Anyone had a we buy junk car note put on their windshield?

[Leo99]

You typically cannot take the charitbable tax deduction unless your itemizing your expenses anyway. Most people do not anymore with the 2017 increased standard deduction.

Best bet is take it to the wrecker yourself if it moves at all or you have a way to move it, or just sell it on craigslist or whatever.

If you could write off, which most cannot, you multiply the write off by your tax bracket to get your net. It's not like you're getting $500 added to your tax refund.

There is some romantic notion that your junk car will be fixed up for some poor downtrodden soul so they can get themselves to dialysis treatment. That doesn't happen. It gets chopped up for the valuable parts and metals. Maybe some of that money gets donated to the advertised charity.

 

[RBT]

Hi All,

I left for work last night and noticed a note written in permanent marker under my wiper blade that said " I pay top dollar for junk cars. Call so and so". My neon has sat for a while and am not sure if I can get a new transmission rebuild kit installed. I did find a local non-profit that has great reviews that refurbish vehicles for low income single parents / families. I'm curious has anyone ever called and had good results with an "I buy junk car " type of deal? My gripe is alot of those places immediately scrap the vehicle once the converter or other valuable parts get removed. The tires are essentially brand new as I had put replacement Continental tires on it.

No. But if I did, it would cause me to take stock of my life choices at that point.

 

[97prizm]

If you could write off, which most cannot, you multiply the write off by your tax bracket to get your net. It's not like you're getting $500 added to your tax refund.

There is some romantic notion that your junk car will be fixed up for some poor downtrodden soul so they can get themselves to dialysis treatment. That doesn't happen. It gets chopped up for the valuable parts and metals. Maybe some of that money gets donated to the advertised charity.

According to a couple of local charities that I called unless your vehicle was wrapped around a stop sign they really do use solid used vehicles to put back on the road. I'm not talking kars4kids, or whatnot.

 

[97prizm]

I gave a car to the Kidney Foundation thinking it might end up at some single mom’s home. I even cleaned it up inside. I got a envelope from Pick and Pull a week later with the license plates in it. It went straight to the wreckers.

That irks me to no end. America threw out 13 million cars in 2024-2025. Sure some were long past due and completely worn out but not 13 million vehicles. People complain about high used car prices. Put five to eight million used cars back in circulation then the prices will come way down.

 

[Sequoiasoon]

Are you itemizing?


I used Peddle to junk one years ago, there is a thread on here as I was not sure at the time if they were legit. Got a few $100 for it.

I sold 2 to Peddle back in 2021. '07 Sonata, spraying oil, engine vibration but ran. Good shape otherwise $600, cash on spot, they came with flatbed.
4 days later from ease of transaction above - '03 Grand Cherokee, not great shape, not running, $720 also cash in hand, flatbed.

The junkyards buy varied from cents per pound for the scrap about $250 to the one that said they would give $50 if I brought it to them OR they wouldn't charge me if they had to pick it up.

Peddle was much better choice. I had the Sonata and my previous Corolla that I tried to sell on forums first to put the parts to use. Corolla I basically parted out a lot for $$ then ended up scrapping anyway.

 

[97prizm]

I sold 2 to Peddle back in 2021. '07 Sonata, spraying oil, engine vibration but ran. Good shape otherwise $600, cash on spot, they came with flatbed.
4 days later from ease of transaction above - '03 Grand Cherokee, not great shape, not running, $720 also cash in hand, flatbed.

The junkyards buy varied from cents per pound for the scrap about $250 to the one that said they would give $50 if I brought it to them OR they wouldn't charge me if they had to pick it up.

Peddle was much better choice. I had the Sonata and my previous Corolla that I tried to sell on forums first to put the parts to use. Corolla I basically parted out a lot for $$ then ended up scrapping anyway.

When pick n pull yards offer $60 that's just an insult. I had one that told me they wouldn't even buy my car, that they didn't want it weirdly enough.

 

[Donald]

I gave a car to the Kidney Foundation thinking it might end up at some single mom’s home. I even cleaned it up inside. I got a envelope from Pick and Pull a week later with the license plates in it. It went straight to the wreckers.

I donated an old boat to Boat Angels . They put it on eBay and it sold for $87. The propeller was worth $100. Engine and out drive maybe $1000. The winning bidder ended up buying the trailer it was on for $1500 and hauling it from NY to MN.

