaire locations in the state.”
The business also operates sites in Santa Cruz, Alameda and San Joaquin counties. An established site will usually have 100 to 200 vehicles, attracting 1,000 to 1,500 people over a weekend, Sembrat said.
Irvine Valley’s public information officer is a satisfied customer--and merchant. Joyce Kirk’s family has bought two cars and sold one at the event.
“In selling our car, we didn’t feel comfortable having people come to our home with cash,” she said. With CarFaire, she met people at the college, negotiated and sealed the deals at a bank. “It worked very well.”
