Getting rid of an extra car

[Al in Ohio]

Quote:

Originally Posted by aja8888 I posted earlier that in Texas, the plates go with the car in a sale. If the buyer wants new ones, he has to request them when transferring the title. Its a law.

Not true.

Texas also requires that the plates be removed and surrendered in a private sale.

Link. http://www.dmv.org/tx-texas/plate-surrender.php

It makes absolutely no sense to leave them on a car that changes ownership. That's like handing the stranger you just sold the car to your drivers license. Would you do that too?

[47]

You can do the title transfer at your local AAA if you are a AAA member.

The difference between a DMV experience and AAA is like night and day. You can sit in a nice couch in a comfortable office and exchange money instead of in a parking lot and finish the transaction right there.

If in California, for older cars you need to have it smogged before they will do the transfer.

[aja8888]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Al in Ohio Not true. Texas also requires that the plates be removed and surrendered in a private sale. Link. How to Surrender a License Plate in TX When Changing Ownership or Moving It makes absolutely no sense to leave them on a car that changes ownership. That's like handing the stranger you just sold the car to your drivers license. Would you do that too?

The DPS has allowed us to keep the seller's plates on the last three used cars we bought without question. The rules you are linking may be relatively new. I'll have to have a closer look at that page. Thanks.

[meierlde]

Quote:

Originally Posted by 47Percent You can do the title transfer at your local AAA if you are a AAA member. The difference between a DMV experience and AAA is like night and day. You can sit in a nice couch in a comfortable office and exchange money instead of in a parking lot and finish the transaction right there. If in California, for older cars you need to have it smogged before they will do the transfer.

Actually for registration in Texas it is done at the county tax assessor collectors office. So the experience very much depends on the size of the county you live in. In a small population county it is very short waits at worst, typically walk in and pay. Now in one of the urban counties it can be a longer wait.
When I bought my last car they put a temp tag on it (good for 60 days) and mailed the plates and receipt when they arrived (since I lived 80 miles from the dealership).
In Tx drivers licenses are issued by the department of public safety (which also contains the state police), while vehicle title transfers and the like are done at the tax assessor collectors office, so there is no unified DMV like in states like Ca and Mi

[Telly]

Quote:

Originally Posted by JakeBrake I guess I'm the only one who donates their old cars. I've donated my last three vehicles to Kidney Kars. Nowadays the IRS says that you can only deduct the actual sale price that the charity receives when they auction the vehicle. The charity is supposed to return a receipt when the vehicle is sold.

We've donated a few cars to a charity that runs a school and counseling for very at-risk HS students. With the change in IRS rules, I just waive any benefit to me, as I really don't want to give my SSN over the phone to someone who works in the charity office.

[Texas Proud]

Quote:

Originally Posted by easysurfer CarMax is an easy place to get rid of a used car. I think you may have answered your own questions in that the price quoted is closes to KBB's value, plus you don't like to wheel and deal.

Another good thing about CarMax is that they took off ALL items that could have identified my sister when she sold to them...

We never thought of taking off the inspection sticker!!!

[NW-Bound]

Quote:

Originally Posted by JakeBrake I guess I'm the only one who donates their old cars...

I gave a car to a needy person I knew (not a relative or friend of mine), and as it was a private donation there was no tax deduction.

[VaCollector]

Another vote for Carmax....I actually had a Mini convertible listed on Craigsliat and (on a whim) decided to go see what Carmax might give me for it...

The Mini had been listed on CL for about a week and I had only had 3 or 4 inquiries with a couple of lowball offers...

Carmax actually offer me $2K MORE than I had it listed for on CL....needless to say, I had to call for a ride home

[harley]

Well, we went ahead and sold it at CarMax. We did a lot of research on the car on Craigslist, and the best offer price we could find was less than $2K above the CarMax offer. Since I know nobody pays the Craigslist offer price, it just didn't seem worth the hassle. The CarMax process was a breeze, and took less than an hour.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Huston55 You noted that you drive your cars until they're ready to be compacted. I didn't know that CarMax purchased older used autos; more than 10-12 yrs. S o, that may be an obstacle.

Actually, this particular car was a 2009. We got ourselves into a 3 car situation when my DW's mother died most of a decade ago. We inherited her car, and DW was too emotional to consider selling it at the time. After 4 or 5 years of listening to me bitch about how uncomfortable and expensive to maintain the car was (Mercedes), she decided to trade it in while it still had value. So we ended up with another 3rd car. But we didn't need it, and it spent a lot of time being loaned to DD as a spare. This time we decided to sell it while it still has value too, and we're going to bank the money until we actually need a new car. Since our other two cars are still pretty new (a 2002 and a 2004), we should be good to go for a half decade or so before it's time to compact (or donate) the next one.

Thanks everyone for their help and advice.

[daylatedollarshort]

I am glad that worked out for you. We have another car to sell and we will give CarMax a try and see what they offer next time.