GILROY
– By summer, Gavilan College could buttress its coffers with
money from an unlikely source – used car sales.
GILROY – By summer, Gavilan College could buttress its coffers with money from an unlikely source – used car sales.
School board trustees authorized Tuesday night the use of its main parking lot for weekend car fairs. The college estimates that its share of event proceeds could rake in $2,000 a month.
“Hopefully this will supplant the practice of car owners using First Street parking lots … to sell their cars,” said Paul Kloecker, treasurer of the Gavilan College Educational Foundation.
The foundation provides various financial support to the school. Proceeds from car sales would be allocated to the school at the discretion of the foundation.
Kloecker said it would be three to four months before the organizer of the sales – Santa Cruz-based CarFaire – is ready to operate on the campus. The foundation has requested the use of Parking Lot A’s lower portion to conduct the events.
The lower portion of Parking Lot A is on the east end of campus, just south of the college’s main entrance.
“At the start we may only have about 30 cars on the lot, but later it could grow to 200,” Kloecker said.
Car sales would be a first for Gavilan College, but the practice is common around other Bay Area college and high school campuses.
CarFaire enables sellers to display their vehicles for an entire weekend. Buyers can learn about available cars by going online (www.carfaire.com) or showing up at one of the participating sites.
There are no salesmen. Sellers only pay a nominal fee to have their vehicle displayed and buyers don’t have to pay a commission.
Kloecker said 25 percent of the roughly $30 display fee goes to Gavilan College. A permit from the city is not necessary, Kloecker said, since transactions take place on school property and are not different from other private car sales.
Kloecker learned about the fund raising opportunity while attending a regional seminar for college foundations.
“I think this is especially nice for ladies who are selling a car but don’t want to make the transaction at their home,” Kloecker said. “And it benefits people who are looking for a car. They won’t have to go all around town driving through random parking lots. They’ll have one centralized spot.”
