Interview · recorded September 6, 2026
Samir Osman, September 6, 2026
Samir has bought around 3,000 cars in four years. He walks through how he prices one, what an insurance claim costs you in dollars, why replacing a windshield before you sell is wasted money, and the fake bank draft that is the scam he sees most.
Interviewee
Samir Osman
Owner & AMVIC-Licensed Wholesaler, DriveOffer (Edmonton, AB)
AMVIC licence B2036941
Samir Osman is the owner of DriveOffer, an AMVIC-licensed vehicle wholesaler (licence B2036941) based in Edmonton, Alberta. Over the past five years he has bought more than 3,000 cars directly from the public, coming to sellers across Edmonton and surrounding Alberta. That hands-on volume gives him a first-hand read on what private vehicles are actually worth in the local wholesale market.
Interviewed by Joshua Scurlock · 14 topics · 1,434 words
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Timestamps in the transcript below jump the recording to that answer.
Transcript
Recorded September 6, 2026. Filler and false starts trimmed; nothing else changed.
Who Samir is, and what a day actually looks like
Joshua Scurlock
What's your full name, and what is your current role?
Samir Osman
Samir Osman. I do the buying. I give offers. Part owner.
Joshua Scurlock
What does a normal day in your life look like currently?
Samir Osman
So we wake up around 11am and we start giving our offers. Once we close the deal, we travel to the person and close the deal, check it out, make sure the customer's happy, and we buy the car. And after that, we drop off the car, and that's our day.
Joshua Scurlock
How long have you been doing this for?
Samir Osman
About four years now.
Joshua Scurlock
And what did you do before this?
Samir Osman
I was a dishwasher. I was cleaning dishes.
Joshua Scurlock
What type of licences do you hold?
Samir Osman
I got a class five Alberta driver's. AMVIC licence, city licence, and that's all.
Joshua Scurlock
So you're an AMVIC licensed wholesaler.
Samir Osman
Yes sir.
Joshua Scurlock
Roughly how many cars have you bought over the past four to five years?
Samir Osman
I'd say upwards towards like 3,000.
Joshua Scurlock
What part of this business would you say you know better than most people?
Samir Osman
Probably giving accurate numbers, and knowing what cars are worth mechanically, knowing how the cars are mechanically.
The last car he bought, start to finish
Behind How DriveOffer Works
Joshua Scurlock
Can you walk me through the last car you bought, start to finish?
Samir Osman
Last car I bought would be a 2021 Mercedes C43. Checked out the vehicle at around 3pm. Went on a test drive, checked their insurance documents. It had a claim on it, which was 29,000. They showed me insurance records. I was checking the records out and tried negotiating with the guy. He was totally firm on the price. He wouldn't drop a single dollar. So then, around 4:30, we went to the bank and we got a bank draft. And then I just dropped him off at a pub. And off we went. That car had no lien on it, so we didn't have to pay no liens.
Joshua Scurlock
And that was today?
Samir Osman
Nope, that was on Saturday.
Joshua Scurlock
But you're pretty much buying vehicles just about every single day.
Samir Osman
Yeah. Just Sundays, banks are not open, so we don't really buy cars on Sundays.
What he looks at when he prices a car
Joshua Scurlock
What do you actually look at when you're trying to price a car?
Samir Osman
Kilometres, any accidents or claims on it, and the condition of the vehicle.
Joshua Scurlock
What's the biggest gap you've seen between what someone thought their car was worth and what it was actually worth?
Samir Osman
There's some that are unrealistic, which could be up like 50, 60,000. And then a lot of people think a car's worth like 5 to 10 grand more than what it actually is, but then after a week or two, they come to reality.
Joshua Scurlock
What makes a car particularly hard to price?
Samir Osman
Like if it's a 1956, if it's a classic car, they're unlikely to wholesale. It's more something you buy and sell to a collector. So older cars are harder to price. And some brand new vehicles, because a lot of dealerships are giving a bonus when you buy from them, giving some money back. So it's hard to put them like a number.
What not to spend money on before you sell
Joshua Scurlock
What do people spend money on before selling that they don't actually end up getting back?
Samir Osman
Like a windshield, oil changes, very minor maintenance. When they replace the windshield, that's nothing serious. Sometimes if they go do brakes, it's not that serious. Oil change, just some other stuff that they go fix.
Joshua Scurlock
What holds value in Alberta that doesn't hold similar value in other markets?
Samir Osman
The process of how fast it is to buy and sell a car in Alberta.
Where mileage starts to cost you
Behind Mileage, Condition, and Trim
Joshua Scurlock
At what kilometre marks does the price noticeably drop?
Samir Osman
About when the car has over 130,000 kilometres, it makes it tougher to sell.
What an accident claim actually costs, in dollars
Joshua Scurlock
What does one accident on the report actually do to your offer, in dollars? One accident versus no accident.
