Car: fix it or get new-used?

[AlanStache]

My nearly 15 year old Toyota Corolla broke down yesterday (Saturday of labor day weekend) while leaving Lowes.  It would not shift into drive or park, reverse and neutral seemed fine; so the problem could be a small bit of plastic in the shiftier or the transition.  Right now (monday morning) it is still in the lowes parking lot; the dealer is two miles away and I booked a diagnostic appointment tuesday afternoon.  Getting it to the dealer will require a tow.  So I figure best case this will cost 300$-500$ to fix.

There is nothing else 'wrong' with the car other than the age and it being a p.o.s. to start with.  It has ~160k miles. 

I am half of a mind to donate it to NPR from the lowes parking lot and get a new used car.  I will itemize my deductions this year.  I would likely get something 2-3 years old and under 15k$ and probably pay cash or pay off the loan immediately.  I am single and live in an area that makes it highly inconvenient to not have a car. 

Is the deductible value for the donation affected by it not working?  In working order the car is worth about 1500$ on KBB.com. 

I talked to lowes after it broke and they said there is no problem with the car being there for even a week as long as it was not obviously falling apart and abandoned.  I took lyft home from lowes; 9$ with tip.  I nearly bought a load of lumber too but decided to procrastinate on that and just got paint. 

Thoughts?  Options?  Thanks.

[Dicey]

See what you can find on the used car market. That might help you make your decision.

[AlanStache]

See what you can find on the used car market. That might help you make your decision.

Looked some last night, there seems to be an ok supply of generic 4 door cars in my price range.  But the stereos dont have tape players :-(

[orcateeth]

It might be an easy fix. See this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fayeJXj2njA

It's always a good idea to check on YouTube when things break. So much good info there.

I'm driving  2000 Toyota Avalon with 208k miles, so I'm definitely of the repair it and keep rollin' mentality.

[MilesTeg]

It might be an easy fix. See this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fayeJXj2njA

It's always a good idea to check on YouTube when things break. So much good info there.

I'm driving  2000 Toyota Avalon with 208k miles, so I'm definitely of the repair it and keep rollin' mentality.

It's doubtful the shift lock is the issue; its purpose is to prevent the selector from being moved at all. It's also doubtful that it's an issue with the shifter.

That you can select reverse, you're probably looking at a burnt out clutch that will require a rebuild or replacement of the transmission, but you could get lucky and it might be something cheap and easy.

If the transmission is done, the cost of repair likely exceeds the value of the vehicle.

Personally, I would not put money into a repair like that unless it was my only financial option. IMO it's putting good money after bad. You're better off taking that sum and buying an equivalent, running vehicle and selling or donating the broken vehicle.

 I'm sure you'll get plenty of recommendations here to do it anyway.

[AlanStache]

youtube solved it (was not the lock shift).  Under the shifter cover the thingy slipped off the do-dad and the bar thing that goes down into the guts of the car was not moving with the hand lever.  pop the cover, put hoop thing back on the post and add new e-clip and it works fine.  Not sure I used the right size eclip but it is on there tight.  Will leave extra clips and pliers in the car in case this fails again. 

I had looked before quickly on youtube but did not see good results, today was the charm. 

No new car today, including lyft rides and new pliers this cost under 50$.

[orcateeth]

I'm glad that it worked out!
(You know what? Now that I think of it, I had the same problem years ago.)

Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk

[MilesTeg]

youtube solved it (was not the lock shift).  Under the shifter cover the thingy slipped off the do-dad and the bar thing that goes down into the guts of the car was not moving with the hand lever.  pop the cover, put hoop thing back on the post and add new e-clip and it works fine.  Not sure I used the right size eclip but it is on there tight.  Will leave extra clips and pliers in the car in case this fails again. 

I had looked before quickly on youtube but did not see good results, today was the charm. 

No new car today, including lyft rides and new pliers this cost under 50$.

Huzzah!

[Car Jack]

Way better than you would have done donating.  With the somewhat newer laws, you get only the donation value of what the charity does with it.  They all send it to junk yards and get around $200 for it, so if you're in the 22% tax bracket, you could take $44 in tax reduction.  Woo Hoo.