My wife and I have been in SK for a little more than a year. We've moved to an acreage outside of Saskatoon and our current vehicles just don't suit our needs any more. Because we're probably looking to replace both of them, we're more than likely going to buy used rather than new. In the last couple places I've lived (Mid-Missouri, Edmonton) I would almost certainly expect to buy privately through an individual, through an add in the classifieds, Truck-trader or local bargain finder. When I pick up those publications here they seem to be full of dealer and corner-car-lot adds, with relatively few private listings. Are private sales that less common here?

I know that the market size is different (most of the venues are province-wide, rather than city specific), but I wouldn't think it too difficult to find what I'm looking for from an individual in or around Saskatoon rather than on a car lot. It's what I've always done and I feel a little more comfortable with it. Is there something I'm missing or are there just that many fewer vehicles for sale privately here?

Thanks,

Chris

Vehicle shopping is always tough in Sask, no matter what you are looking for. Seems like there isn't much out there that isn't on a dealers lot. And good classifieds seem to be hard to find. And to make matters worse, it seems that a lot of the vehicles you find in the cities tend to be fairly beaten up (body wise).

The only 2 paper classifieds I can suggest are the auto trader and the bargain hunter (I think they have one specific to Saskatoon, and they tend to be entirely private listings as dealers have to pay for advertisments). If you don't mind me asking, what kind of vehicle are you after?

As far as the internet goes, here are the only ones I know of:
www.canada.trader.com (pretty useless as it is almost entirely dealer listings, better off just buying their weekly publication)
www.buysell.com (owned by the auto trader and pretty much the same deal here)
www.mysask.com
www.usedsaskatchewan.com
www.kijiji.ca
www.driving.ca (again, mostly dealers)

My home is in Melville (south east corner of the province) and I work in Provost Alberta (2.5 hour drive west of Saskatoon). Normally I go home once a month on my days off and would be willing to stop and check a vehicle out along the way if it could save somebody a trip. Unfortunatly my next set of days off will be starting next week and I will be staying in Provost, and the following set of days off I will be going on a trip to the Dominican, so i likely won't be venturing back to Melville until the middle of March. If you are still looking at that time and I can be of assistance, just send me a PM. The same goes for anyone else. Even if somebody needs some parts picked up or delivered I can try and make it a part of my trip. Of course providing it will fit in my Saturn (which is actually quite roomy with the ENTIRE back seat removed, lol).

I use the Saskatoon Star Phoenix newspaper most of the time for car deals. You are right the trader sucks mostly, too many ads for dealer lots.

Thanks for the responses. At least I know it's not me!