First, a little tribute; My 1992 grey Honda Accord lasted 453,000 miles before it finally died. It took me to work every day for years, and on 15 trips to visit family in Missouri, one road trip from San Jose to Washington DC, 2 trips to Death Valley, to The Grand Canyon, Yosemite, the Giant Redwoods, Mesa Verde, and many other places. I bought it used in 1997, with 100,000 miles on it. Maybe one reason it lasted so long is because I drove it "gently," because I was trying to save gas and money. Isn't that funny, how we get so attached to our cars?
Then, the head gasket went out, it was still drivable, and 2 months later, the timing belt broke. The body has a couple of dents and the interior is worn, so I'm thinking it's reached the end of of it's usable/reasonable life and is not worth fixing.
I'd like to ask the list 2 questions:
- What's the best way to get rid of an older car? What can I do with it to get the most value/money? I can sell it to a salvage yard for around 5. I'm considering parting it out, but I live in the suburbs, where the neighbors would probably complain if the car looked bad for very long. What parts could I part out, fairly easily, not take too long, not look bad? Power steering and distributor? What else? I don't see how I could sell or keep the tires, because then how could I sell it? How would they get it on the flatbed? (I could put on the spare and keep one tire)
I don't think I'm interested in donating it to a non-profit, they'll just sell it to a salvage yard, I'm more interested in doing it myself and getting more value from it, if possible. What would you suggest as the best way to get rid of a non-working car, to get a little money from it?
- What should I have done with DMV paperwork? I live in California. It's been about 9 months now, sitting in my driveway. I should have filed non-op, but I wasn't planning to keep it. I didn't renew or do non-op. Now they sent me a collections letter for 0. Should I sell it soon to a salvage yard and tell DMV I already sold it as junk? I can't find any instructions on DMV web site for selling an old car to salvage yard.
Thank you, Bill