Markets in Everything: Trade Your Car for a Bike
"With gas prices soaring again, car buyers are looking for more fuel-efficient vehicles. The Santa Monica Mountains Cyclery (SMMC), a bike shop in Woodland Hills near Los Angeles, has a different idea – drivers should opt for bicycles instead. And, to facilitate the transition, for a limited time they will accept cars as trade-ins toward new bicycle purchases.
For a limited time from March 19-25, SMMC will work with a local auto dealer, Vista Ford, and accept cars and SUVs in trade toward the purchase of a new bicycle. Consumers will head to SMMC and pick out their new, fuel-efficient bicycle. Then, they’ll go across the street to Vista Ford to have their vehicle evaluated and appraised. They trade the car to Vista Ford and return to SMMC to ride home on their new, truly carbon-friendly ride."
HT: Mike Henne
5 Comments:
"truly carbon-friendly ride."
In a carbon-fiber bike :)
While I bike a lot, it is simply impractical for regular use. Unless you don't have a job and eat whatever grows on your rooftop garden.
AIG: "While I bike a lot, it is simply impractical for regular use. Unless you don't have a job and eat whatever grows on your rooftop garden."
Remember: this is in Santa Monica.
aig-
i used to bike commute. it's great. but it only works in limited areas. clearly, winter in buffalo makes it pretty hellish, but santa monica is nice all year and you get to miss a ton of LA traffic. it's almost certainly faster during rush hour.
it was never a political statement from me (god knows i drive some serious gas drinking cars these days), i just liked it, and parking in downtown SF sucks as do the buses.
once upon a time, my bikes used to be worth a lot more than my car. (
i used to race (not professionally, but well enough to get free stuff) and got a free one every year from our sponsors.
a good race bike, fully kitted out is $12-15k. you'll drop $5k just on the frame, and you really need 2-3 if you are racing.
my question is this:
wtf is that bike shop doing with the cars?
an auto dealer tends to resell them. i doubt the bike shop is set up to do so. so what are they doing with the trade ins?
I'll galdly take your gas -guzzling Ford Expedition as a trad-in for my schwinn bicycle.
morganovich: "my question is this:
wtf is that bike shop doing with the cars?
an auto dealer tends to resell them. i doubt the bike shop is set up to do so. so what are they doing with the trade ins?"
A new car dealer will typically only keep trade-ins 3 years old or less, in good condition, for resale. everything else goes directly to their favorite dealer auction.
I suspect most people who would consider trading their car for a bike are driving clunkers.
This appears to be an innovative sales gimmick, designed to drive lots of curious shoppers to the bike shop, where they may see a bike they can't live without, even though they hadn't given it much thought before that day.
I imagine the bike shop will also still accept USD in trade.
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