All good things must come to an end. We can not change fate and when the time for something has passed. Whether It is after a long and great life leaving behind a legacy few can rival, or sooner than we would have wished. All things come apart and die at some point.
Sadly, death encompasses cars as well. You might feel hopeless after a major accident or if suddenly your car just does not turn on one day. But fear not. Your car’s journey is not done yet and it can be used postmortem for a number of things. Like how a dead animal returns to the earth to bring out new life, your car can bring out new money for you but where can you sell a broken car that can’t run.
Should I Fix It Up For A Dealer?
You should not try to fix your car once it is totaled. The price can far exceed the value of your car and it does not make sense when you can recuperate some money to put into another car. Totaled means a total loss, your car is not repairable or ridiculously expensive to repair, it’s a bad idea.
You might want to take a classic route when getting a new car and try trading it in. Chances are your dealership will not accept a car that won’t run. Some dealerships might take the car from you, but they will compensate you much less than if you sold your car another way.
Think about it: a dealership is already busy trying to sell working cars. They don’t have the tools or time to take apart totaled cars to try and make a profit.
If a dealer takes your car, that would be the easiest method if you do not care at all about money. But what if you want to take the most you can from a car that won’t run? You can either sell it privately or take it apart and sell it for parts.
Selling A Car Yourself
When you sell a damaged car privately, for the most part, you get to set the price you think is fair and the buyer will come and, if they are interested, pay you the price you set.
But this is not always easy. You will have to set up where you’re selling your car online and do a ton of the dirty work. Maybe the buyer negotiates with you and wants to see the car. Maybe he wants you to pay for towing costs.
Parting out a car can make serious money, but only if you know what you’re doing. Stripping your car of parts is going to need some tools you might not have, and then you have to find a place to store it all. The process of selling them will be similar to selling the whole car yourself but now you have to make a page for each individual part.
The promise of more money can make these options more appealing, but what if you appreciate the ease and convenience of junking a car? After all, it’s easy and they would pay you more than what your dealer would.
Junkyard Cars
Automotive salvage yards are places where junkyards go to get scrapped up. Junkyards buy our cars and other broken appliances to be stripped and salvaged to be sold to those interested. They would do what you’d do if you stripped your car of its parts, but with far more efficiency. You can get a good quote for your car if you look around, and they could come and tow it for you too.
There are also damaged car auctions that many scrappers go to. You can make a pretty penny here but there is a ton of work to be done. You would have to find out where you’re going to auction it, take pictures and write descriptions of your vehicle, and accept whatever price it sells for. You can make more than your car’s current value at an auction but depending on where you put your reserve price and how many people are interested, you can lose money too.
Finally, you can sell your car online. There are websites that will buy a car that doesn’t run and pay you a fair price. I consider this one of the best ways to sell your car, as it’s fairly easy and you would make a respectable amount from it. They would typically tow your car for free, too.
There are a ton of places you can sell a car that doesn’t run. The money you can make for the most part is proportionate to how much work you put in selling, but there are exceptions. Make the decision that best fits you and say goodbye to that broken car.
