Hold the Mayo

September 24, 2009

Cash for My Clunker

I am not "car" guy. I don't worship the automobile. It is the most practical way for me to get to where I need to go when I need to get there. It's transportation not a symbol of who and what I am.

My current transportation is a 1994 Toyota Corola. It runs great. Looks half decent, and none of the things that are wrong with it matter at all to me. I bought it off a neighbor for $2,000 last October. I bought it because my previous transportation was no longer the best way to get from here to there and back.

That car was a 1986 Volkswagen. I bought it as a 3 year old used car just off a lease. It was a great reliable car for the 10 years I drove it. It had problems that were getting worse and were not worth fixing. The biggest one was that it really didn't work very well in reverse. If you held the shifter in place and were delicate with the gas and clutch you could get the car to back up on a level surface or maybe up a very slight incline. If you didn't have enough pressure on the shifter or too much pressure on the gas pedal, it would pop out of gear.

It sat in my driveway for months waiting for me to get around to dealing with the lost title so I could donate it in the hopes of getting some meager tax write-off.

Then one day a neighbor called and asked what my plans for the car were as they were interested in it of their high-school aged son. I told them it wasn't worth owning and I was going to junk it. They said they wanted it anyway.

I explained that in addition to not having a functioning reverse gear, the air conditioning didn't work, it leaked oil, the windshield had a large crack, there were some electrical problems with the tail lights due to the fact that they leaked and filled with water every time it rained.

It was also filthy. before is sat for months in the driveway it hadn't been washed or cleaned in any way in years. Occasionally when the level of the kids garbage got too high in the back seat I'd empty it out, but that's about it.

I did everything in my power to convince them that the car was not worth owning, but they persisted. They bought it and paid cash.

Posted by: Stephen Macklin at 09:38 PM | Comments (3) | Add Comment

1 You reminded me of a broken key machine I sold on ebay a few years ago. I took pictures of the rusted piece of junk, explained in plain English that it did not function and that it might be used for parts. I had folks sending me email asking to sell it to them, to cancel the ebay auction. It ended up selling for about half the price of a brand new machine. I never did figure out how or why anyone would pay for a broken machine.

Posted by: T F Stern at September 26, 2009 08:25 AM (Ruh11)

2 I don't get it, how did you sell it without a title?

Posted by: Pete Zaitcev at October 02, 2009 10:52 PM (/ppBw)

3 Pete, I did eventually replace the title, a process I had begun when I was going to donate the car. It involved contacting VW Credit and having them send me a new letter stating that I had paid off the lien. Then I to get a form from the DMV which I had to get notarized. Mailed it in with $25 and waited two weeks for a new title to arrive. Then I sold the car!

Posted by: Stephen Macklin at October 03, 2009 08:38 AM (R7LgM)

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