Samir Osman
So it's not really about the accident, it's more so about the claim amount. When a vehicle has a $5,000 claim, it's usually $1,000 less that we have to offer versus a car that has a $0 claim. And then every $5,000 is 1,000 bucks. So if a car had no claim and we offer 20 grand, versus if a car has a $5,000 claim, we'd offer 19. 10,000, we'd offer 18. 15, 17. So every 5,000 is like $1,000 off, because it affects the financing.
Joshua Scurlock
Do you buy rebuilt titles?
Samir Osman
We do buy rebuilt titles. It's about a 50% discount.
The strangest car he's bought
Joshua Scurlock
What's the strangest car you've ever bought? Exotic counts too.
Samir Osman
Probably a Huracan. 2020 Lamborghini Huracan. It was about 262, 270-ish. It was about a year and a half ago.
Paperwork, and what gets people turned away
Behind What Paperwork Do You Need?
Joshua Scurlock
What's the most common reason someone gets turned away at the registry?
Samir Osman
If it's a loan on the vehicle, or if they have tickets they haven't paid.
Joshua Scurlock
What does a registry transfer cost, and how long does it take?
Samir Osman
We don't do registry transfers in Alberta. We just do a bill of sale. We already have our dealer plates.
Joshua Scurlock
Has a sale ever fallen apart over paperwork?
Samir Osman
No. The only time that there's an issue is if the vehicle is not registered to the seller, then we make them go register it.
Joshua Scurlock
What do sellers most often not have ready when you arrive?
Samir Osman
Some don't have registration.
Liens, payout letters and negative equity
Behind Selling a Car With a Loan
Joshua Scurlock
How long do lenders take to produce a payout letter?
Samir Osman
To send us a lien release depends on the bank. Some take up to 10 business days. Some take one business day. But usually it's about five to 10 business days.
Joshua Scurlock
How often is someone in negative equity, and what do you tell them?
Samir Osman
Probably 30% of the people are always negative, and when they have negative equity, we just make sure they have the extra funds to pay off the remainder of their loan.
Joshua Scurlock
Have you had a lease you couldn't make work?
Samir Osman
I've bought a lot of leased vehicles. I don't really have issues. Sometimes it's easier for the seller to return the leased vehicle to the dealership because they owe too much money.
Fake bank drafts, and how the scam actually works
Behind Avoiding Private Sale Scams
Joshua Scurlock
What is the worst scam story a customer has told you?
Samir Osman
Usually this happens often. One of the worst is when these sellers take a bank draft and don't go to the bank with the people, and it becomes a fake bank draft. A lot of people come with fake drafts or fake certified cheques.
Joshua Scurlock
What are they usually trying to accomplish?
Samir Osman
They're trying to steal, basically. They're giving a fraudulent draft, which is fake, and taking your vehicle. Once it's on the bill of sale, they own the vehicle. So basically, they're stealing your vehicle.
Joshua Scurlock
Is there any way to get your vehicle back after that?
Samir Osman
You have to report it stolen and go through a whole investigation.
When a seller won't take a bank draft
Behind How Bank Draft Payment Works
Joshua Scurlock
Has a seller you dealt with ever refused a bank draft or wanted cash instead?
Samir Osman
There's a lot that get scared of a bank draft. So in some cases, we got to give cash or do an e-transfer.
Joshua Scurlock
Do you try to explain that a draft is the safe way to do it?
Samir Osman
Yeah, we try. But some customers just want it a certain way, and we got to respect it.
What goes wrong on Facebook Marketplace
Joshua Scurlock
What are the biggest risks when trying to sell your car through sites like Facebook Marketplace?
Samir Osman
Fake bank drafts. A lot of scammers. A lot of people just trying to get your credit card information to do a fake CARFAX. A lot of people trying to steal your car, or not pay you.
Joshua Scurlock
So a lot of scammers on those websites.
Samir Osman
Yeah, a lot of scammers. And a lot of time wasters as well.
Joshua Scurlock
When sellers come to you after trying Marketplace, what kind of situations do they tell you about?
Samir Osman
Shady people. For example, there was one on like Wednesday. She had a higher offer than me, but the person was very shady. She didn't trust them. That's why she came to DriveOffer. And she was happy with the way the deal went.
What he wishes every seller knew
Joshua Scurlock
What do you wish every seller knew before they call you?
Samir Osman
I wish they knew that they don't have to replace their windshield and do minor maintenance hoping to get an extra 1,000 or $1,500, because it doesn't really add extra value to the vehicle, whether the windshield's cracked or not, unless the car's like 200 grand or something.
What's changed in the last two years
Joshua Scurlock
What has changed in your business within the past two years?
Samir Osman
There's a lot of competition right now. A lot of competitors, a lot of people in the industry now. If you're trying to buy on Facebook, there's already like 10 other people already trying to buy the same car, so prices get driven up pretty quick.
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