The Christmas spirit is important to David King.
The owner of King’s Auto Sales in Langford says he believes that charitable giving is an important characteristic for everyone, particularly at this time of year.
That belief has prompted him to once again offer to give a car to a deserving person in the community – no strings attached. It’s the sixth time that King has made this donation during the Christmas season and he said that, as a car dealer, the choice to give away a car was a natural choice.
“This isn’t a promotion,” he said. “We’re not doing it as an advertisement, and I don’t expect to sell more cars as a result. It is just a good thing to do for someone in the community and that’s important to me.”
Asked why he doesn’t simply make a cash donation to one of the many charities out there, King paused before answering.
“This just makes sense to me. It’s a chance to have a life-changing impact on someone’s life,” he said. “Giving to established charities is obviously a good thing as well, and we do that. But by choosing one family every year to get a car, we can have a direct and meaningful impact.”
This year, King has chosen to give away a Ford Freestar van and, although it is a used vehicle, it's a “very clean”, low-milage vehicle.
"We’re giving away a van this year because there are people out there who have applied in the past who need a larger vehicle, perhaps to accommodate a disabled person or a large family.”
“And it’s not just the van that we’ll be giving away,” he said. The person who gets the van will also get 3 months of insurance paid (courtesy of Maxxam Insurance), a two-year warranty from Lubrico, and a year of free maintenance on the vehicle courtesy of Affordable Auto Repair.”
King explained that, by including insurance and maintenance in the giveaway, the person receiving the vehicle will be free of any financial burden related to the vehicle.
The sad truth is that despite the great work done by a plethora of charities and agencies, charitable giving has declined despite an increase in the need for that generosity. The Fraser Institute reports that the percentage of Canadian tax filers donating to charity has fallen over the last decade from 23% in 2011 to 17.7% in 2021.
“I’m always surprised by how we live in one of the richest countries in the world, but our annual charitable giving is shockingly low,” said King. “I’ve been lucky in my life. I was born and raised here and always had a job and a bit of money in the bank. My parents taught me to appreciate that and did a real good job at teaching me about the importance of giving to others.”
Nominations for the giveaway are open from Dec. 1 to 15 by submitting an application or nomination for a friend to King’s Auto Sales, 2651 Sooke Rd., or by contacting kingsautosales.ca.
To be eligible for the draw, folks need to reside within the CRD and hold a valid B.C. driver’s licence.
“We’ll read the nominations and narrow it down to the top 10 candidates. After that, we do a draw to decide who will get the van,” King said. “I love doing this. It’s my way of giving back directly to someone in the community.”
