Anian

The transmission on my car has broken. The estimated repairs are the same as the value of the car. It still runs, but is noisy and might explode at any time. The rest of the car is in great shape.

Can I still trade it in at a dealership for a handful of change? Can I get a scrap dealer to just pick it up? It must have some value in parts alone. I'm not really sure what my options are at this point.

Rete

Do you have a regular mechanic who works on the car? If so, ask him if he would buy it for parts. My daughter did that with her beat up car when the computer needed to be replaced. She received $350 for it.

Pulaski

If all else fails drive it to a scrap yard yourself. Even a small car is going to be worth $350 driven over the weighbridge (10-12¢/lb). Having some one come and haul it away for you will probably only net you about $200. "Pull Apart" or auto breaker might pay you more than $350 if it is a common model and has good body panels, doors, bumpers, etc. and a sound motor. ..... BTW Have you priced getting a transmission from a breaker to put in your car?

Which is likely the minimum scrap value of a small vehicle by weight, and if a mid-sized or large vehicle, SUV, or truck, it was worth more than that be weight alone.

Bob

It'll be between $200-500 as scrap or a parts car depending on the shape of it and if it's a high end car...probably closer to the middle for most.

If it had been before the new year, plenty of places would pick it up for charity and let you fill in the donation value for taxes which might have gotten more money :/

Biggest issue with second hand tranny, it could well be on it's way out too and the biggest chunk of change will be the labour to put it in, well it is down my way at $100-120hr without going to a dealer.

nica924

Can I ask what state your in? It is relevant I promise

Duncan Roberts

I traded in a car that needed about $3k of work on it and got about $1000 trade in value. I forgot everything that needed to be done but it was a lot including brakes, shocks, AC, spark plugs and some other engine work.

Pulaski

The OP? Look two rows beneath his avatar.

Weeze

Hopefully Mr Weeze will be along soon. He got $2000 for his with the hole in the engine.

Anian

Washington State.

It's a Corolla, and I bit my tongue before having $1200 worth of work done on it just a couple of months ago. If I'd had more time to think about it I would have dumped it back then. It has served well though, 190k without much trouble at all until last year.

nica924

In CA they pay you for your car it just has to fail smog and drive under it's own power to a drop off location (towed to a block away then drove in:P I got $1000 for mine
http://www.smogcheck.ca.gov/80_BARRe...p_program.html
kinda makes you wish you lived in Cali right?

Mr Weeze

I had a Mazdaspeed 6 that was worth $8k on a trade in. The repairs were estimated at $6.5k for basically a new engine - there was no collision damage. I chose to buy a new car, but made it clear to the Ford and VW dealers that whoever would work with me on the trade in would help guarantee business. I had offers ranging from $750 to $2,000. I was in something of a position to do this as I was using the trade in to guarantee the dealer (2 x VW, 2 x Ford) a new car sale, the price of which I had negotiated using TrueCar guaranteed pricing via employee discount scheme.

The dealer that bought it (VW) were sending it to auction, so you could see about doing that yourself. The towing fees (which VW also picked up) were about $200.

scrubbedexpat099

Local Radio is always asking for cars.

Nutmegger

My dealership told me to stop driving my truck -- the bottom was Swiss cheese and they thought I was in danger of falling through it. A few weeks later I found a used truck on their lot and asked what my trade in would be. Sat there hoping I might get $500, when they came back and said $5,000. Turned out that as the top looked so good, they never bothered to look underneath -- or to look at their own records which said what a mess the underside was in. Next time my OH went there for his car to be serviced, the owner came by and made some rude crack about how we'd taken him (despite the fact I'd bought the old truck from them in the first place and had always had it serviced there). I chalked it up as one for the good guys for a change!

SpoogleDrummer

There's a few places around here that advertise that they'll give you $5K minimum for any trade even if you have to tow the car in so it's certainly worth holding on to.

AmerLisa

I would say that most dealerships will take it (don't expect any big amount of money) if they think they're going to make a sale. We traded my husband's Versa in (had serious engine problems) and they took it and paid the stupid thing off as well.