We didn't start Chicagoland Auto Fair because we saw a market gap. We started it because one of us nearly got robbed in a Walmart parking lot trying to sell a Honda Civic, and the other spent three weekends driving to dealerships just to feel insulted.
The Parking Lot Problem
One of us, Dan, had a clean 2017 Honda Civic he wanted to sell. KBB said $14,500 private party. The first dealership offered $10,200. He listed it on Facebook Marketplace that night.
The messages came fast, but so did the red flags. People asking to meet "tonight, cash, wherever is easiest." One guy wanted to meet at a gas station at 9 PM. Another drove 45 minutes, inspected the car for 20 minutes, then offered $9,800. A third asked Dan to bring the title to a coffee shop "so we can wrap it up quick."
He ended up selling it for $12,400. Not bad. But the two weeks it took, the strangers at his house, the no-shows, the cash anxiety, left him feeling like he had just gotten lucky.
The Dealership Tax
The other one of us, Tahmid, needed a reliable used car. Nothing fancy, something under $15,000 for a daily commute from Schaumburg to Rosemont. He visited four dealerships over three Saturdays.
Every lot had the same energy: a salesman materializing from nowhere, the "let me check with my manager" routine, the finance office ambush at the end. The cars he actually liked were always "just sold" or "pending," but a very similar one was available for $2,800 more.
He tried Craigslist. Found a 2018 Camry, agreed to meet the seller in a strip mall parking lot in Niles. The seller was fine. The car was fine. But Tahmid sat in that strip mall for 20 minutes before the guy showed up, wondering if this was the kind of situation that ends up on the news.
He bought the Camry. Never felt totally good about how it happened.
What If There Was a Third Option?
We had known each other since high school in Palatine. We swapped these stories over a backyard cookout in the summer of 2025. By the end of the night, we had sketched out the idea on a napkin.
What if private sellers could bring their cars to one place, a real venue on a real campus, and buyers could walk through them all in a single morning? No strangers at your house. No strip-mall anxiety. No dealer markup. Just people, cars, and a fair process.
We wanted a few things to be true:
- Sellers get paid what their car is actually worth
- Buyers see real inventory without the pressure
- Everyone goes home feeling like the deal was fair
We secured a lot. We built a registration form. We set a date. And on May 30, 2026, Chicagoland Auto Fair opens its doors for the first time.
Here's What We Put In Place
A real venue
Harper College in Palatine. Not a parking garage. A campus with security on-site throughout the event.
Title verification
Every car goes through a VIN check before the event. We verify the seller actually owns the vehicle and that it carries a clean title. No salvage, no rebuilt titles allowed.
Neutral staff on-site
We're there the whole time, not to sell anything. Just to make sure things go smoothly for both sides.
Flat $50 seller fee
No commission. No surprises. You keep everything you negotiate.
Free for buyers
Always. No pressure, no obligation, no pitch.
Paperwork support
Illinois RUT-50 forms and title transfer instructions, right there on-site.
Want to see the full breakdown? Here's exactly how it works on event day.
We're not a dealership. We're not an app. We're two people from the suburbs who got tired of the way this worked and decided to do something about it, at least for one day, on one campus, in Palatine.
If you've ever sat in a strip-mall parking lot waiting for a stranger to show up with $14,000 in cash, you already know why we did this.
Come find out if we got it right.