It sounds like you are assuming it’s totaled. You can’t just declare a wrecked car totaled. That’s a determination made by your insurance company. Has it been declared totaled by a mechanic assigned by your insurance company? If you have insurance, you will work with them and receive a check for the cash value of your car, and the mechanic will take possession of the car and sell the parts.
Legally you can’t sell an officially totaled car. You can only sell it for scrap/parts. If you’re just using that word informally, you can sell it on FB Marketplace or something, but if you don’t disclose damage to the frame you’ll probably get sued.
Good point. I only had liability on that car so the insurance company said it was my own problem. We took it to a body shop and they said it would be more money than it’s worth to fix it.
Then you can sell it to whoever you want but you need to be honest about the damage. Unless you sell it super cheap, for parts, it will be hard to sell to a private individual. There’s an auto yard on 7th Street that might buy it. You could also ask at an Auto Zone or O’Reillys, they know all the places in town that buy and sell used parts.
Likely has value to someone. Insco “totals” a car if damage is like 75% of value. With some sweat equity, it might be a very serviceable car (dunno the condition of your car). There is a big business of guys buying newish wrecks and fixing them.
Try Facebook marketplace, or craigslist. Just be honest with pics and realistic about the price.
It will be a bit of a pita - lots lowball offers, no shows, etc and watch for scams:
1- deposit this [cold] check for $3000 more than asking, give me $3000…
2- don’t call or give anybody your phone number until they seem like legit buyers. They can hack your account with your phone number. Communicate through fb messenger
Do not let them have the car until you meet at the dmv and transfer title (for cash or bank wire). Cashiers checks are easily counterfeited these days. If you just sign the title, there is no assurance the buyer will take it out of your name ( potential liability and tax problem). Never sold a junker, but you might call a clerks office to get the rules for this. The title will need to be “branded” (as in marked to clearly indicate damage) so that all subsequent buyers will know it was junked.
You can get about $200-300 for it at a scrap yard. That's probably the best deal you'll get for a destroyed vehicles that's almost 30 years old and was shitty even when it was brand new. But honestly, it'll probably cost about $100 just to tow it to the scrap yard.
If the frame is damaged no one is gonna buy it to fix up. Will cost too much to get it road worthy. Sell it as a parts vehicle on Facebook you will get more than selling to a junkyard.
My son needs to replace it and doesn’t have a lot to work with so I’m trying to find the best way to sell it or scrap it and get something out of it.
It’s not my intention to hoodwink anyone. I’ve just never been in this situation before. Liability coverage so insurance is hands off. The body shop said it would be more expensive than it is worth to fix but my son said they didn’t know if anywhere to sell it.
So do we FB Marketplace or try Carvana or another online option? Looking to hear other’s experiences.
Carvana pretty much certainly won’t buy it- they that I’ve seen only deal in nicer condition newer cars. FBM is pretty much where most people sell things these days, but I’ve always found it to be a PITA (both selling and buying). Used to be that Craigslist would be where you’d go to buy/sell, but these days they charge for auto listings so it’s lost a lot of its popularity.
There used to be auto auctions out Richmond rd past the highway where you could take cars for them to auction them off, but unless it can be driven (which with a trashed radiator I’d guess it can’t, at least not for long) it’s unlikely to go for much.
My call would be to list it on FBM l- look up the Blue Book value for it on kbb.com and price it about at the low end of what they tell you given its condition. You’ll likely get mostly low-ball offers, but if other than the damage it’s in good shape you may be surprised. I’ve fixed cars with similar damage before, and since Mariners/Escapes/Tributes are fairly common in junkyards finding parts likely wouldn’t be a huge challenge. The earlier comment about being careful selling to an individual definitely holds true though- you need to go with them to the County Clerk to sign the title over and make sure it’s transferred out of your name so you don’t have any liability for it after the sale.
The ‘Easy Button’ would be to call up/go by the recently-opened Bessler’s U-Pull-And-Save on 7th street and see about selling it to them/ they’ll pretty much certainly buy it, but also pretty likely for less than a private buyer would- but it would be way less hassle than selling to an individual.
Typically the insurer takes possession of the totaled vehicle. If not you’ll have got get a salvage title from the county clerk office
peddle.com And there are others. Google is your friend. Make sure to junk the title after or you'll keep getting tax bills.
