What do I do with my old car?

June 7, 2009 6:03 PM

What do I do with my old car?

I finally replaced my 1991 Honda Civic (132,800 miles) with a new car, and now I'm not quite sure what to do with it.

I recieved this car ten years ago from my parents when the insurance company totalled it. At that time, the body had suffered hail damage, the windshield had cracked and there's a dent in the frame on the driver side. Since then, I've been taking it to shops / repairing various non-cosmetic things like the distributor cap, exhaust and whatnot. It's been a good ten years, but I need reliable transportation and repairs are starting to get out of hand.

Recently the engine started acting crappy: hesitation, rough idling, and now it seems that one of the cylinders isn't firing. I can't get the spark plug out of the non-firing cylinder. The engine runs, but without all 4 cylinders firing it's a very bad ride. Pictures under the hood here, here and here.

Because of this, I didn't bother trading it in at the dealership, and it sounded like they wouldn't take it anyways. So now it sits on the street, racking up minor insurance expenses. I'd like to get rid of it.

a) My title doesn't indicate it's a salvage. Is this a red flag, given that the insurance company totaled it?
b) Should I bother taking it to a mechanic for an inspection and get an estimate at repairs?
c) If I junk it, what kind of prices can I expect them to pay?
d) If I junk it and want to transfer the license plate to the new car, do I need to say something, and to who?
e) Is there anything I need to know about merchantability when selling to a friend to repair? A coworker occasionally buys cars to fix and resell, just like he buys broken iPods to fix and resell on a much more expensive scale.

posted by pwnguin to travel & transportation (15 comments total)

My dad donated his old car to the shop department at a local high school. I have to say it was hard watching a dippy cheerleader drive around town with the car I was supposed to get, but it was for a good cause, kids got well-needed experience, the car was salvaged, and Dad got to write it off in his taxes.
posted by litterateur at 6:13 PM on June 7

I had a friend in a similar situation - car needed repairs beyond her ability to afford, she didn't really need the car, so I told her to just get rid of it. At first I said to donate, but she said, "Maybe someone would buy it really cheaply if they could fix it up." I thought that was a good point (and being a car guy myself I could easily see someone doing this. So we put the car on Craigslist with a very low price ($300) and a full accounting of all known problems with it. A guy came the next day and bought it. It was very satisfying for her to go from having this stress-inducing heap of a car to worry about, to having $300 cash in her hands at a time when she was living on a student's budget.

If you're not concerned with getting the absolute maximum amount of money for the car, I would do what my friend did. Put it up for sale on Craigslist, as is, for a very low price, with a full accounting of the car's known issues. I would guess that $500-$800 would be reasonable for a car in that condition. Maybe a little more.

Incidentally, I suspect that investing $100 in all new spark plugs and plug wires, if that hasn't been done recently, would solve the rough idle/hesitation/one cylinder not firing problem. Get some penetrating oil at an auto parts shop, spray a little in the cylinder with the stuck spark plug, and let it set for 1-4 hours. Then apply some elbow grease with a decent ratchet and you ought to be able to free the plug.
posted by autojack at 6:19 PM on June 7

"1991 Honda Civic (132,800 miles)"

This car, even with the backstory, is worth something as a fix it up project. Put it on craigslist (or your local analogue) with the same details as above (IE: Full Disclosure). You'll get something for it and they come and pick it up. Pick a starting point something under what similar cars are going for and aggressively drop the price from week to week.
posted by Mitheral at 6:19 PM on June 7

you can sell it to a high school autoshop as litterateur suggested, or you may want to consider posting it on craigslist
posted by fightoplankton at 6:29 PM on June 7

"Incidentally, I suspect that investing $100 in all new spark plugs and plug wires, if that hasn't been done recently,"
If I could get the spark plug out, that'd be a different story. I can't, and it kinda looks like an oil or head gasket blew. I did replace them back in january, and the wires all have electricity (my brother has tester for this stuff).
posted by pwnguin at 6:44 PM on June 7

Oh, and while donating it to a school is a nice idea, they changed tax laws. If you donate a car to a charity, you can write off what they get for it, not your own estimate.
posted by pwnguin at 6:50 PM on June 7

I had this exact car (though in slightly better condition). It did have some safety issues (seat belt problems, etc..)

