5 Best Ways to Sell a Damaged Car

Are you the once proud owner of a perfectly fine vehicle? Only now it is damaged slightly or beyond repair?

You may have been involved in a terrifying accident resulting in a totaled car. Or maybe the countless pending repair jobs are finally starting to give way and your duct tape solutions are no longer holding up. 

You have no idea what to do with it. So, it sits in your driveway being an eyesore or otherwise taking up room. How do you get rid of something that's not worth repairing and simply doesn't work anymore? 

We’ll there are a few ways you can get rid of a damaged vehicle. Some are better than others, but you’re not stuck just leaving an old junker or the remains of a wreck sitting around on your property, and you certainly don’t have to give it up for free. 

Let’s look at the 5 best ways to make some money from your damaged car.

1: Still Running: Private Sale

Not every damaged vehicle is a useless pile of junk. If you’ve had some issues with having to perform constant repairs, and you’re tired of it, you may still be able to sell your vehicle privately. Of course, regular maintenance such as changing your oil can prevent this, but eventually wear and tear adds up. 

There are all kinds of things that count as damage, and any of them may be reasons to get rid of a car depending on your standards. The vehicle might slowly leak fluids, have damaged door handles or windows, AC that doesn’t work, or any other number of relatively minor quirks that ruin your experience with it.

It might also have minor forms of damage that need to be repaired to drive it safely. This includes things such as busted headlights and glass features, extensive dents and body damage you need to repair, or minor engine problems that keep it from starting right away. 

While your standards won’t let you drive it, there are plenty of people living paycheck-to-paycheck who are more than happy to take it off your hands because it’s better than nothing. They might even be willing to accept things that exceed general quirks such as needing new tires immediately or replacing some turn signals. 

However, it’s your job to do this ethically. People who are willing to buy a car in such disrepair are looking for a deal out of necessity. Maybe they’re in college, or maybe they’re a single mother of three trying to make ends meet. 

Take your selling price down to reasonable levels to accommodate all the wear and tear issues on the vehicle and be as transparent as possible about what they’re getting. 

2: Not Running: Private Sale

This one might make your head spin around a bit, but yes, you can privately sell a vehicle that doesn’t run. It’s not the easiest thing to do, and you likely won’t get very much for it, but there is a niche audience that enjoys purchasing junk vehicles specifically to fix them up or use them for other projects. 

This audience usually consists of mechanically inclined individuals who either want to fix the vehicle for experience and to sell it or use it personally, and some might even buy it to rip off parts that can be used in other automotive projects with similar vehicles. 

Finding the people willing to purchase this type of vehicle typically requires you to search online forums, list the vehicle on sites such as Craigslist and Facebook Marketplace, or get involved in automotive enthusiast groups in your area. You likely won't sell it with a simple "For Sale" sign on the windshield. 

Again, transparency is key with this method, and you shouldn’t expect to get much. After all, you’re essentially selling them work to do. 

3: Classics Not Running: Selling to Restoration Specialists

Classic cars stand out from the rest. While you typically must accept bottom-dollar for any vehicle that is not running that’s often less than the car’s scrap value, classic cars can net a more desirable price with ease. 

Since there are limited numbers of classic cars on the roads, and the parts used to repair them aren’t common or cheap, restoration specialists always need donor cars to pull parts from. 

Depending on the reasons the vehicle isn’t running, they might even purchase it with a restoration project in mind and then add it to their own collection or sell it at a profit. 

The price you can expect for this fluctuates dramatically based on the car, its condition, and what the dwindling number of buyers in this group are willing to pay. So, in-depth research is necessary. 

4: Selling Parts Individually

This is a hard job, and it requires quite a bit of mechanical skill to maximize your profits with it. However, if your car's parts are in demand, you can dismantle the parts that are in great condition and sell them on their own; leaving you with a metal husk to scrap elsewhere. 

This is usually only a good idea with cars that have rarer or more expensive parts, and it helps if the damage is minimal. For example, it may not be worth it to privately sell a car with a blown engine, but if the rest of the parts are basically new, they can fetch reasonable second-hand prices. 

5: Sell The Vehicle As Is To A Car Removal Service

If all this stuff sounds like a lot of hard work, that’s because it is. Whether you’re constantly trying to market the car, or you’re getting your hands dirty stripping it for parts, the methods listed above take time, energy, and patience to pull off. Fortunately, there’s an easier way. 

You can call your local wrecker as they pay cash for all types of scrap vehicles.

A car removal service will typically pick up your car for free, pay you cash up front, and then recycle the vehicle in their scrapyard. This is environmentally friendly, only requires you to make one phone call, and it takes far less time than trying to sell a busted vehicle in a private sale. 

Get Rid of Your Damaged Car Once and For All

Just because your car is broken down and not worth the hassle to you, doesn’t mean it’s not a great opportunity for someone else. Junkers are constantly being sold on the private market or to car removal services around the globe. 

Don't sit around staring at that eyesore. Get rid of it today with one of the five methods listed above.