Our unnecessary third car is 17 years old and can't pass a smog check (due to the "check engine" light being on) and therefore can't be registered.
In the past, we've donated cars that had little value. In 2005, I donated a car & it was auctioned for about $900 (saving us about $300 in taxes the following April). I expected roughly the same auction price for this car, if not lower.
I looked into car donation & found out that the charity often receives a very small percent of the auction value and sometimes just a very small flat dollar amount per car. So that didn't seem as appealing. But I had some anxiety about dealing with strangers on CL.
Well, I listed the unnecessary car at around 10 this morning. Within 15 minutes, I had a clearly bogus email offering to buy "it" (email never mentioned that "it" is a car) for the "price in the advert". I should send them my info & they will mail me a cashier's check. Right.
Then I got an email from an actual buyer. He came by our house within a couple of hours and by 1:30, he bought the car for $600. Twice as much money as I expected via donation PLUS cash in hand instead of waiting until we do our 2017 taxes.
Woot!
