I have finally paid off my 2001 Corolla. It has major problems, admittedly because I didn’t maintain it well, put lots of miles on it, etc. It has 130,000 miles, has a bad oil leak (2 quarts a month!), has low compression on 2 cylinders. The horn is broken. I understand it would need a new engine. Sooo, if it was perfect I could sell it for $4500, but it might cost $3000 to fix it? Should I just donate this car?
This could be a good car for a mechanic to buy, repair and resell. You can donate it, sell it, or trade it in. If the body and paint are decent it could be fixed and sold at a profit. You won’t get a lot for it no matter which way you go.
Trading it in will get you a few dollars towards a new car. The dealer will send this one to auction and someone with buy it there, fix it, detail it, and it could be a good car for someone else. If you donate it, then it will end up at an auction also. Donating it will give you no cash to put towards another car.
We are shopping for used cars rather than new and, this seems like a truly stupid question, but nobody does trade-ins for used cars, right?
The body of the car and paint are in excellent condition. Maybe I’ll try to get an uncle to fix it, and he can give any profit toward my cousins’ college educations or something.
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This is the route I would go. The Corolla is a nice little car, I would hate to scrap it without at least giving it for someone else to work on in their spare time.
-Techniker