You know this is one of those questions that I will often get asked when I’m in the various pawn shops that I go to on a regular basis.
When it comes to GPS units pawnshops have a little bit of a mixed history with them in most cases.
You’ve got to understand the role of a pawn shop is to buy and sell used merchandise on a regular basis. Of course they also make loans against used merchandise as well, but the bottom line is that pawn shops deal with non-new merchandise off the street on a very regular basis.
Sometimes people will bring things into a pawn shop that have been stolen. Pawnbrokers try to eliminate this as much as possible but they are always 100% successful unfortunately.
So with that in mind when it comes to items that are easily stolen out of the cars in parking lots or parking garages, pawn shops will sometimes be a little cautious.
If there is no easy way to verify the owner of an item, then it can be very difficult for a pawn shop to determine when one has been stolen versus another that is brought in legitimately. This is particularly true when it comes to something like GPS systems that don’t otherwise have many identifying marks on them.
On top of that police departments very well know that GPS units are often taken out of cars during thefts. Because of that some police departments have asked the pawnshops in their areas not to take in GPS units if they can avoid it.
If you have a GPS system you may want to see if your local pawn shop would be willing to take it in for a loan or offer to buy it outright from you. Now all pawn shops will deal with GPS system, but the majority of them will and they tend to pay very well for them.
So Do No Pawn Shops Take In GPS Systems
No, that is not at all what I am saying. In fact there are many pawn shops that will take and GPS systems on a very regular basis and actually like to see them come through their doors. I would even go so far as to say that more pawn shops take in GPS system than do not.
All I’m telling you is that you have to be aware that in some cases a pawn shop may not taken your GPS unit, and a percentage of the time when they don’t it may be at the request of their local police department, not because there’s anything wrong with you or your GPS system.
You have to understand upon shops want to avoid taking and stolen merchandise by any means necessary. That means that sometimes they will deny loans for or to buy items that are very commonly known to be stolen, or part of a theft one way or another.
How To Find Pawnshops That Accept GPS Units
So if you are going to look for a pawn shop that will accept your GPS unit, then there is one very easy way to go about doing this.
The first thing that you would like to do is go over to Google.com and search “local pawn shops” or “pawn shops near me.”
What Google will do is return a list of pawnshops in your immediate area along with their addresses and phone numbers.
You should go down this list one by one and call each pawn shop that Google has referred you to. You want to ask them if they taken GPS units, what you need to bring with you when you need to make a loan on something or sell it, and what you might expect to get for your GPS unit.
Now not all pawnshops will be able to give you a quote for your GPS unit over the phone. That having been said you may find that several do.
Once you’ve compiled a list of at least three or four different pawn shops that will take in your GPS system then you should visit each one and compare their offers. Obviously you will want to go with the pawn shop that offers you the most money.
How To Get The Most For Your GPS System At The Pawnshop
If you want to get the most money possible for your GPS system at a pawn shop than there are really only a few things that you need to keep in mind.
The first thing that you need to do is to make sure that you have the car charger with you. If for some reason you have lost the car charger and your GPS unit is rechargeable then you should be sure to at least bring in the suitable USB cable so that someone can charge it from a generic wall adapter or their computer.
The second thing that you should do is make sure that your GPS unit looks as presentable as possible. What that will mean is that you should clean it off, and keep in mind that you don’t have to go crazy with it, but be sure to wipe down the screen at very least to remove any fingerprints or smudges.
If you have any other additional accessories such as a memory card or a suction cup for the GPS unit then you should be sure to take those with you as well.
Assuming you follow those few simple rules you should have a very good experience when you take your GPS unit into the pawn shop to either make a loan on it or sell it outright.
