Most paving contractors hand you a quote, a payment schedule, and a handshake. We do that too — but we also sometimes take your old car instead. If that sounds strange for a paving company, it is. That's kind of the point. A few years ago, we started what we call our Silly Specials program: a handful of creative trade-in deals that let homeowners apply the value of something they already own toward their paving project. This post explains how it works, why we do it, and whether you might be sitting on something that could offset the cost of that new driveway.
The idea came from a simple observation: a lot of people have stuff they want to get rid of, and a lot of people want a new driveway but are watching the budget. As a family-owned business, we have more flexibility than a big contractor to get creative. If a customer has a car they've been meaning to sell for two years but never got around to it, and we can put that car's trade-in value toward their concrete project — everybody wins. They get the driveway, they lose the headache, and we've found a way to make the project work for them.
Here's how a trade-in actually works. It starts with a phone call. You tell us what you have — a car, a truck, a boat, whatever — and we have a conversation about its value and whether it makes sense for both sides. We're not a junkyard and we're not looking to take things off your hands as a favor. We're looking for situations where there's genuine value to apply toward a real project. If the numbers work, we structure the arrangement before any work begins. Every deal is custom — there's no fixed formula.
Our current active deals include Cars for Concrete, Boats for Blacktop, and The Good Neighbor Deal. Cars for Concrete and Boats for Blacktop follow the trade-in model described above — if you have a vehicle or boat you're ready to part with, call us and we'll see if its value can be applied toward your project. The Good Neighbor Deal is different: if you and a neighbor on the same street both book paving work, we can schedule both jobs back-to-back and pass the efficiency savings on to both of you. It costs us less to mobilize once than twice, and that saving is real — so we share it.
You don't need to have something exotic. The most common trade-in conversations we have are about second cars that have been sitting in the driveway for months, older trucks that ran fine but got replaced, and boats that haven't seen water in a few seasons. These are things people genuinely want to move on from — and the process of selling them privately is a hassle most people don't get around to. If we can simplify that and tie it to a project you were already planning, it's a genuinely good deal.
We also have more deals in the works — Snowblowers for Sealcoating, Appliances for Asphalt, and a formal Refer-a-Driveway referral program are all coming. The common thread is the same: we're a small, family-owned company that has flexibility the big contractors don't, and we'd rather find a creative way to earn your business than just compete on price.
If you have something you're ready to part with and a paving project you've been putting off, give us a call at 763-220-0195. We'll have an honest conversation about whether a trade-in makes sense, and we'll give you a free estimate on the project at the same time. The worst that happens is you get a free quote. The best that happens is you get a new driveway and finally get that car out of your yard.