Getting the Most $ for "Dying" Car

If you're buying new, look for a minimum trade-in deal. Some will give you something like $1500 no matter what the condition of the car is. Normally trade-in is the worst deal for person selling, but in the case of a beater, if you can take advantage of a minimum trade-in deal, you'll make out better. Be careful that the trade-in isn't tied to some ridiculous finance plan that costs you more in the long run though.

You might want to look into donating it for the tax write off. I did this with a car years ago. While it wasn't immediate money, it wound up being a much better value for me as a donation.

a couple of years ago I donated my 20 year old 1993 ford escort to kars4kids and took the tax credit.....the car needed close to $3000 worth of work....cant complain as it had served me well for those 20 years

Have you taken to CarMax? They will give you a written offer good for a few days. If it is better than $300 take it! We got rid of my husband's 1998 4Runner - which needed tons of work and we had been told to scrap it - but went to CarMax - got offer for $2000 and then took that to Mazda where we were buying his replacement and they gave us $2700 for it. You can also go on Edmunds to find out what they think you can get for it. Good luck!

Would it help you if you had a tax write-off for it? Do you itemize your taxes?

I've give cars I've driven to death (130,000 miles, etc) to the National Kidney Foundation. They take care of everything for you - come get the car, etc. And then I believe you get the blue book value for your donation. (That's what the rules were the last time I donated a car. It has been a good while, but I doubt the rules have changed.)

If you can figure out what the blue book value is and see if it will make $300 worth of difference in your taxes, it would be a a great thing to do. The National Kidney Foundation is a terrific group that does a lot of good.

I second the idea below of donating the car to a charity. Unless you truly must have some cash in hand for it, donating it for the tax write-off is much easier--you don't have to wonder about meeting some stranger off Craigslist somewhere, or haggling with someone over the asking price, or having to explain every little problem the car has had, etc.

Many charities will come to your house and pick up the car so you don't have to get it somewhere. They also often give you a tax write-off of a higher value than you'd expect -- you might see that it's listed as being worth more than $300 to a charity.

The Salvation Army has extensive car collection programs (they came and took away our last car, which we could have sold but we just hate the hassles). In our area, there are also several Goodwill-type employment programs that always want used vehicle donations. And our local PBS television station also has a vehicle donation program. Check with charities and non-profits in your area.

I've gotten rid of a car that would've cost more to repair than its worth. I sold it to a dismantler for a few hundred bucks. Since the trade in for your car is $300, I would just do that and forgo the hassle.

You can also donate it to a nonprofit that takes cars.

Take whatever you can get at trade in or donate it. Not worth trying to sell yourself.

My first thought is for the amount of money that you are talking about, you may come out ahead to donate it and get the tax benefit.

We have sold a car on CL but I HATE CL. I am on a site called Nextdoor.com which is a group neighborhoods in your immediate area. They have classified listings. Also a local FB online sale group might be helpful.

Good luck

i dunno. sounds like you should take the $300 and be done with it. selling it on craigslist will be a PITA for not much more money, and it doesn't sound as if it's anywhere near 'fair' condition.
at least it's drivable so you won't have to pay to have it towed to the scrapyard.
khairete
S.

I had a Dodge grand Caravan that had been stolen. It was totaled. Totally not drivable---the engine had been pushed in at least 5 inches. I got $480 from a scrap yard. They will take the parts like windows and engine parts that are still salvageable and the seats and sell them. If you go this route, call a number of places, some pay better and some want to give you as little as possible.

Sold my 1997 Honda accord, 150, 000+ miles in good condition for over $2000 on Craig's list 5 hours after I posted it.

But I'm in the Midwest where cars take a beating in winter...

Good luck!

Several years ago, we sold several cars over a span of months to the scrap dealers.

We got anywhere from $300 - $500 for the cars..... (They were all junk at that point....)

It was nice getting any bit of money for them, though. (Also, they did come and tow off the cars.... that helped!)

I've bought and sold cars on CL without a problem. Go to Kelly Blue Book (kbb.com) and get a quote on how much your car is worth. Then list it on CL for what it says, including the repairs you know it needs. It may be worth more than you think. Good luck.

in my area, if you park a car in the ghetto with a for sale sign in it and state that you want $500 there is always someone willing to pay for it.

