Do you have an old car hanging around the yard that doesn’t run? Or a classic car restoration project that you never quite got around to finishing? Maybe your truck is still at the mechanic’s shop with the engine taken apart, abandoned because it’s too expensive to fix. You’re probably trying to find a way to get some money out of your clunker, aren’t you?
Consumer Reports says that the average car today lasts about eight years or 150,000 miles. Eight years? That’s a relatively short time frame that seems to fly by. Even if you average 15,000 miles per year, that’s only stretching your car’s life expectancy to 10 years! It isn’t any consolation, but there are plenty of people out there who have a junk car or old car to sell that either doesn’t run or doesn’t have a good engine anymore.
What Can I Do With a Broken Down Car with No Engine?
That compartment under the hood needs a functioning engine for your car to do you any good. If your vehicle doesn’t have a functioning engine, what can you do with it?
You have just three choices:
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Fix it up.
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Sell it as is.
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Let it sit and rot away.
If you fix it…
If your car is old, fixing it up isn’t a viable option. Parts may be discontinued or hard to find, especially if you’re working on a vintage vehicle or anything older than about 15 years. What’s more, the cost to repair an engine or put a rebuilt or replacement motor into a clunker is often more expensive than the vehicle is worth when it’s running.
Fixing or replacing the engine is only a cost-effective solution if you have a unique model with a clean title, or if it’s a high-value vehicle and the engine is reasonably priced. Otherwise, you’re chasing good money after bad.
If you sell it as-is…
Selling a car without an engine is a tough proposition. Imagine what a car buyer thinks when they arrive to look at your car. They’ll be able to perform a visual inspection but without an engine in it, there’s no way to take a test drive. For most car buyers, that’s a big problem – there could be transmission or differential problems that aren’t discovered until the engine is fixed.
If you advertise your car without an engine, you’ll seriously limit the number of buyers. Since most car shoppers are looking for a car they can immediately insure and drive away problem-free, it could take weeks or months to get an offer for a non-running junk car.
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If you don’t deal with it…
Since you aren’t going to fix it and you can’t sell it easily, you may just let it sit. Across the United States, you’ll see broken-down cars sitting in driveways in every city and in every state. Odds are, a major problem like an engine breakdown curbed many of these vehicles.
These old cars rarely rise in value. Instead, as they deteriorate further, their price continues to diminish. What’s worse is that they become an eyesore and a safety concern. They’re subject to vandalism and fires, and very few will ever see the road again. At some point, they’ll be hauled away to a junkyard for pennies on the dollar.
You CAN Recycle an Old Car!
Just because you’re not able to easily sell your clunker that doesn’t run to Johnny Q. Public doesn’t mean you can’t turn it into cash. CarBrain is in the business of buying junk cars in any condition, and for a fair price.
Unlike a normal car buyer, We put our networking power to use. In the comprehensive network of junk car buyers, there’s one or more people looking for vehicles just like yours in as-is condition.
To recycle your car through CarBrain, it all starts with a no-haggle, guaranteed offer online. Fill in your vehicle details to have a personalized quote for your car within about 90 seconds. The quote is valid for seven days, so there’s no pressure to make an immediate decision.
Once you’ve decided to accept the offer, you’ll be paid the guaranteed amount in 24 to 48 hours normally. There’s no threat of renegotiation or added costs – it’s all up front and transparent. Then, within about a week, your car will be picked up as it is, and at no charge to you.
