How to get the most money for selling your car for parts

I have a Saturn 2003 Saturn Vue that I have recently put a lot of money in (new computer system, tires, battery, alternator, etc) and it has lots of custom features (special chrome additions, DVD player, leather seats etc) but the transmission is about to go and the bad brakes are not allowing it to pass inspection. I called a few places and the most I can get for it is $500.
I am a single mother who needs a car and barely has enough money for groceries so I need enough cash to buy another used vehicle. Anyone have any leads of the best way to get the most money for my car??

How do you know the ‘transmission is about to go’? And what’s wrong with the brakes? Just fixing the brakes enough to pass inspection would let you sell it as a running used car, not a parts car.

I’ll go one step beyond texases and just say that your best bet might be to stick with this car. You won’t get your money back out of it.

The wild card is the transmission. Describe what is going on and who has said what about the transmission on what basis. Is it a “continuously variable transmission” (CVT)?

Years ago I had a transmission that started shifting a bit hard. I brought it both to a transmission shop and a dealer. Both places told me that I needed a new transmission or rebuild. I just kept driving…for about 60,000 miles bump shifting a bit all along the way.

If it turns out that you need to sell it, parting it out will be losing proposition. Your best bet would be to find someone who maybe wrecked a Vue in an accident but has a good engine & transmission. That’s the kind of person who might give you more than $500.

How many miles on it??

Quite a few years ago we owned a ten year old “orphaned” import car. The dealer did not have some parts as he allowed his stock of parts to run down. I found some spare parts from a private party who advertised in the local paper and was parting out a car identical to ours from his garage at home. He was able to remove the parts that I wanted. If you can’t do that, then you must rely on someone else to do that for you, possibly the buyer of parts. Protective insurance for you these days may be something to keep in mind. Keep the operation quiet to avoid trouble with the local zoning people.

Another possibility is to get needed repairs at a discount at a technical school if you have one in your area.

These are just a couple of ideas for you to consider.

What is the cost to repair your car? I agree with others that this might be your cheapest solution.

Any used car you purchase in this price range is very likely to be in not-very-good shape.