Should I sell my car, or donate it? Was would make more financial sense?
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Anonymous
| 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? |
Anonymous
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Just a couple bullet holes for 137,000 miles is a perfectly fine ratio for Craigslist in this area. Just give it a sexy title such as "Gangsta-Style Car Available. Only Real Man Apply" |
Anonymous
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If you think you can get $1500 for it, you'd probably need a tax deduction of about $4500 to come out equally financially. (Depending on your federal and state marginal tax rates.)
We donated a car and it was very easy. That was our main incentive--we just didn't want to deal with the hassle of flaky buyers, setting up appointments, answering questions, dealing with payment, etc. With the donation, we just set it up online, and they came and got the car and left all the necessary paperwork in our mailbox. We went through WAMU, but there are a lot of other reputable places that take them. |
Anonymous
| The new IRS rules for car donation make it tricky. The organization has to actually use the car itself in order for you to get the total value of the car. Otherwise you get some minimal resale auction value. Check on line for more info-- due to this situation we sold our truck for about $1000. |
Anonymous
| Thank you so much everyone! Looks like I'll try Craigslist first. Gah, I just hate selling on Craigslis though. I literally had about 30 people stand me up then they were supposed to come buy a dining table I was selling. I eventually just donated it because I got so frustrated. |
Anonymous
| You could also try calling a junkyard and see what they'll give you. |
Anonymous
hehe, funny! Although...it is an Echo...not really a "manly" car. 
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Anonymous
| try carmax. they gave me more for our beat up subaru than I thought. |
Anonymous
| I don't like selling anything online. A few years ago a woman was selling an old SUV. Some guy went to look at it, asked her for a test drive, her husband stayed home with the kids because he was sick with the flu so she went with the guy. They found her dead with a shot to the head the next day lying in the road outside the city limits, SUV parked next to her. Her killer has yet to be arrested. |
Anonymous
| oh gosh, thanks for the horror story. We have sold cars online it is not hard. Only if the person is coming from very far away, I usually say no. |
Anonymous
You know, I suggested Carmax to my DH, but he said he would be surprised if they offered over $1,000 for it. I guess it wouldn't hurt to try. |
Anonymous
| We donated our beatup 2002 toyota mostly because of the liability issues. It had a dead battery but otherwise ran okay, lots of cosmetic issues, brought in $1000 at auction. I wouldn't have felt right selling it for more than a few hundred in case it suddenly stopped working. |
Anonymous
NP here. We've sold two cars through CarMax and I agree with pp, I was surprised at how easy it was and thought they gave us a fair price. (I don't work for them, honest!) |
Anonymous
| We sold to a friend. Put the word out on facebook, etc., you might be surprised. People like buying something they know the history. |
Anonymous
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. |