I called up the "donate your car" # for a local charity. In 24 hours they had taken the car away and I got a slight tax write up.

I could have sold it for a couple hundred dollars on craigslist for sure, but it didn't seem to be worth hassle (and potential liability / annoyance of dealing with pink slips etc...)

I just had a to fax some info, have the registration ready and the keys. They showed up with a tow truck and poof it was gone.
posted by bottlebrushtree at 6:54 PM on June 7

Is the spark plug stripped or just won't budge? Any mechanic worth his salt has an undersized/customized spark plug socket for stripped plugs, and a couple smacks on the ratchet with a hammer will usually bust 'em free.

Just sayin', since you could probably sell the thing for a *lot* more if it ran on all four cylinders.

And w.r.t. those pictures, the fluid leaks don't look bad at all for a car that age. My 90 CRX is ten times worse...
posted by notsnot at 7:23 PM on June 7

Won't budge. I guess I'll see about getting some penetrating oil tomorrow.
posted by pwnguin at 8:24 PM on June 7

You can call a few of the local auto parts yards in your area. Many of them will purchase the car so that they can part it out. The value of a car is higher when it is parted out. If the engine runs you'll get a bit more for it.

I sold a 95" Mitsubishi Montero Sport with a blown engine to a parts yard for $1000(bought it for $1000 2 years previous). They even sent the tow truck over at no cost.

You could craigslist it or even drive it straight to a metal recycling yard and get the money that way.

Now if money isn't your main priority here then donate it, or give it to a friend.
posted by Gravitus at 8:25 PM on June 7

I would take the car to a shop and get a comprehensive list of what it needs to run, do as much of it as I could myself, and then sell it on Craigslist. An ugly car that runs good is worth much more than an ugly car that runs poorly.
From those pictures, it looks like your valve-cover gasket is leaking. That's cheap and I'm sure you could do it yourself. You only need a 10mm socket, a new valve cover gasket kit and some black RTV sealer. (Just put little dabs at the four pointy corners. You'll see which ones.) Fixing that might fix your misfire, too. I've seen leaky valve covers cause the spark plug wells to flood with oil, causing a poor connection at the spark plug.
Get some PB Blaster spray and a long handled ratchet and that spark plug will come right out.
I bet for less than $100, you could have this car in good running condition, at which point you could sell it for closer to $1000 than the $500 that a "project car" commands.

Best case scenario: You fix the car and make some money.
Worst case scenario: You fail to fix it and wind up giving it away.
Either way, the beast is gone.
posted by Jon-o at 8:56 PM on June 7

Well, I found some PB Blaster in the garage, and was able to remove the old spark plug. Fouled with oil. A bit of rubber came with it; it looks like the rubber at the top of the cylinder is flaking apart. Is this the valve cover?

I replaced it with a new spark plug and it still idles very roughly. My civic manual says 1.1mm / .04 inches. Is this unusual? My gap tool doesn't go that high without combining two sticks.
posted by pwnguin at 6:05 PM on June 8

Used to be everything was gapped at 35 thou but I've driven stuff every where in the specified range of 20 to 65 thousand. Few cars have all that critical of gap settings, a few thou one way or another isn't usually a problem.
posted by Mitheral at 8:58 PM on June 8

Take another look at your spark plug wire. The oil will disintegrate the rubber end of the wire.
posted by Jon-o at 6:43 PM on June 9

I took it to a mechanic and they pretty much replaced what Jon-o said. Runs much better now. The rubber definitely from the gromets and not the spark plug harness, which was fairly new.
posted by pwnguin at 4:49 AM on June 23