Read the reviews of almost any car buying company around here and the same complaint keeps coming up. A good number on the phone, a lower one in the driveway, and someone taking it anyway because the tow truck has already turned up.
Cochrane Car Buyers doesn't work like that. Whatever we offer you is what you get paid, as long as the car is what you told us it was. If something genuinely turns out different, say you told us it runs and it doesn't, we'll have a straight conversation about it. What we won't do is use a flat tire or a scuffed bumper as an excuse to knock a few hundred dollars off once we've arrived.
A licensed and insured car buyer, based in Cochrane
Plenty of people buy cars around here. Fewer of them are a proper business.
We're licensed and insured, and we carry the coverage needed to tow and transport your vehicle. That matters more than it sounds. If something goes wrong on your property during a pickup, an uninsured bloke with a borrowed trailer leaves you carrying a risk you didn't know you had.
We've been buying vehicles in Cochrane since November 2023, and we're not going anywhere. In a town of 39,000 where everybody knows somebody, that shapes how you do business.
How we compare to the other options
| What matters | Us | Calgary firms | Dealer trade-in | Private sale |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Buys non-running cars | Yes | Usually | Rarely | Very hard |
| Buys damaged or written off vehicles | Yes | Usually | No | Very hard |
| Free towing | Yes | Usually | No | No |
| Same-day pickup here | Usually | Depends on route | n/a | n/a |
| Evening and weekend pickup | Yes | Rarely | No | Yes |
| Paid before loading | Yes | Varies | On purchase | Risk is yours |
| Highest possible price | No | No | No | Yes, if car is sound |
We're not going to pretend we pay more than a private buyer. If your car runs well, drives safely and has a clean history, you will get more for it on Kijiji or Facebook Marketplace than you'll get from us or anyone like us. That's just true.
What a private sale can't give you on a damaged or non-running car is a buyer at all. No test drives in something that won't start. No strangers at your house. No liability once the money changes hands. No towing bill. No three weeks of messages from people who never turn up. If your car is broken, we're usually the better outcome. If it isn't, we'll say so.
Questions people ask us
Yes. We operate as a licensed, insured business and carry proper coverage for towing and transporting vehicles.
Cochrane Car Buyers is based in Cochrane, Alberta, which is exactly why our pickups are quicker than the Calgary operators who also advertise here.
On a damaged or non-running car, almost always, because most dealers won't take it on trade at all and the comparison is therefore zero. On a clean running car a dealer may well beat us.
If it runs and drives well, you probably should. If it's damaged or won't start, you'll spend weeks fielding lowball offers from people who don't turn up, and you'll still have to solve the towing.
Depending on the vehicle, usable parts come off and get resold, and the rest goes to a licensed Alberta recycler where fluids and hazardous materials are handled under provincial rules and the metal is recycled.
It's a locally owned business that's been operating in Cochrane since November 2023. You can read about who we are and how we got started, or just get in touch.
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