Blown Motor, where to turn?

[TakeCover]

Never been in this type of situation before: my wife's 2001 Taurus blew its motor this week and is likely headed to the great parking lot in the sky, as we've basically decided to cut our losses and move on. My question concerns maximizing the value left in a vehicle that no longer runs.

Our (trusted) mechanic's quoted price to replace the motor with a used one was (as expected) above and beyond the value of the car even if running, so that's not really an option. Part of the issue here is that the car does not have a clean title history (came out of South Dakota with a salvage title about 7 years ago), which hurts its value in addition to its age and mileage (just shy of 160,000).

I've been told there's a handful of salvage yards in the area that would be interested, and I'm curious if this would be the best route to go. Otherwise, I am not sure if it would garner any interest on Craigslist in its current state, perhaps a project for someone with the means/know-how to do it, and would that option be worth the potential time/effort? A buddy also suggested looking into donating it for tax write-off purposes. Thanks in advance for any input/advice!



TL;DR Version: Old car kicked the bucket, not sure of best option to get rid of it.

 

[Tre4ISU]

Probably just the salvage yard. It's just not going to bring in much money no matter what you do. There's a ton of them out there and there's no reason to give much for one without a motor.

 

[JSmoove]

With the age, current state, and ubiquity of the car it's destined for the junkyard/crusher or donate it. My good friends parents did that when one of their cars had a thermostat fail closed and the engine overheated. They donated it to Iowa Central's mechanics program I believe

 

[Incyte]

Donate it. Put the keys and the signed title in the car and they'll pick it up and you'll be done with it.

 

[Wesley]

1-800 Got Junk?

No, just a local charity to haul it away and you take a deduction.

Maybe the local high school can oput a motor in.

 

[besserheimerphat]

I recently read that the average scrapped car contains $1.65 in loose change. Vacuum the **** out of it first!

Scenes from a Junkyard Planet: Loose Change Edition | Shanghai Scrap

 

[cyson]

I suspect it's worth several hundred dollars for scrap. Call salvage yard, they will quote you a price and haul it off. Recently parted with an old truck for 300.00 bucks similar circumstances.

 

[CyCloned]

it is not going to be worth a lot. You could get a price to junk it and then advertise it on Craigslist for parts. You might be able to sell it for a little more there or you might get $200 worth of parts sold and then junk the rest. I know that the doors sale at the junk yard for $200, good fenders for $75, so it wouldn't take too many good parts to get to the junk value.

You could also donate it, but you can only claim the fair market value of it on your taxes, which would be around $250 or so. You would have to itemize and would only benefit an amount equal to the FMV time your tax bracket.

 

[besserheimerphat]

So what happened to kill the engine???

 

[theantiAIRBHG]

So what happened to kill the engine???

He said its his wife's car. What other explanation do you need?

 

[BoxsterCy]

So what happened to kill the engine???

When an American motor is killed you cannot rule out terrorism. :unsure: