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How do you sell a car for parts?

When I bought my new house, the owner told me I could keep the car he used to take care of the property. Well, time got away from me, and I have someone who comes weekly to take care of the property, so the car never really got used. It’s been sitting in my barn for years. I called up a mechanic to take a look and he said it’s not worth repairing, but I could sell it for parts. How can I sell this old car for parts?

avatar
Jack Walsh · Updated on
Reviewed by Shannon Martin, Licensed Insurance Agent.
Selling a car for parts is a nice way to make some money off a vehicle you may have completely scrapped otherwise.
The first thing you should do is have the vehicle assessed for which parts can be sold. Develop a basic understanding of how much the parts are worth by asking your mechanic and looking up the parts online. Once you have a basic understanding of which parts you’d like to sell, you have two main options.
Selling the entire vehicle, or just a few of its parts, to a salvage yard is an easy way to get rid of the car or parts, and they should be able to remove the parts for you. If the salvage yard only wants a few parts, visit a couple to see how much they are each willing to take.
Another option is selling the parts to a private buyer and, while you may be able to get a slightly higher price, you will likely have to remove the parts yourself or trust the buyer to remove them properly. This may be your best option to sell any parts a salvage yard does not want.
Once all the viable parts have been sold, you can sell whatever is left to a scrap metal yard for a much more minimal return.
While researching the car and its parts, you should also consider doing some research into your current vehicle to make sure you have a
basic car maintenance schedule
and the right
car insurance
policy. Consider downloading
Jerry
, an insurance comparison app that shops for low prices with over 50 different insurance companies, like Nationwide and Allstate, for free. The average Jerry driver saves $879 a year on car insurance!
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