How to Get the Best Price on a Car That No Longer Drives
Cars are terrible investments. New cars depreciate by about 20-30 percent in their first year and then continue to depreciate. Eventually, your car hits rock bottom in terms of resale potential and hangs there for a while before taking on its final form: a bitter. Of course, the cost of a car is measured not only by financial indicators. There’s also the benefit you get from it, and many people are perfectly happy to drive an old car as long as it serves its intended function.
Hold on to the car long enough, however, and eventually it will simply refuse to start or run so badly that you really can’t drive it anywhere. When that happens, it’s time to get a new car and figure out what to do with the old one. The easiest option is to throw it away, because the junkyard will send a tow truck and pay you (a small amount) in cash for your car. But there are other options that might make more sense if you want to maximize the value of your non-functional whisk.
trade it
Believe it or not, sometimes you can trade a mallet that doesn’t even work. If you are buying a new car, your dealership will be your best friend until the deal is closed, and thus will be ready to provide you with some service. Even cars that don’t run have some value, so a dealership looking to close a deal might be happy to offer you more than a junkyard would pay for it. However, dealers may not want to pay to have the car towed, so this may only be an option if your beater can make the last trip or if you have other ways to get him there.
Share it
If you have mechanical aptitude, consider taking apart the beater yourself and selling the parts . Even an old car that no longer works is worth more as a set of parts than as a complete vehicle – which is why junkyards will pay you for a car that doesn’t work. This requires tools and time, which is not a monetary cost that you have to consider, and it does not only involve simple removal and cleaning of parts. You will also need to figure out how much to charge for each part and then find buyers for them . However, if the reason your beater has lasted decades on the road is because you love working with cars, this could be a great way to turn an old car into cash.
Try a private sale
You will be surprised how much interest an old car can generate. In today’s crazy used car market, some people with mechanical skills and experience may be looking for a cheap car they can fix themselves. Others will be looking for parts that they can use for business or hobbies. Whatever the reason, it might be worth dumping your junk pile on classifieds or on an online forum to see if anyone would be willing to outbid the junkyard and come pick up your pile.
Donate
Since even the old ruins contain valuable parts, charities are happy to accept donations of cars, even if they are not running. They usually come to pick up the car, but they don’t pay you directly. Instead, you get tax credits in the form of a charitable donation based on the car’s paper value, which is usually small. That’s why it’s attractive to charities: the actual value of a car is usually higher if you’re willing and able to put in the time and effort to sell it in another way. But this tax credit is no small matter, and you also get the emotional benefit of knowing you helped a good cause. Just make sure you know what the charity is actually doing – some of the charities looking for car donations hide their true purpose , so a little research to make sure you’re supporting the cause you want to support is well worth it.
After all, even a car that has recently been turned into a motionless sculpture of a car retains some value, and you owe it to yourself to get the most out of it.