Troll? NO. I have posted a number of times here, and about this car. This is the situation, my dad is 98, he has a car that runs but isn’t great and needs money to go towards his funeral expenses. The front tires need air and I would like to clean the car up a bit. Both dad and older sister believe the car will bring at least $500-600 if not more, I disagree. I would prefer to sell it as is to a junk dealer for whatever they would offer, I got out voted, but since I live next to the car it’s my job to sell it this spring. I asked for some simple advise on what to do to prep the car for sale, I am concerned with it just sitting for over a year with little driving about the gas in the tank, the other fluids and such. It needs some new wiper blades and a good bath and cleaning from just sitting. The title is the original, it’s a one owner car, purchase by my mother and father back in 1996 together, it’s paid off and there is no lien aginst it. Mom passed away in 2008, dad drove the car pretty regulary up until about this time last year. Why would you think I would troll over this?
Again, if the title is not in your name, you can’t sell it.
Why does someone suspect Troll ? Could it be that several people have said that your plan is all risk and no reward . A reasonable person would not drive this thing any where without insurance as you want to do.
I guess I don’t see that big of a risk. As for selling it, why can’t I just sign my dad’s name, or go up to where he is staying with my sister and have him sign it and then I just bring the title back down and sell the car.
brm7675: “Why would you think I would troll over this”? Because you continue to ignore the consensus of scrap the near worthless car (which you actually want to do) and suggest driving it illegally. Please dump this problem on your Sister if she insists on selling it.
Sis lives about 3 hours away, is doing all she can to just take car of our dad, so the car, up keep on his house he is paying for and not living in and his cats fall on me since I live next door. Again I am not wanting to “break” the law but the tire needs air, so I have to get it over to the gas station to put air in the tire. I drive this car around the block once a month, stopping at the gas station isn’t anything bigger. I doubt that I would be the only person in the world driving a car without insurance.
@brm7675, you want to drive a car that might have faulty brakes a short distance. If the brakes do not work for you during the trip, there will be some sort of accident with an unlicensed and uninsured vehicle. If you sideswipe a neighbor’s car because there is a problem with the brakes, steering, or suspension due to age and disuse, you will surely regret the short trip to the gas station. I suggest you borrow or buy an about motive tire pump and maybe test drive the car in front of dad’s house or in the driveway.
@brm7675 The best way to sell this is to clean it up, inflate the tires with a $14 pump from any auto store. If you are selling it as a running vehicle you need to be able to start it. Since there are no plates, a buyer will understand that you are not going to put plates and insurance on it just to sell it. So the buyer will want to know if it starts, runs reasonably well and the transmission works. You can do all that by driving it up and down the driveway. A $600 dollar car is just that, except it has to run to get $600 for it.
No one on this panel will suggest test drives with proper plates and insurance.
The last car I sold, a 1994 Nissan, the buyer did not even ask to drive it; he bought it. for $750. I took the plates off in my driveway, and cancelled the insurance and he picked it up the next day with proper title and in surface. End of story. That’s the proper and safe way of selling a car.
If the car won’t run a mechanic would buy it as a fixer upper. You may get a little less this way.
You are trying to tell us that your dad does not possess earthly belongings worth $600? Don’t let the cost of a funeral make you do something really reckless.
If your dad really wants you to sell the car, sell it safely and add a few hundred dollars out of your own pocket to make up $600. I’m assuming you have a few hundred dollars to spare?
I can’t really believe I’m writing this, but we are trying to prevent you from doing something really foolish.
Car runs just fine, if it had plates and insurance I would use it instead of my car to get back and forth to work, younger sister spent probably over $1500 on engine issues, brakes and such back in 2012-2014 when she had to use the car. The only issue with the car is the rust, and the rust isn’t in key areas. The interior could use a good cleaning and the paint has faded in some areas, but this is a decent drivable car that looks to be about 20 years old.
BillRussell: Different states, different laws. In Mine. A motor vehicle can be sold several times if the title has been signed and dated by the original owner. If the last buyer fails to re-title it within 30 days of the original owner’s signature and date it is a $50 fine. The license plate registration does not have to be transferred until it expires.
VOLVO V70: Thank you. Perhaps not a troll but another OP who asks for advice but already has their solution “written in stone” and will only accept confirmation of that. If they back the near worthless Neon out of the driveway and run over a kid on a tricycle they are SCREWED! The Father advised by Sister will state OP was not authorized to drive the vehicle. OP has stated they only wanted advice on preparing the Neon for sale. My final advice. Have Father sign title. Call salvage yard. Give tow truck driver title. Accept payment. Breath large sigh of relief!
How would anyone know if my dad signed it or me? They could contact him I guess but he would say he signed it.
I have sent emails to two companies here in my area that say they will give me a call and come out and look, however anything under $500 at this point I will have to pass on because I will at least have to give it a shot to get that much so Dad and Sis will be happy.
Does anyone think this thread is going anywhere useful? Time to move on.
What kind of a company is going to pay retail value for an old car?
Forgery is a felony. I rest my case!
I’d just wash and wax the exterior, clean the interior and put it up for sale to the highest bidder. While awaiting sale I’d drive it at least a few miles every day to keep the battery charged and otherwise working best as possible, to increase the odds a potential buyer can take it for a test drive and it actually starts, drives and returns to the original spot without incident. That’d be my guess anyway.
Don’t drive it on the street, people buy sub $1000 cars around here without being able to drive them. Just let them run up and down the driveway. If they won’t buy it, someone will come along that will. People buy cars at auctions all the time without driving them.
Try a crank scrapper for a 420a Eagle Talon/Dodge Neon 2.0L DOHC engine. You never know how that could boost its value!
Try a crank scrapper for a 420a Eagle Talon/Dodge Neon 2.0L DOHC engine. You never know how that could boost its value!
You’ll have to explain how a “crank scrapper” can boost the value of a car.