I have an automatic 02 Dodge neon with 115,000 miles and a bad tranny. According to the code scan it dropped 2nd and 4th gear. Not really into the idea of dropping 1-2Gs into a car thats worth about that much all together. I'd like to just sell it as is. Short of selling it as scrap metal for like 200 bucks, how much is it worth as is? who could I sell it too? Are there chop shops that buy cars and then part them out? How much could I sell the car for pretty much...

 

To someone who needs a car running and can't fix one, it is worth nothing at all. Even if you gave it to them, they would have to drop ~ 2-3K getting it fixed and fixing other things that may go bad quickly and the car is technically just not worth that anymore. If it were wrecked and/or had body damage too, it would considered totalled.

Quite frankly, your options are:

a) selling it to a local junkyard who will most likely not give you more then 1K for it - at best - and this assumes that the rest of the car is in fairly decent shape so that they can sell the parts. Most likely they will lowball you as best they can and try to pay no more then $500. You will have to negotiate with as many junk yards as you can find to get the best price.

b) selling it to a person who knows what is wrong and wants to sink the money into it just to have a relatively cheap car (for a teenager, daily driver, etc.) but will also not likely pay you very much for it either. I certainly wouldn't give you more the 1K for the car, and not many other folks would either as who knows what else the car will need to be "right".

c) to make the most money, you can part it out yourself and sell them using craigslist (free posts) or this forum (also free), or ebay (not free), or your local paper (not free), and the buyer pays shipping. This is time comsuming, aggravating in some cases as you have to take the parts off, pack them, ship them, etc. etc., but can return more value over a longer time. This also assumes you have the skills to work on a car to be able to remove the parts.

d) fix it. If the car is mechanically sound in every other way, you can get a rebuilt tranny (core charge for the old one unless you already have it out and can give it to them on the spot) and put it in with the help of a couple of friends and the job is not that bad believe it or not. The worst part is getting the two drive axles out of the ends so you can pop them out of the tranny to remove it. Get the Haynes manual for the details on how to do it, and a couple of good friends (pay them in beer and pizza - later of course) and drive it.

 

Thanks for the informative reply. I think at the moment I'm looking at option A, and posting it on craigslist hoping for option B.

As far as option A goes, how do I find these junkyards? would a simple google map search of the word "junkyard" suffice, or is junkyard just a slang term for something else?

My mechanic quoted me at around 1k to fix, using a used or refurbed tranny. It does have some body damage, and a lot of miles. I don't really want to put the money into it just to sell it for a net profit equal to that of what I could sell it for now, minus the hasle.

 

Actually I did forget one option. If your local new car dealerships have one of those sales where they will give you a guaranteed minimum trade for any car (push, pull, or tow kind of thing), then you may be able to get more for it then it is worth. Of course, the downside is that you end up paying more for the new car (there is no free lunch).

As for local junkyards, they don't usually call them that anymore. Look in your local yellowpages or online at superpages.com under "Used Auto Parts". Most places are called "something" auto salvage, blah blah blah.
Here is an example link to the superpages.com where I looked up "used auto parts" in Hazel Green, AL

http://yellowpages.superpages.com/li...=35750&x=0&y=0


Now having said all that, has the car been reliable enough so that by sinking another 1K into it, you can get 1K worth of driving out of it? Do you want to avoid having payments and lower insurance costs, or is that important to you? Do you need to depend on the car to the point where if it does conk out again, it is a REAL hardship?

If the car has been a good one and got you everywhere you needed to go up until the tranny blowing, then sinking 1K more into the car and getting a year or two out of it doesn't seem like a bad deal. Save up a car payment each month it works and when you reach a point where you can plunk down a good chunk of change, then perhaps ditch it then - while running - and you should then still be able to get 1-2K for it - even at a dealership.

If the car has been a continuing headache of something always going wrong (minor or othewise) and you have pumped mucho dinero into it over time, then I agree, dump the chump now.

I received a "free" 1995 neon from my friend. It was free to me if I had it towed to my home. He bought it for $200 from a friend of his the year before and when it died, he was not going to put one more penny into it - including getting it towed!

I then put about $1200 in the car getting it to run. The car is probably worth about 1K now as it is so old and has almost 190K on it now. BUT, since the engine is rebuilt and has a new clutch, it is an excellent daily driver that I will run as long as I can to avoid having a car payment or it starts costing me $$$ keeping it running. If I were to sell it, I might be able to get more for it as I could show a potential customer what all was recently done, but in reality, all I could probably get back is what I put into it.

Now I did this because a) my daughter was turning 16 and needed a car, and b) I wanted a project car to work on to replace my 2004 Suzuki Forenza automatic was going to be my daughters "new" car.
The insurance for both cars is low enough that I can afford to do that.

I now have two relatively sound cars that run good, and only cost me maintenance $ not new car payment $$$$. It was a sound decision for me, but is not for everyone.

Your needs and priorities are probably quite different then mine, so do what you feel is right for you.

Good luck and I hope that whatever you decide, it works out!