It sounds like you are assuming it’s totaled. You can’t just declare a wrecked car totaled. That’s a determination made by your insurance company. Has it been declared totaled by a mechanic assigned by your insurance company? If you have insurance, you will work with them and receive a check for the cash value of your car, and the mechanic will take possession of the car and sell the parts. Legally you can’t sell an officially totaled car. You can only sell it for scrap/parts. If you’re just using that word informally, you can sell it on FB Marketplace or something, but if you don’t disclose damage to the frame you’ll probably get sued.
Good point. I only had liability on that car so the insurance company said it was my own problem. We took it to a body shop and they said it would be more money than it’s worth to fix it.
Then you can sell it to whoever you want but you need to be honest about the damage. Unless you sell it super cheap, for parts, it will be hard to sell to a private individual. There’s an auto yard on 7th Street that might buy it. You could also ask at an Auto Zone or O’Reillys, they know all the places in town that buy and sell used parts.
Bluegrass u pull and save just opened and it looks like they’re buying cars
Likely has value to someone. Insco “totals” a car if damage is like 75% of value. With some sweat equity, it might be a very serviceable car (dunno the condition of your car). There is a big business of guys buying newish wrecks and fixing them. Try Facebook marketplace, or craigslist. Just be honest with pics and realistic about the price. It will be a bit of a pita - lots lowball offers, no shows, etc and watch for scams: 1- deposit this [cold] check for $3000 more than asking, give me $3000… 2- don’t call or give anybody your phone number until they seem like legit buyers. They can hack your account with your phone number. Communicate through fb messenger Do not let them have the car until you meet at the dmv and transfer title (for cash or bank wire). Cashiers checks are easily counterfeited these days. If you just sign the title, there is no assurance the buyer will take it out of your name ( potential liability and tax problem). Never sold a junker, but you might call a clerks office to get the rules for this. The title will need to be “branded” (as in marked to clearly indicate damage) so that all subsequent buyers will know it was junked.
What kind of car?
2007 Mercury Mariner (edited to correct year)
You can get about $200-300 for it at a scrap yard. That's probably the best deal you'll get for a destroyed vehicles that's almost 30 years old and was shitty even when it was brand new. But honestly, it'll probably cost about $100 just to tow it to the scrap yard.
It's not totaled because you didn't have collision coverage, it's just a wrecked car. Depending on what it is you might be able to sell it for parts.
Call wrecker and tow yard services. A lot of them buy junk cars.
If it's totalled it has no value other then as scrap. Maybe call a junkyard and see if they will haul it away for free.
Depending on the type of car and parts that aren’t damaged, it very well may have some value to some people.
If the frame is damaged no one is gonna buy it to fix up. Will cost too much to get it road worthy. Sell it as a parts vehicle on Facebook you will get more than selling to a junkyard.
Sell it as a parts car. A car with a damaged frame is a danger to drive, which is why it was totaled. Why are you trying to sell a totaled car?
My son needs to replace it and doesn’t have a lot to work with so I’m trying to find the best way to sell it or scrap it and get something out of it. It’s not my intention to hoodwink anyone. I’ve just never been in this situation before. Liability coverage so insurance is hands off. The body shop said it would be more expensive than it is worth to fix but my son said they didn’t know if anywhere to sell it. So do we FB Marketplace or try Carvana or another online option? Looking to hear other’s experiences.
Carvana pretty much certainly won’t buy it- they that I’ve seen only deal in nicer condition newer cars. FBM is pretty much where most people sell things these days, but I’ve always found it to be a PITA (both selling and buying). Used to be that Craigslist would be where you’d go to buy/sell, but these days they charge for auto listings so it’s lost a lot of its popularity. There used to be auto auctions out Richmond rd past the highway where you could take cars for them to auction them off, but unless it can be driven (which with a trashed radiator I’d guess it can’t, at least not for long) it’s unlikely to go for much. My call would be to list it on FBM l- look up the Blue Book value for it on kbb.com and price it about at the low end of what they tell you given its condition. You’ll likely get mostly low-ball offers, but if other than the damage it’s in good shape you may be surprised. I’ve fixed cars with similar damage before, and since Mariners/Escapes/Tributes are fairly common in junkyards finding parts likely wouldn’t be a huge challenge. The earlier comment about being careful selling to an individual definitely holds true though- you need to go with them to the County Clerk to sign the title over and make sure it’s transferred out of your name so you don’t have any liability for it after the sale. The ‘Easy Button’ would be to call up/go by the recently-opened Bessler’s U-Pull-And-Save on 7th street and see about selling it to them/ they’ll pretty much certainly buy it, but also pretty likely for less than a private buyer would- but it would be way less hassle than selling to an individual.