Inna and I just bought a new car so I’m looking to get rid of my 2017 Chevy Cruze. The car has over 250,000 miles on it, the transmission is wonky, there is a crack on the windshield in the lower passenger-side corner, probably some other issues which I’m not interested in having a mechanic find for me.
Should I just sell this thing to the highest bidder, or donate it?
Selling it: How? A Craiglist ad, a Facebook post, other? I don’t want to sell it to someone who expects a running car, but I would sell it to someone who wants to work on the thing or just tear it down for parts.
Donating it: How does this work, and who would you suggest? We live in San Antonio, TX, so suggestions which are local to us are best, thank you.
Experiential stories, as well as advice, are welcome!
I tend to run my cars into the ground, and have donated several to my local NPR station. It is pretty straightforward - just call them up, and after a bit of paperwork, a flatbed shows up and takes it away. ISTM that any donation will work pretty much the same way.
The car was a 2005 Highlander, 200k miles. It burns oil, the battery drains after 3 days if you don’t drive/charge it, one of the door locks is broken, tons of chipped paint on the hood, and my mechanic says it needs $3-5k of engine repairs to get the check engine light to go off. That check engine light has been on for the last 3 years.
NPR managed somehow to squeeze $2k out of it, and I know I would never have gotten more than a few hundred.
If you’re going to sell it, I’d probably go with facebook marketplace. But for the condition it’s in, you might consider selling to a scrapper. There’s a few people in my area that buy junk cars for cash. I’ve sold a few old work vehicles and usually end up with at least a few hundred dollars.
If you sell someone a used car, even if you type out a nice contract, laying out all of the vehicles known flaws and unknowns, there are people who will try to hold you accountable whenever it finally fails, even if it IS from a cause you mentioned as above! Even if it’s a full year later. Which can lead to annoying communications or even going to small claims court.
If you’re careful, you’ll probably prevail, but it can be time and frustration you’d rather avoid. So unless the extra $$$ is important to you, donating it (perhaps a benefit in the form of a tax break if you itemize), or getting a small but more consequence-free selling to a scrapper like @Joey_P mentions is for the best.
Of course, I’m the guy driving a well-maintained 2007 Toyota Rav4 with 120,000 miles on it. But it hasn’t had any noticeable issues other than the normal treatment and one oil pan repair after it developed a slow leak from road debris. Although we’re considering trading it in on a new vehicle in the next month or so.
Lookup the junkyards in your city and see if their website can give you a quote for your car.
If your car is reliable, it might be worth selling. Lots of people need transportation and will be okay with wonky and quirky. Price it cheap on Craigslist and it will probably go quickly.
“Wonky” covers a lot of sins, including having the car engine just minimize in power (effectively stalling) because something called the “Stabilitrak” (a component which can be turned off) isn’t working.
That’s why you mention (in writing or at least email, if possible) that the car is being sold “As is, where is”. It’s fine to let people know of all the problems you’re aware of, but once they take ownership of the car, it’s their problem. If they do sue you, hopefully you won’t have to spend any real time defending yourself if you can show the judge that they bought it as is.
If you’re not willing to work on the car and you got it for free, someone else is probably not willing to work on it after a payment to you.
I mean maybe they are. But you don’t want to go through the hassle for sale.
I agree with selling it to a junkyard. My boyfriend got like $100 for the rust bucket he inherited from my dad. It was undriveable. Yours being newer means it’s more part-able and you will get some more money for it AND it gets taken away without hassle, and the people making the deal know what paperwork needs to be done.
If you don’t need the few hundred bucks you might get by selling it, donate it to NPR or Habitat for Humanity or another worthwhile charity. They’ll figure out the best way to turn it into dollars. I’ve donated two cars to the local PBS station and my daughter donated hers to NPR. Minimum hassle, and they come haul it away.
One of my old beaters I sold to a local guy for $600. Took off the plates, signed over the title, took the money, and went home. A month later I get a call from the state police, seems that the guy never bothered to get the car re-registered, or insured, just put a couple of old plates on it and then crashed into someone else.
So, if you do sell privately, get the buyer’s information, copy of his drivers license, and make sure you have the sale down in writing. I wound up not needing it, the cops were just checking that it wasn’t stolen, but once the car is out of your hands you don’t want anything coming back to you.
Counties typically have a way to register that you’ve sold the vehicle. It may be called something like a “Vehicle Transfer Notice”. You may be able to do it online. It indicates that the car is no longer yours and can help with situations where the new owner doesn’t register the car.
Someone I know sold one of their work vehicles, which was then stolen from the new owner and used to rob a business in another state. His business’ name was still on the side of it so he ended up having to deal with the police (and maybe a news reporter). When we bought a truck from him, he spray painted over his name before he sold it to us (which was fine, it was just being used as a snow plow).
In Wisconsin, and I’m guessing most other states, it’s strongly recommended (and technically required) that you report the sale to the state. Granted, they want to collect the tax on the sale, but it also helps prove you no longer own the vehicle if something happens with it.
Reminds me of when my dad and I went to dig an old car out of storage. The new owners told us there weren’t any cars here when they bought the place (previous owner stored cars in a barn on the property). Funny how quickly they found it when we told them we were going to report it stolen since, if for no other reason, we can’t have a car with our name on it and no clue where it is. Also, we had already seen the car in the barn as we were walking up to the house, so we knew it was there.
Any tax is the responsibility of the buyer, not seller.
There is zero downside, and massive upside, for you to use your state’s form or website to report the sale, donation, or transfer of a vehicle you no longer own.
Something similar happened to me. Sold a car for cash (IIRC, it was about $2000). I completed the CADMV’s form declaring that I had sold it, and to whom. A few months later, I got a call from a local police department wanting to confirm that I’d sold the car, because the buyer had not re-registered it. Scary plot twist: The buyer was later convicted of murdering his girlfriend in the backseat of the car, while his mother drove!
My current daily driver is a 2002 Prius with over 400k miles on it. When it dies, I’m calling NPR to come get it. We’ve gotten our money’s worth out of that car.
