I have a neighbor who is moving away. He's been a straight guy and I don't think anything nefarious is going on with this deal, but I need to figure out if it's too much of a pain to be worth it.
His daughter has a 2007ish Jetta wagon (gas) that has been sitting in his driveway for a few years due to a no-start problem electrical in nature from the sound of it. There is a lein on the car, but the company with the lein went poof a few years back and who knows who's holding the papers on it.
I've been offered the car for $500. He and I are trying to get more information on what's left on the lein, etc.
State is Maryland for paperwork considerations.
Question for the hive mind- Worth further pursuit, or run away?
Investigate the lien issue. If you can figure out what's going on with that, and settle it, then, yes buy that rig.
In reply to Apexcarver :
Electrical AND paper work problems. Double run away !!!!
Very little benefit for you.
What can you buy a running "2007ish Jetta wagon (gas)" for ?
are you buying it for yourself or to flip ?
I wonder how hard it will be to find out who owns the lien now , someone probably bought the assets from the finance company .
Walk carefully !
Indy "Nub" Guy said:
In reply to Apexcarver :
Electrical AND paper work problems
And a 14 year old VW that’s been sitting for two years
Triple run away!
Mr. Peabody said:
Indy "Nub" Guy said:
In reply to Apexcarver :
Electrical AND paper work problems
And a 14 year old VW that’s been sitting for two years
Triple run away!
And who knows how much $$$ is left on the loan to bring it current. Could be thousands more than it's actually worth. Run quickly.
I think Maryland was the "run away" key word.
I'm going to go opposite of what people are saying. You could probably make back your $500 in selling the catalytic converter and then scrapping the car.
So if you have the space and a little time, worst case you break even?
What's the end goal? If it's to have a running driving commuter car.....I'd say run away.
If it's for something like a challenge car? Well....I'd probably still run away
Scrap it for extra money? That would be worthwhile imo
jh36
HalfDork
10/23/21 1:58 p.m.
Run in most states. Steal a car and drive like a madman in Maryland. Even an easy transaction makes me nervous here.
Depending on where you live, scrapping a car you don't have a title to can be a big hassle, unless you're going to just sawzall the whole thing to bits after you've parted out the valuable items.
Title issues can lend you in Kafkaesque situations with the DMV (or whatever it's called in your locality) and while it might be worth enduring that for something rare or desirable...
Yeah, unless title stuff gets magically straightforward, I'm out. You can't sell cats here, so not much viability in a bad paperwork scenario.
They have a junkyard offering$350 to scrap it, I'll advise them to take it
Thanks for the sanity check guys.
Apexcarver said:
They have a junkyard offering$350 to scrap it, I'll advise them to take it
I'm surprised a junkyard will take it without a title.
-Rob
JoeTR6
Dork
10/23/21 6:35 p.m.
rob_lewis said:
Apexcarver said:
They have a junkyard offering$350 to scrap it, I'll advise them to take it
I'm surprised a junkyard will take it without a title.
-Rob
Maybe that's how they dispose of dead bodies.
Liens don't just go poof.
It's possible that there has been inattention to the loan but my experience with loans is they get much much worse if you stop paying attention to them.
If no title...completely avoid.
All I can think of is trying to figure out how big a trebuchet we'd need to launch a piano from PA to Maryland.
You can sell the cat online. But a junkyard typically won't take the rest without a title.
Apexcarver said:
In reply to rob_lewis :
Frankly I am too
In PA, it's a $20 process. Take untitled car to DMV, pay $20, get salvage certificate, take it to recycler, get scrap value. I've done it several times.
Saron81
HalfDork
10/26/21 2:00 p.m.
rob_lewis said:
Apexcarver said:
They have a junkyard offering$350 to scrap it, I'll advise them to take it
I'm surprised a junkyard will take it without a title.
-Rob
They won't. They're making that offer assuming he has the title for it.
I'd also pass... but I'd have next to zero interest in a 2007 Jetta anyways. I doubt the hassle is worth it. If it wasn't worth fixing several years ago, it's probably not now either, lol.
