Sell, donate, or fix?

Maintenance/Repairs
1

I have a 1999 Ford Taurus. It’s been a great family car but recently it’s developed some gremlins. My father-in-law and I rebuilt the engine due to a bad oil pump shaft but there are a few remaining issues:

• Heater doesn’t work. Heater core is good, radiator is fine. I think it is the vacuum actuators for the heater doors.
• Speedometer doesn’t work. Probably the sensor.
• Shifting is off. Could be it needs a service, could be it doesn’t know how fast it is going.
• Creaky steering. We replaced both front struts but it makes this creaking sound.

Bonus problem: it stinks. It sat for a while and developed that moldy, BO smell. Not the good gas, exhaust, vinyl mold smell that old cars have.

Here are my options:

A. Sell it. I’d probably get about $500-1000.
B. Donate it. Nice tax break.
C. Fix it. I usually do all the work myself, but these problems are a little too tedious and involved.

What should I do?

2

Time to say bye bye. Even if you fix the other problems, you’ll be forever suffering from the moldy smell. Them mold spores, they have a half-life of forever.

3

Donate it! You have better things to do than nursing an oldie like that.

4

If you think you will get a great tax break, you are probably mistaken. If you donate to a charity that uses the car, you can determine the value. But almost all donated cars are sold. If that is what happens, the charity will send you a receipt and that is your deduction.

5

Sell it.

6

Donate it. The tax write off feels as good as does helping out any great charity. Double warm and fuzzies.

7

Won’t get much of a write-off for a '99 Toreass

Some gift to charity . . .