Guide
How to sell a car that does not run
A car that will not start is worth less than one that will, and far more than nothing. The mistake almost everybody makes is deciding it is worthless before finding out what is actually wrong with it.
Find out what is wrong
An unknown fault is priced as the worst one
Check you have the title
No title removes the two best buyers
Get a salvage quote
Free, and it is your floor
Then decide who to sell to
Repairer, parts buyer, or salvage
Start here
Find out what is wrong before you sell it.
An unknown fault tends to be priced as the most expensive thing it could be, by professional buyers as much as by anybody else.
Put yourself on the other side. Somebody is offered a car that does not start, and the owner does not know why. It could be a battery, a starter, a fuel pump, or an engine that has destroyed itself. The buyer has to assume the worst that is consistent with what they can see, because they are the one carrying the risk, and their offer reflects that assumption rather than the truth.
A diagnosis turns that into a number. A mobile mechanic or a shop can usually tell you what is wrong for a fraction of what the uncertainty is costing you, and on a car worth anything at all it pays for itself several times over. It also tells you whether you are in the situation below, which is the one case where repairing it first is clearly right.
And if the fault is cheap, fix it. A car that starts and drives can be sold to anybody. A car that does not can be sold to three kinds of people, all of whom know they are the only options.
Who buys these
Three kinds of buyer, and what each wants.
Knowing which one you are talking to changes what you photograph, what you write, and what a fair price looks like.
Somebody who will fix it
- Pays
- The most
A person who wants that car, can do the work or knows what it costs, and is buying a project rather than a problem. They pay the most because they capture the difference between a broken car and a working one. They are also the slowest to find, and they ask the most questions, which is why a diagnosis is worth having.
Somebody who wants the parts
- Pays
- In between
A car with a dead engine and good everything else is worth real money to somebody restoring the same model, and popular or enthusiast cars have an active market for exactly this. They care about what is intact rather than what is broken, so photograph the interior, the panels and the wheels as carefully as anybody selling a running car.
A salvage or scrap buyer
- Pays
- The least, and instantly
They quote by weight, by model and by what they can recover, usually collect the car themselves, and pay on the spot. It is the fastest and most certain route and it is often the right one on an old or common car. Get more than one quote, because they differ more than people expect.
Get a quote from a salvage buyer even if you intend to sell to somebody else. It costs nothing, it takes a phone call, and it gives you a floor: the amount you can have today, with the car collected, for no work at all. Every week you spend looking for a better buyer is being spent to beat that number.
Before you list
Three things to settle before you list it.
On a running car these are administrative. Here the first one decides whether there is a sale at all.
The title, first and not last
In your name and in your hands. A car that cannot be legally transferred cannot be sold to anybody who intends to register it, and that removes the two buyers who pay the most. If it is lost, order a duplicate before you advertise. If your state has a process for scrapping without one, it is a specific process with conditions, and your own motor vehicle agency is the only place to confirm it.
Where the car is and how it leaves
A non runner has to be towed or trailered. Decide who arranges it and who pays before anybody asks, and say so in the listing. If the car is on a street, in a garage with a low door, or behind two other cars, say that too: a recovery truck that cannot reach it turns into a wasted trip and a cancelled sale.
What you will and will not do
You are not obliged to jump start it for viewings, store it, or hold it while somebody arranges money. Decide in advance, because these are the requests that arrive and each one is easier to refuse before it has been asked.
Duplicate titles, and whether a car can be scrapped or sold without one, are decided where your title was issued and the rules differ by state. USA.gov lists the motor vehicle agency for every state, and that page is the one to read before you advertise rather than after.
The listing
Describing it as exactly what it is.
Accuracy matters more here than anywhere else on this site, because this is the sale where a surprise costs both sides the most.
Say plainly that it does not run, in the first line, and say what happens when you try to start it. Turns over and will not fire. Nothing at all. Starts and dies. Ran when parked two years ago. Each of those means something different to a person who knows cars, and the difference is money.
Then say what is known and what is not. If you had it diagnosed, name the fault. If you did not, say that you do not know rather than offering a theory, because a theory that turns out wrong reads afterwards as a lie. Mileage, title status, how long it has been standing, and whether it has been outside all matter here far more than on a running car.
Photograph it properly anyway. The instinct is that a broken car does not deserve the effort, and it is backwards: the parts buyer is buying the things that are still good, so the intact panels, the clean interior and the decent tires are the product. The same approach applies as on any other car, and it is in how to photograph a car with a phone.
The handover
Meeting and payment, without a test drive.
Everything about the money still applies. What changes is that the buyer cannot check the one thing they would normally check.
Payment before it leaves
Settled funds before the car goes on the truck, exactly as with any other sale. A towed car is harder to recover than a driven one, and the buyer is often a business that will pay on the spot without being asked twice.
A bill of sale saying as is
Write one even if your state does not require it, and record the condition in it. An accurate written description, agreed by both sides at the time, is the record of what the buyer was told. It is the document you would want to have if the sale is ever questioned.
The odometer, still
Mileage disclosure applies to a car that does not run, with the same narrow exemptions as any other vehicle. Photograph the reading, or note that it cannot be read and why.
Plates, insurance and the notice
The same steps as a normal sale, and they matter more here, because a car that leaves on a truck and sits somewhere for months is exactly the one you do not want still registered to you. The detail is in how to sell a car privately.
Read next
The parts that still apply.
Much of an ordinary private sale is the same here, and two pieces of it matter more.
The whole process, in order: how to sell a car privately.
What it costs to list a car for sale
What the main places actually charge a private seller, read off their own pages and dated, and why the headline listing fee is rarely the number that matters.
How to price a used car for a private sale
How to arrive at an asking price you can defend: three sources, an honest condition grade, the room to negotiate, and when a silent listing means the number is wrong.
How to photograph a car for sale with a phone
The ten photographs a listing needs, where to stand, what light to wait for, and why the picture of the damage is the one that sells the car.
Frequently asked questions
Can you sell a car that does not run?
Yes, and there are three separate kinds of buyer for one: somebody who will repair it, somebody who wants it for parts, and a salvage buyer who will take it as it is. What differs is how much each pays and how long it takes to find them.
How much is a car worth if it does not run?
It depends almost entirely on what is wrong with it and how desirable the car is, which is why the first step is finding out rather than guessing. A cheap fault on a wanted car is worth a lot less than the car is, but far more than scrap. A dead engine on a common old car is close to scrap value.
Should I fix it before selling it?
Usually not, and the exception matters: if the fault is cheap and it is the only thing stopping the car from being driven, fixing it moves the car from the small group who buy non runners into the ordinary market, and those are very different prices. Anything expensive should be diagnosed, disclosed and priced in.
Do I still need a title to sell a car that does not run?
In almost every case yes, and it is the first thing to confirm rather than the last. Some states have a limited process for scrapping a vehicle without one, and some have none at all, so the answer comes from your own motor vehicle agency. Advertising a car you cannot legally transfer wastes everybody's time.
Who pays for towing?
Agree it before anybody arrives, and put it in writing in the listing. Salvage buyers usually collect at no cost and factor it into the quote. A private buyer will expect to arrange it themselves, and a buyer who expects you to deliver a car that does not run is asking for something worth real money.
Somewhere to put what is known and what is not.
What it does when you turn the key, what is known, what is not, and photographs of what is still good. 10 days free.