EOL-Salvage-Best way to get rid of?

First, a little tribute; My 1992 grey Honda Accord lasted 453,000
miles before it finally died. It took me to work every day for years,
and on 15 trips to visit family in Missouri, one road trip from San
Jose to Washington DC, 2 trips to Death Valley, to The Grand Canyon,
Yosemite, the Giant Redwoods, Mesa Verde, and many other places. I
bought it used in 1997, with 100,000 miles on it. Maybe one reason it
lasted so long is because I drove it "gently," because I was trying to
save gas and money. Isn't that funny, how we get so attached to our
cars?

Then, the head gasket went out, it was still drivable, and 2 months
later, the timing belt broke. The body has a couple of dents and the
interior is worn, so I'm thinking it's reached the end of of it's
usable/reasonable life and is not worth fixing.

I'd like to ask the list 2 questions:

1. What's the best way to get rid of an older car? What can I do with
it to get the most value/money? I can sell it to a salvage yard for
around $125. I'm considering parting it out, but I live in the
suburbs, where the neighbors would probably complain if the car looked
bad for very long. What parts could I part out, fairly easily, not
take too long, not look bad? Power steering and distributor? What
else? I don't see how I could sell or keep the tires, because then how
could I sell it? How would they get it on the flatbed? (I could put on
the spare and keep one tire)

I don't think I'm interested in donating it to a non-profit, they'll
just sell it to a salvage yard, I'm more interested in doing it myself
and getting more value from it, if possible. What would you suggest as
the best way to get rid of a non-working car, to get a little money
from it?

2. What should I have done with DMV paperwork? I live in California.
It's been about 9 months now, sitting in my driveway. I should have
filed non-op, but I wasn't planning to keep it. I didn't renew or do
non-op. Now they sent me a collections letter for $150. Should I sell
it soon to a salvage yard and tell DMV I already sold it as junk? I
can't find any instructions on DMV web site for selling an old car to
salvage yard.

Thank you,
Bill

 

Just call the wreckers and they will take it away for free and take
care of the paperwork. The vehicle is basically worthless. I just went
thru this myself.

 

Agreed, I would feel VERY good about the experiences you have had with
this Honda, and then dump it.

If you do decide to part it out, about the only parts potentially worth
anything are body panels, bumpers, non-wear items like that, and maybe
anything that was replaced very recently.

But really, considering the value of this car even if it had 300,000
less miles and was running, it's time to send it away now that it has
finally given in.

Congrats, BTW!

Pat

 

The problem with that is that you do end up with a really ugly-looking
shell that you'll /still/ need the wreckers to tow away. And by
that point, they're not likely to pay you much becuase all there's
nothing left but scrap metal value in it.

The time you waste, and the possible zoning/neighbor-complaints may
be more than they're worth.

Donating it might just be a better idea:
<http://www.google.com/#hl=en&source=hp&q=california+auto+charitable+doantion&aq=0&aqi=m1&aql=&oq=californai+auto+charitable+doantion&gs_rfai=&fp=e0fa4b5da4f245a4>

If you still don't like that, try advertising it on eBay.
If the car lived in a very dry area, rust will be minimal, which
usually makes such a car quite attractive to North-easterners.

A salvage yard or donation house can help you with the paperwork.
Try calling one.

 

why not? you can replace bent valves easily enough, if they are bent -
not always the case. and you need to take the head off to replace the
gasket anyway. if you do this work yourself, it'll cost you labor, but
parts will probably be less than $200.

or just get a whole new [used jdm] engine for a couple of hundred bucks
more. quicker and easier. and you'll be paying more than that /each
month/ for a new car.