I took a good tax deduction.

 

[ripcord]

Imma gon do this to to my coworker's new Tesla, lol.

 

[Owen Lucas]

That's a great prank, might as well place one of those 8x10" Insurance Auto Auctions stickers on the windshield on some random junker.

 

[Skeet6]

I have a local that buys for $300 sight unseen, he crushes and drives over them for his social media then junks them. He picked up a crappy Taurus that was beyond repair from me last year.
Mike B

 

[97prizm]

I have a local that buys for $300 sight unseen, he crushes and drives over them for his social media then junks them. He picked up a crappy Taurus that was beyond repair from me last year.
Mike B

Years ago I had contemplated trying to set up a car export business to Africa. Several countries, notably Ghana are starting to get a middle class and are starting to have some disposable income. A handful of our "clunkers" would be really welcomed over 30 plus year old vw micro buses and old Mercedes Benzes. Either Vox or Vice channel was showcasing this with the USA, European, and Australian clothes exports. One guy interviewed is a wholesaler then he sells bundles like a mixed bag. Then market sellers fight over the bags and make about $5 a day US dollars.

 

[97prizm]

That's a great prank, might as well place one of those 8x10" Insurance Auto Auctions stickers on the windshield on some random junker.

When I worked as a lot tech at a Lexus dealership while finishing my final semester of College one of the sales managers came in hung over and had his boat still hooked up to his truck. He was being rude. The lot manager said "one more comment from him and I'm putting his boat for sale on the dealership website. Make offer."

 

[97prizm]

Pick and Pull paid us roughly $350/car for a Nissan Pulsar and a Ford Aerostar that both had been sitting for at least 20 years. And they picked them up. $75 is ridiculous.

It weirdly enough depends on region and wholesale steel spot price. One youtube guy owns a junkyard in the middle of nowhere Kansas. He claims he rarely finds buyers. He crushed a pristine undamaged Mitsubishi 3000gt. Swore nobody wanted it. He may sit on crushed inventory for months until the steel prices go up. Auto Parts city channel is awesome. He really reaches out and finds people that want cars he thinks are junk, who then buy them.

 

[99Saturn]

I sold 2 to Peddle back in 2021. '07 Sonata, spraying oil, engine vibration but ran. Good shape otherwise $600, cash on spot, they came with flatbed.
4 days later from ease of transaction above - '03 Grand Cherokee, not great shape, not running, $720 also cash in hand, flatbed.

The junkyards buy varied from cents per pound for the scrap about $250 to the one that said they would give $50 if I brought it to them OR they wouldn't charge me if they had to pick it up.

Peddle was much better choice. I had the Sonata and my previous Corolla that I tried to sell on forums first to put the parts to use. Corolla I basically parted out a lot for $$ then ended up scrapping anyway.

Same experience, I think I was $300ish, no more than $500 - that was for a Saturn SL2. Maybe around 2020. Then a week later my parents Cavalier for the same price.

Local junkyards wanted nothing to do with it. When the truck showed up, he was from over an hour away. I chatted with him for a couple and was basically like, you drove over an hour for this? He said he was up that way often via Peddle and the price was similar to what I would have gotten direct from their lot + or - a few bucks if the cat was original.

 

[dlundblad]

Around here, the “we buy junk cars” people is just a guy in an office with a computer and a phone. They’ll give the owner a number and find a participating junkyard to pick the car up. If you do go that route, cut out the middle man and deal with a junkyard.

Say you get $200 for a car from whoever picks up the car. They owe $50 or whatever to the we buy junk cars company.

 

[The_Jeff]

I had a go-getter with a sling-style 1-ton tow truck knock on my door to ask me if my 4x4 f150 was for sale. Sure, for $750. He countered $150 so he could scrap it. Yeah no thanks. He was literally driving around burning gas at 9 MPG looking for cars to tow.

The donate-your-car-to-charity things were popular 25 years ago when you could get blue book value off your taxes for something not nearly worth blue book value. IRS tightened their rules since then, and the recent high standard deduction lessens the number of people who can take advantage. They still kind of work, because human brains are weird, and people want to think they got "everything" out of a vehicle, and/or the donation would be useful to a particular person as Leo99 espoused. Plus some people just don't want weirdo buyers checking out or buying their worn-out cars, coming back a month later because the ashtray light burned out and having "you sold me this lemon" arguments ensue.