that has 192,000 miles on it? It needs a new muffler. It’s had a brake job done in the last two years. It runs really well, but not surprisingly I’m getting a new one.
My questions are:
Do I have any chance of selling it?
If so, do I sell it to a dealer or put a FOR SALE sign on it?
If I can’t sell it, can I donate it to charity? Can I write it off? How?
Any thoughts?
How? You type “donate car to charity” into google and get sites like this. 
NADA for NY on that car is about $1,7000 (they stop deducting for mileage after the car is about 8 years old). If the car runs well and you can document that you’ve addressed some potential issues like timing belt replacement & transmission maintenance There’s really no reason you couldn’t get a bite for $1,200 - $1,400 depending on how hard those 192,000 miles have been on the appearance of the car.
Reliable basic transportation is normally $1,000 A well-maintained Toyota definitely qualifies as reliable.
The car LOOKS great. There is one rust spot by the front tire, and a key mark where some guy keyed me once.
Thank you for the link, John Mace. I posted here to see if that was evena viable option first.
ooops…
spend $100 and get the muffler fixed. Otherwise any maintenance you try to document will be viewed with suspicion by a buyer–they’ll pay attention to the deficiency and take that as indicative of the overall condition of the car.
Sign in the window
Trade in for $500 - $1,000
I know that Carmax will buy pretty much anything that runs, if there’s a location near you. They’ll pay less than what you could probably get selling it yourself, but you don’t have to deal with a bunch of scammers or have to wait a couple weeks to attract a buyer and get paid.
Here in the U.K. dealers will often let you trade in your old car against a new car.
A '90 Toyota that runs well is far from a piece of junk. It’s definitely salable. 192,000 miles isn’t a huge detriment, many of them will last far beyond that.
Selling it privately vs. selling to dealer/trading in is a choice between time and money. Sell it privately, you’ll get more, but you’ll spend more time and trouble making that happen. Selling/trading to a dealer is comparatively quick and easy, but usually at a substantial price difference. You pick.
Being in the business, I can guarantee you a better chance of selling your car through AutoTrader.com. If you do decide to list online, they are the 800-pound gorilla, in terms of eyeballs that may see your car.
hell i would buy it two of the most reliable cars i have ever seen running were corollas. those are tough little buggers. put a sign on it first, there are a lot of people out there that know the reliability of these cars and would give you around that easily.
Just a shot in the dark, but is it a Corolla GTS? If it is (twin-cam, rear wheel drive version), you won’t have any trouble selling it at all. Those are in high demand these days – especially the hatchbacks. Look around to see what they’re selling for. You might be surprised.
The Salvation Army is always looking for reliable cars. You get the full tax write-off while Salvation Army sells them at discount to people who really, really need them–folks who would think a 1990 Corolla is a major step UP.
You may not need the write-off, of course.
I don’t believe the 1990 model is the corolla GTS hachiroku everyone wants. I believe those are the 1985-1987(8). Do some research I guess. the 85-87’s can got for several thousand easily.
If you want to donate it to charity that’s fine, but you’d far from ‘have to’.
A Toyota Corolla is like a freakin’ Honda Civic or a Nissan Sentra. They are incredibly reliable cars and very easy to sell. And if it looks good for its age you’ll have people fighting over it!
Is it by any chance one of these Corollas? (AE86) http://us1.webpublications.com.au/static/images/shop/hi/1001400072hi.jpg
You’re right. Before my last post, I did a quick search and saw what I thought was a 1990 rwd Corolla coupe, but I can’t find any again.
