For $1000 or that neighborhood, you show up with cash in hand and drive off with a bill of sale stating as-is or just keep walking.
I don’t understand the hangup about what someone does with a car after they hand you the money and drive off with it.
If they pay the price you want for it and if they have the ability to flip it for a grand, so what?
If the concern is really about a buyer’s need then do some behind the scenes digging and donate the car for free to some family who is hitting it tough right now and needs a set of wheels.
Speaking of well-maintained, where are you on the timing belt/tensioners/water pump issue? If that issue has never been addressed then it’s been a ticking time bomb for years and is an engine damage incident waiting to happen.
I can tell you why that matters to me. I often give away or sell things way below their worth just to be done with it. I would much rather it go to someone who can really use it, or the money, than someone who is just out to make a buck. So I usually make an attempt to find someone I feel fits that description before I’ll just give/sell it to whoever shows up.
"I don’t understand the hangup about what someone does with a car after they hand you the money"
Twin Turbo’s answer right above this post answers perfectly what I’m feeling.
"Speaking of well-maintained, where are you on the timing belt/tensioners/water pump issue? If that issue has never been addressed then it’s been a ticking time bomb for years and is an engine damage incident waiting to happen."
Regular routine maintenance performed - never missed. Yes: Water Pump and Timing Belt replaced, all belts replaced in last couple years and checked about three weeks ago. I have all the shop service statements since 1991 to prove scheduled maintenance has been done. Other than minor things like oil changes, my car anticipates no major maintenance or purchases for another 60,000 miles.
There is always a risk in buying a used car with 140,000 miles. Who knows: The transmission could die six months from now. So, I will need to sell the car “AS-IS.” Is there a pre-written bill-of-sale that sellers use to state AS-IS & document the transactaion? (like on nolo.com or other legal webite).
You can browse around on-line for examples, plenty to choose from. Here’s what I have always used as an example:
Sold to ____ one 1991 Honda Civic VIN 123456789 with _____ miles for $____
Vehicle is being sold as-is with no warrantees expressed or implied.
Ownership transferred on ____ at ____ am/pm.
Seller ______ Buyer________
I print up 2 copies in advance and fill in the blanks when the deal is done. Buyer and seller each get one.
Thanks!
I have sold at least 8 vehicles over the years. I have never had any real problem. In all cases, these were older vehicles. At your price, I don’t think you will have a problem. In all but one case, I didn’t advertise in the paper. A sign on the car did the job in some cases. In other cases, I sold the car to a neighbor or colleague. The one car that I did advertise was a 1965 Rambler back in 1973. I had priced the car at $295. The first person to look at the car was a young girl who was employed making pizzas. She asked if I would sell the car for $250. I replied that I thought I had priced the car right at $295. The tears started to flow and she said she would have to keep looking. She told me how much she had budgeted for a car and for insurance. I then asked “Would you buy the car today at $250?” Her eyes brightened up and said she would go right to the bank. I sold the car, canceled the ad and still had calls for more than a week.
The worst experience was selling a 10 year old 1993 Oldsmobile 88 to a colleague. The car was immmaculate and I had the service records. He thought I was a used car salesman and kept arguing about the price. I was well below the wholesale price and finally told him to take it or leave it and I wouldn’t discuss it any further. He bought the car and then told people I sold him a lemon when he had to replace the master cylinder. He sold the car a year later for what he paid me for the car.
The last car I sold was my 1978 Oldsmobile to the son of my neighbor who needed transportation. He had returned from military service and needed transportation while he looks for a better job. I gave him a good price and if he resells it to a collector and makes some money, I’ll be very happy.
"The tears started to flow and she said she would have to keep looking."
I’d tell her to go cry to one of her friends to lend her the extra $45. Haha. $295 was a great deal already.
That’s why I’m not going to list my car at $1000 - I’ll get the hagglers and their fabricated stories to bargain the price lower (and they’ll end-up flipping my car to someone else for a profit). My car’s market value is $2500 at least. I’ll list it at around $1600, then let it go for $1,000 to the right buyer.
