Has anyone sold an old car in bad shape to Carmax?

[american_mama]

Has anyone sold an old car in poor shape to Carmax and what did they offer for it? I have a 1998 Mercury Sable with 110,000 miles and a rejected inspection sticker (rejected due to rust through the floorboards and a failed stabilizer bar). Carmax offered about $1,000 for it 2 years ago when it could still pass inspection. We haven't driven it in 6 months and the battery can be jumped but won't hold a charge anymore, so addressing that will take some effort and money on my part. I just want to consider if it is worth it vs. just donating the car to a charity, which will pick it up on a flatbed and doesn't care about the condition. Apparently, if I donate it, I'll get a certificate for $500 worth of tax deduction, revised if the car sells for more than that at auction (whcih I don't think it will).

I am not expecting more than a couple hundred dollars for the car, but really don't know if it might be $100, $250 or $500. Or will I be laughed at for trying to sell a car that failed inspection?

[AshleyAnn]

I sold a 1992 with 150,000+ miles on it to Carmax for $750 last year. It's blue book was around $2000. Our salesman told me he's seen people sell them cars for $28 (yes, twenty eight dollars) just to get rid of a clunker so they offer really low offers. They didn't do a mechanical inspection on it, it had some SERIOUS problems that were extremely obvious and yet both were marked as perfect. We don't have inspections anymore so mine didn't fail an inspection but it would have.

[TwinFoxes]

Your car does have to run...will it start up if you turn it off in the Carmax lot? They really will take any car, but it has to run. FWIW, I got my car appraised, and it's in good condition, with very low mileage, but the appraisal was lower than what I would have gotten for trade-in. I know that's not an option for you, just an FYI.

[egoldber]

They really will take any car

Interesting. DH tried to sell them his old car (1997 BMW 528, in very good shape, 100K+ miles) and they did not want it.

[HIU8]

My sister and BIL just sold them their 1994 geo prizm and they got $500 for it. My dad sold them (within the last 4 months) a 1996 saturn 4 door sedan and also got $500 for it (and my dads car was basically falling apart). They were all told that Carmax buys these type of cars and then resells their parts.

[TwinFoxes]

Interesting. DH tried to sell them his old car (1997 BMW 528, in very good shape, 100K+ miles) and they did not want it.

Really? Maybe it depends on the region? I went to Carmax in SoCal. You should have seen some of the clunkers. When I commented on them, the salesman told me they took anything that ran, but they wouldn't sell them, they just junked them. They even had a car that was on the showroom floor that looked like it was totaled, but someone managed to drive it in, so they paid for it, and kept it to show off (or so they claimed! )

ETA: This is from their website: Even though we’ll buy any car, only about half of those we buy will ever be sold at our stores to the public. Each car must pass our rigorous inspection before we’ll consider it for our lot, and cars that don't meet our high-quality standards are sold at major wholesale auctions.

[american_mama]

The ability to drive it in is why I have to address the battery. When it's charged, it has always started but currently, once it's turned off, the car won't re-start. So I could get it there with a jump, but then the car would be dead in the water in Carmax's parking lot.

I guess I'll have DH remove the battery for me and then I'll either get it super-charged at a battery store or replaced. I did this two years ago and the battery store lost my battery, so they gave me a reconditioned one for free. I don't know if that means I should or shouldn't have hope that the current battery (the reconditioned one) can come back to life with an overnight charge. Nor do I know if should go back to the same store that lost the first one! It is in a convenient location.....

[Jen841]

But is it insured for you to drive it there, and could you be a 'moving violation' when going there? Due you have current tags? We know your inspection is not current. I don't want you to be hurt physically, or financially with this. No reason to get a blank mark on your files.

We donated a car, it was easy! They came and towed it away and you knew it was benefiting something (SIDS).

[kdeunc]

Interesting. DH tried to sell them his old car (1997 BMW 528, in very good shape, 100K+ miles) and they did not want it.

This happened to me too. They told me it "wasn't a Carmax Car". Mine didn't even have close to 100K miles on it!

[AnnieW625]

Your car does have to run...will it start up if you turn it off in the Carmax lot? They really will take any car, but it has to run. FWIW, I got my car appraised, and it's in good condition, with very low mileage, but the appraisal was lower than what I would have gotten for trade-in. I know that's not an option for you, just an FYI.

Same thing happened to a friend of mine a couple of years ago. He was trying to sell a BMW 3 coupe and he got way lowballed. He ended up listing it in auto trader and got what he was looking for. I would check with your DMV first and see if you can actually sell a car that hasn't passed inspection. I know in CA you have to get the car smogged again when you sell it and it can't be sold until it passes. It might be better to check out donating it to charity and taking the tax write off on it.