We have several car lots around us that run specials where they give you a minimum of $2000 for any car that you can get to their car lot. I would look into that if you can. I've sold cars on Craigslist, but its a very annoying process. I'll never do that again. When my dad passed away in 2013 he had an old minivan that was barely running and needed so much work it was easiest for me to scrap it. I got $350 for his van. It was easy and helped cover some of his final expenses.

Two of my cars met an unfortunate demise. Both died in car accidents. One I sold for $750.00 which had well over 100,000 miles on it That was my Pontiac Sunbird. The other car was stolen driven into a tree and I just turned over the title to the car yard since I couldn't afford to either fix it or get it out of the pound.

I would check and see if I could sell it using several of the ideas other have suggested here. Keep us posted on how your fare. The dealership is NEVER going to give you top dollar for your car. They wouldn't make much money if they did that.

See what you can get as a tax write off for donating it to a fire station. Our local fire companies are always looking for old cars to practice with, and often you can claim highest blue book value for taxes if you do. You'd need to verify, though.

If it drives, and isn't unsafe or needing work to meet road requirements (broken lights, etc), then put it out there for $500. Somebody might need something just to get a few miles back and forth every day. Something to get them through the next few months. They can eventually recover a small portion of that through scrap ($200 or so probably) when it stops running, without ever putting another dime into it. People around here use stuff like that a lot. They call them "mill cars" or something, b/c they would only use them to drive back and forth to work at the paper mill, and it makes the interior smell, so people don't like driving nice vehicles.

You can do Craigslist, or look on Facebook for local car/resale groups. They are out there. Even in my small town there are about 3 local ones.

Good luck. Because, yeah, you will do better selling outright than giving it as a trade. And yes GIVING it.

--
Also, keep in mind that there are backyard mechanics out there always looking for something like this. A decent car that needs some repair work that they are capable of doing on their own (for a lot less than you or I would have to spend to PAY someone else to do it). I sold my last vehicle (2005 Xterra with 310,000 miles on it, needing a $1500 clutch job and having a low oil pressure light coming on a low idle speed) to a friend from church. We weren't putting any more $ into it with that many miles (let's face it, it could need a new engine any given week), even though the rest of the vehicle was in GREAT shape. It wasn't smart for us, b/c we aren't mechanics. The guy I know is. HE was willing to do the clutch job himself (for a third of what it would have cost me) and also could deal with anything else that came up for the price of the parts (where I'd have to pay a shop to do whatever). He owned his own flat trailer, so picked it up from the auto shop it was at, took it home and did the work. Now his young adult son drives it. We both won.
So don't be afraid to put it out there. Just be honest about what needs to be done to it.
If you don't have time to deal with it, let it sit out there for a week (even post it on your own FB page, you never know who you know that knows someone who might be interested). If nothing happens, trade it for whatever they will give you. It's easier than dealing with the scrap yard, and it will reduce the cost of your new vehicle and therefore your taxes on the sale, I believe.

I auctions off an old beater on eBay once, but almost 100£ for it, more then we expected.

We had a local salvage yard come get ours. It was a Saab 9000 and it was 23 years old and the parts needing repair were original. We were paid by the weight of the car. They took it away from the driveway. Trade-ins on older aged cars is not worth it to the dealer.

Good luck to you.

the other S.

PS I miss Bette but not all the cost of repairs which would have been over $4,200.

We are selling our 2003 BMW with 147,000 miles on it to the car shop that is telling us it needs a new engine. They will give us 500 for parts. So sad! We are considering it an investment of 12 years of good car service. Hate we will get no trade value, but my conscience is happy someone didn't buy it used and get a total sucker!

We have sold through something like Craiglists and also to a dealer as part of a trade. We went through a lot of nonsense before finally selling to a very low income family - and by then, we just felt like giving it to them. We told them off all the repairs and had a complete history on the car. They were ever so grateful. So in the end it was worthwhile to see them be happy with it and we gave them a super deal. But we had some people come who were not at all serious, etc.

My car was about like your car when I traded it in. I started to sell it for scrap but decided I would see what the dealer would offer before doing that. I knew I wanted the same brand of car and I knew that my car had major problems. Since I was buying the same brand they offered me more for my old car then I thought they would. This time of year they are trying to get rid of the later models so there are good deals to be had. Try the dealer first before trading scrapping. You may be surprised.

I would imagine you can get more for it as a trade in. Take it and go look at some vehicles. Find out what they'll give you. They have their vehicles marked up so they can "take off a thousand for your trade in" and they're still making a bunch of money.