Even the notion, let alone the idea of possibly getting rid of a junk for cash doesn’t cross most people’s mind at all, normally when someone who owns a junk car and wants to get rid of it comes around, the first though and in most cases only thought is to give the car to a charity and claim the deduction on their tax return, second thought is too give the car to a teenage who can fix it up (parent’s permission if not yours first), however with the tough economy, making ends meet whether its paying the rent or mortgage, putting food on the table, buying gasoline or diesel for your daily driver or generally just paying the bills off, we all could use the extra money right now, so one of the new trends in the past year or so is getting cash for your junk car.
This is the very subject that had come up last summer in my family household, at that time, we had to make a tough decision of just what to do with our 1995 Nissan Altima. The Altima was a good car, however having it sitting over time with little use and the fact that the car was built in 1995, had 130,000+, the car did need several things fixed on it and after a few estimates came in on how much it would cost to fix the car, some interesting rust underneath and a repair bill that just started at $1500-$2000, not covering damage to the undercarrage with rust and a lack of use, we made the decision to junk the car and save for another used car that has less miles. By the way, if the car is registered and on the road, removing the car will save on insurance, registration fees and cost of ownership fees including inspection sticker, just to name a few.
So if you find yourself in this position and you know that you are going with cash for your junk car at a junkyard like we did, here are a couple of tips and one experience, ours.
First, is the car registered and can you drive it? If your junk car, case in point, our Altima was still registered with clean title, registration and was drivable was a plus, having this option saved us a $50 tow fee and yes if you are going this option, expect a $50 tow fee at least if the car can’t be driven there. If not, your other option is too either have the junk car pick it up with a tow truck or hire a tow truck to deliver it, no AAA isn’t an option at least to my knowledge. However one thing is, if you or someone around you has a pickup truck and you can get a trailer for the car that will save you $50, gas or diesel for the truck not included.
Second, finding a junkyard to either drive the car too or have the car picked up and get cash for the car. Believe it or not, this is where calling around to several local junkyards for pricing using commercials on television, the phone book and some research on the internet will come in handy, it did for us.
Without saying any junkyards by name, we started out by calling one that advertised on television regularly with a commercial. In calling around, that first junkyard offered $100, they didn’t want the make or model, just drive it in and that’s it. If you live in Central Massachusetts, you know exactly what commercial I am talking about and the commercial is really terrible, but caught our eye nonetheless and so does the billboards on highway.
With one offer in, here’s where taking five minutes pays off, second one, now we were up to $200, that works, just different location, third, fourth call, now we are up to $220, now don’t expect this to happen all of the time, it all depends upon the year, make, model and miles, however after a couple of calls, I thought of a place nearby and checked it out online, bingo, called, $250 offer, if we drive the car to the junkyard with all of the paperwork or have it privately towed or $200 if they have to pick it up.
Remember at this point, distance is a factor because you not only have to drive or privately tow the vehicle, but have another car follow you to bring you back, that’s double the gas, sure we could have gotten $300 or maybe more at a further out location that was up to a hour out, but it might have cost us a half of tank of gas to get up for the following vehicle, in our case, an SUV.
Third, once you have chosen the junkyard, drive, tow or pull the vehicle in with title and registration in hand, ask for some help taking the plates off, get your check and that’s it.
However one little side story here, while my father was taking the plate off and filling out the paperwork, (I am not afraid to talk to people or ask questions) I was talking to a guy in the yard that was buying bumpers, frontends and even more parts, he asks me about the vehicle and how much I was getting for the vehicle, then he shocked me by saying “bring the car down the street and I will give you $350”, damn, two minutes too late and that was it, oh well.
That’s basically it, however would I recommend it? Depends upon the quality of the car, our Altima should have brought more money for sure, a quick check on craigslist or even better, an ad on craigslist detailing the problems with the car and having them pick it up might have saved a little bit of time and resulted in $500-$1000, again just a guess (time is money though), but this way took a weekday morning of cleaning out the car, a family member or friend to follow you up, someone needs to bring you to the bank and back home again, it works, personally charity would have been better hands-down.
Just remember, don’t settle with just one phone call, the first junkyard was $100, by the fifth junkyard, it was $250, that’s $150 more, just for taking five minutes and calling around, again results vary, good luck everybody.
