Car questions…how to scrap or offer for sale parts not working?

So got a question regarding how to move on, get rid of or dispose of a car that’s not currently working or easy to fix for us?

My daughter’s Audi A6 estate 2.7 TDI with 160,000 mi on has a blown turbo and actuator. Our local garage has said that it’s going to cost a couple of thousand pounds to repair it + doesn’t consider it to be financially viable given the car. The garage just said that the part is not easily available for the turbo and the actuator given the age of the car , it is a 2005 plate . The car  has pretty much full service history it’s been used mainly for motorway way mileage, 70 miles a day with me and then my daughter but we’re now at the point where we want to move it on I’m not sure how to do this appropriately.

The car is currently running but whining and whistling because the turbo has blown. So what’s the best way of getting something for it is it eBay it for parts not working and be honest with the description or contact a scrap merchant.

All help appreciated in the best way to get something for the car that’s been a great servant to the family.

See what the scrappy offers.

Use that as the starting bid on eBay, someone will be able to fix it and it may be economical for them if they’re doing their own labour. Just give an accurate description and see what happens.

As above.  Have a google for scrap car buyers online, there’s a few big ones like Redcorn, scrapanycar, scrapcarcomparison etc.  I’ve used the first two (based on whoever offered the highest) and both were completely smooth and painless, one was an insurance write off an the other was just a minor faulty part but too much labor to fix.

Then stick it on ebay with that as the starting price. The most you’ll lose is whatever the ebay listing fee is.

Or you could try and break it yourself if you’re looking to make as much money as possible from it and parts are in good order.  A decent set of alloy wheels are frequently worth more than a whole scrap car!  Ditto body panels and interior trim.   It’s mildly more effort to scrap a non-moving car with bits missing though.  I sold the alloys, radio, batteries and a few other bits after listing them on a facebook owners group, then had them scrapped with some old steel wheels and bald tyres.

I sold a 2005 Touran which was 11 years and 160k old with a borked turbo (sounds the same issue as you have) and a clutch starting to slip. Again FSH and running.

I posted on Gumtree and Facebook with an honest description of the faults.

It was bought by a mechanic for his daughter the next night, cash in hand, for three or four times what the scrappy had offered. £1200 iirc.

Gumtree. Free add with a full description of the faults.

I sold a 2012 Ford Ka with very high mileage, it was also a cat N write off and when going round a roundabout would ‘micro cutout’ (it would be find in a straight line).

Put in the price wanted. Someone came along looking for a fixer upper for his daughter….

Have done this once or twice, and use the same methods as above.

Full and honest description of the car with a clear message it is being sold as spares / repairs. Pick a price somewhere between scrap value and market value and see what rolls along. Be sure to put on the ad something like ‘if you can see the listing it is still available’ too…

Be prepared for plenty of stupid lowball offers which make scrap value look appealing but the genuine people will shine though.

Personally I don’t expend any effort on questions which are along the lines of…

“Whats your best price?”

“300?”

“Is this still available”

etc. Low effort questions where the ad has clearly not been read get ignored. You can get a feel for a person and whether they are going to mess you about from how they first contact you.

Cool thanks for all the advice!

I had a similiarly “theoretically fixable but not cost effective” focus to get rid of and put it on ebay with a start price of the weigh-in value + the cost of the fuel in the tank, it ended up selling for damn nearly what I was hoping to sell it for when it was a runner, because ebay is full of maniacs. Doing it through ebay saved a lot of the hassle of facebook etc.

Equally I just could not be arsed with the last one because it was worth so little so I stuck it up on facebook with a fixed low price, said “don’t offer me less, you won’t get it”, dude turned up with a flatbed and dragged it away. Got barely more than the scrappy value but without having to deal with either of the lunatics that run the local scrapyards.

£1800 for an 11 year old Fiat 500 using the eBay method. Started it at a quid though. Got tens of messages asking for a buy it now price because I forgot to state no offers.

Failed clutch that needed something expensive and Fiat specific. 

As per seriousrik, I’ve done this once and the serious buyer will be obvious when they get in touch.

Plenty of chances out there and fairly easy to filter out

Surely offer it to @rustynissanprairie for £500….?

Surely offer it to rustynissanprairie for £500….?

£500 for a broken Audi? You could get a Porsche for that!

I flogged a clapped out Passat on Ebay. The chap who came to collect was disappointed to discover the cat wasn’t genuine VAG, but coughed up anyway.

Try joining a closed facebook group for that particular model of car. There may be other loads of other people who have a use for that car. Or, even better people that are already breaking cars or have a turbo that fits that model in their parts bin. Someone might offer to fix it for you too. I’m by no means an expert but that is a pretty high volume car for a part to be unavailable. Most turbos can be remanufactured. Not all garages consider using remanufactured or second hand parts. Good thing about VAG parts is they all have the part number on their and are easily googled.

Onetime makes a good point, closed Facebook groups are good, much, much lower timewaster count than the general marketplace, smaller market admittedly but a better class of buyer and just less agro.

Surely offer it to @rustynissanprairie for £500….?

Vag 2.7 – needing a turbo(s), erm……no thanks. eBay spares or repair but I don’t think it will do mega money as it’s a big engine out job to change turbos.

If you don’t need the few quid for scrap value then donate it to your local fire service, they will always be in need of scrap cars for training.
Bonus points for possibly saving a life with your good deed!