Should I sell my car, or donate it? Was would make more financial sense?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have a 2001 Toyota with 137,000 miles on it. It's totally reliable and runs great. In fact, it's never been in the shop for anything other than maintenance or body work. It has a lot of cosmetic problems. Dents, dings, a bumber that is held on with that adhesive foam stuff, and....a couple bullet holes (they are filled with bondo, so they don't leak or anything). My husband wants to put it on Craigslist and try to get $1,500 for it. Has anyone donated a car? I don't really know how donating a car works. Would it be a better financial decision to donate the car for the tax deduction?

Assuming you could claim a $1,500 deduction, the actual tax savings to you would be about $375.

You itemizing deductions, right? If not, it's worth nothing to you for tax purposes.

Thanks...that sucks, only $375? We do itemize, but looks like selling is definitely the route to go.

[Anonymous]

Spend an hour at Carmax and get their offer, which is good for several days, so that you have a baseline -- you know that Carmax will give you $X so you list it on Craigslist for $Xplus -- if no one bites, or it turns into a hassle, you can say the heck with it and go back to Carmax and you're done.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Spend an hour at Carmax and get their offer, which is good for several days, so that you have a baseline -- you know that Carmax will give you $X so you list it on Craigslist for $Xplus -- if no one bites, or it turns into a hassle, you can say the heck with it and go back to Carmax and you're done.

I think this is exactly what I'll do! I really love the car, and I really want it to go to a good home, lol! I think I will actually cry when I let go of it.

[Anonymous]

When my husband got rid of his car, he got a quote from CarMax, then contacted a company called (I think) WeBuyCars.com. They guaranteed they would beat CarMax's quote. They gave him $100 more than CarMax offered, and he had a check in hand that day. Very easy. Even if you get a few hundred less than you would on CraigsList, it might be worth your time and aggravation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:When my husband got rid of his car, he got a quote from CarMax, then contacted a company called (I think) WeBuyCars.com. They guaranteed they would beat CarMax's quote. They gave him $100 more than CarMax offered, and he had a check in hand that day. Very easy. Even if you get a few hundred less than you would on CraigsList, it might be worth your time and aggravation.

yes, dealing with Craigslist buyers is not fun

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have a 2001 Toyota with 137,000 miles on it. It's totally reliable and runs great. In fact, it's never been in the shop for anything other than maintenance or body work. It has a lot of cosmetic problems. Dents, dings, a bumber that is held on with that adhesive foam stuff, and....a couple bullet holes (they are filled with bondo, so they don't leak or anything). My husband wants to put it on Craigslist and try to get $1,500 for it. Has anyone donated a car? I don't really know how donating a car works. Would it be a better financial decision to donate the car for the tax deduction?

Assuming you could claim a $1,500 deduction, the actual tax savings to you would be about $375.

You itemizing deductions, right? If not, it's worth nothing to you for tax purposes.

Thanks...that sucks, only $375? We do itemize, but looks like selling is definitely the route to go.

I made the assumption you are in the 25% tax bracket (and forgot about the state deduction).

If you're lower income and 15% bracket, the tax savings would total around $225.

[Anonymous]

I just sold a 97 Honda Civic on craigslist with no pictures. It had a lot of dents, but had very low mileage and was in good working order. I wanted to donate it, but my husband thought it would be better to sell it. We advertised it for $2000. I had at least 20 people with an hour wanting to look at the car. Three people came over. The first lowballed (1000), the second made an offer after we sold it (1700), and the third made an offer on the spot (1800).

[Anonymous]

carmax always offers $100 more than KBB value, and it is super easy. They sell the parts and make more than the car is worth total.

i sold a 14 year old car to them with 187k miles on it for $400. They made way more than that on the parts.

[Anonymous]

If you really want to know it's going to a good home, then look into donating it to vehicles for change.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have a 2001 Toyota with 137,000 miles on it. It's totally reliable and runs great. In fact, it's never been in the shop for anything other than maintenance or body work. It has a lot of cosmetic problems. Dents, dings, a bumber that is held on with that adhesive foam stuff, and....a couple bullet holes (they are filled with bondo, so they don't leak or anything). My husband wants to put it on Craigslist and try to get $1,500 for it. Has anyone donated a car? I don't really know how donating a car works. Would it be a better financial decision to donate the car for the tax deduction?

Assuming you could claim a $1,500 deduction, the actual tax savings to you would be about $375.

You itemizing deductions, right? If not, it's worth nothing to you for tax purposes.

Thanks...that sucks, only $375? We do itemize, but looks like selling is definitely the route to go.

I made the assumption you are in the 25% tax bracket (and forgot about the state deduction).

If you're lower income and 15% bracket, the tax savings would total around $225.

Yeah, the key point is that regardless of your tax rate, the monetary value of donation will always be less than the value of selling it, because the tax deduction is a percentage of the fair market value. Unless you're cheating the IRS, the fair market value is the same amount you would sell the car for. So the donation is always less.

There are some other reasons to donate, like not dealing with the hassle, not risking an angry buyer, and, you know, being charitable. But selling it saves you more money.

(You could imagine some extreme cases where the analysis might differ, like if the car was worth almost nothing and you needed to pay a seller's fee, or if you're at the AMT threshold or something, but these are exceptionally unlikely)

[Anonymous]

How on earth did it get bullet holes in it?

[Anonymous]

Try carmax. We got $1000 for a Camry that was 15 years old, over 250K miles and lots of cosmetic problems. Sounds like overall yours might be in better shape so i bet you can get more. Best part was no hassle!

[Anonymous]

OP here, picked up my new car. Just for the heck of it, brought my old Echo in to see what they would give me in trade. They only offered $500.00. Given that, do you think it's even worth it to try Carmax? I mean, they probably wouldn't offer much more than that, do you think?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How on earth did it get bullet holes in it?

My poor Echo was an innocent bystander in a shooting in front of my house. Perps were never caught.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How on earth did it get bullet holes in it?

My poor Echo was an innocent bystander in a shooting in front of my house. Perps were never caught.

lol, that's DC for you!