@Hondaguy70. Actually, I could have given the Rambler away and been money ahead. I replaced the Rambler with a 1971 Ford Maverick Grabber. The Maverick was priced at $2495. When I said that I had a car to trade in an pointed to my Rambler, the salesman said he would trade for $2250. I frowned and the sales manager came over and said “We can’t go lower than $2250 with your trade-in, but we will sell it to you outright for $2000, but you can’t leave your old car on the lot”. I closed the deal and the salesman then looked at my car and said “Price it at $295 and don’t go lower than $250”. Two years later, the girl who bought the car was still driving it. I had a similar thing happen in December of 1995. I found a 1993 Oldsmobile 88 with all the accessories on a lot for $14,995. The price dropped to $14,500 with my 1978 Oldsmobile Cutlass as a trade and became $14,200 straight out. I didn’t sell the 1978 Cutlass until this past October. I could have given it away also and been money ahead.
Dealers really don’t want old cars. If I can sell something that has some service life left that gives someone needed transportation, that is worth a lot to me. However, newer cars that the purchaser has to finance are harder to sell. When we had to sell my wife’s parents’ car, a 1995 Mercury Grand Marquis that was eight years old and in perfect condition, the only response I had to a newspaper advertisement was a dealer wanting me to come trade the car in for a new one. I had a neighbor who had been out of town come over and ask to drive the car. He said that the seats in the Mercury were so much more comfortable for his wife who had back problems than the seats in the 1995 Cadillac that they owned that he bought the Mercury and sold the Cadillac.
Hey, $45 back in '73 was a lotta dough! Minimum wage was something like $1.15/hr. I bought my first car around then, it was 8 years old for $300. It was only 3 years prior they decided dirt should be brown 
@TwinTurbo–even today $45 is a lot of dough to me. However, if I can get $250 as a sure thing right now, cancel my ad and save $10, I think I am ahead rather than wait for the $295 that I may not get. I do agree that $45 was a lot of dough in 1973, It was even more dough when I had my first summer job back in 1957 and was paid 60 cents an hour.
Yes, Triedaq I agree with your approach. I only mentioned the value of $45 because as was suggested, asking friends for the cash wouldn’t have been chump change back then as it is likely to be viewed today. I bought my first motorcycle for $50!
“Minimum wage was something like $1.15/hr.”
I think it was more like $1.60/hr. I paid attention to stuff like that in 1973. I had a summer job in the steel mill near college that summer. I made $4.50/hr plus shift premium for night work. When I place into a higher rated job, I could make up to $6.75/hr plus shift premium. IIRC, I made $7.50/hr when I worked the ore belts on graveyard. Life was good then, and it’s way better now. I’m a lucky guy!
I remember it very well too. The difference is likely that I was making what they call opportunity minimum wage and in a different state than you lived in.
From what I’ve read you’re needing to sell your car in a hurry since you’re leaving the country. You’re worried someone is gonna “flip” the car and make money off it or rice it out.
If you sold your TV and furniture to someone, would you care if they “flipped” them, too?
Your car is 22 years old, why is it so important that you gotta be fussing over what they do with it once they buy the car? You won’t be around for it to matter, anyways.
“why is it so important that you gotta be fussing over what they do with it once they buy the car? You won’t be around for it to matter, anyways.”
I’ve got about five weeks to sell the car. If I want, I could hold-out for a higher price than $1000. If that person wrecks the car the next day, I won’t care (except for his/her safety). But I would mind terribly if I instead saw the car on Craigslist the next day listed for $2000. No one wants to be taken advantage of.
I could make $45 in a day of mowing lawns in 1973. It wasn’t that much money. I could have paid $295 for the car. Of course I was too young to drive. Plus I had my paper routes.
Of course in those days no one could afford feet, so walking to a minimum wage job was very difficult.
Good for you although i think you’re full of something…
“Of course in those days no one could afford feet, so walking to a minimum wage job was very difficult”.
Yes, a defeetist attitude was quite prominent in those days.