Reader Tip: Junk My Car

Thanks to Dodi for sharing this great tip for disposing of an old car and making a few bucks in the process.

I just “junked” one of my old cars. It was a 97 Le Sabre (Buick). I tried to do it completely locally, but wound up using junkmycar.com.

I was extremely skeptical about this service, which I found through Google, but it ended up being wonderful. They came and hauled the car away and paid me $260. (Had I not been afraid to drive it on a highway, a local junk yard would’ve given me $300.) This car was so banged up, with chippy paint, etc–I’m very happy to have worked this out.

Have you ever used a “junk” service – whether for a car? Or to declutter your home? What were your experiences?

Comments

  1. My $0.02 is that the best bang for your buck on getting rid of an old clunker is to donate it to a non-profit. Most of them use services that haul it away for free and donate part of the value to the non-prof. Everyone wins. You will get a book value tax deduction on it and the organization will make a little something as well.

    • When I tried to donate my car to local non-profits (that I approve of), I couldn’t find a taker. That’s why I turned to a service. I think donating it to a charity is a great option if you can work it out.

  2. I believe the rules changed and you can only get max $500 tax deduction. It might be more worth it to get the cash.

  3. I’m really not trying to monopolize the comment section here! 🙂 I just read in a remodeling blog about a service called Bagster. You buy a big open-topped bag (in the mail or at Home Depot) and fill it with construction trash. Set it in front of your house, call the company and they pick it up. I used 1-800-junk to haul out a huge chest freezer from my basement. It was really nasty (the interior was moldy) and huge. Two lovely men came on a very hot day and hauled it up our narrow basement stairs. They were cheerful and polite! I can’t remember what they charged (it was 2 years ago), but I remember thinking it was quite reasonable. I would definitely use them again.

  4. We just got rid of our 22 year old car. A 1990 Honda Accord. It finally kicked the bucket and became more to fix than it was worth. No donation wanted it. It was totally dead and needed to be towed etc. But we actually were able to sell it on Craigs List for a surprising $500. Someone who knew a lot about fixing cars bought it figuring he could buy the parts cheap and fix it himself. He got a bargin and we got about $300 more than a junk heap would have given us for it. Plus, it was sold and gone in about 48 hours. It truly was a win win situation.

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