How much cash does it take to repair your junk car? Some people have vehicles that are repairable and some don’t. Do you think your car is good enough to be put back on the road and not junked?
There’s one way to find out. Let’s say you have a 2000 BMW 528i with a bad engine. The first step is to find out what the fair market value is for the car. Fair market value depends on the mileage and condition of the car. A lot of people use Kelly Blue Book.
But Kelley blue book in only a guide, the true value of your car is what people are actually willing to pay you cash for it. I like to see what others are asking for the vehicle with similar miles.
I like to check Autotrader, Ebay and Craigslist. Whatever price I see on those sites I use to gauge the average price for a vehicle. But I know that people don’t get exactly what they ask so I take about 20-25 percent off of that price. Lets say the BMW is worth $3,000. Once you have that price the next step is to find out how much it costs to repair the vehicle. You can call junkyards to get prices for used parts (car-parts.com).
An engine for a 2000 BMW 528i is about $1,000. Next we figure out how much the labor is to swap the engine out. The labor is around $1,000 give or take with some additional needed supplies. So were at an approximate $2,000 repair cost. There’s still $1,000 left over when you subtract the estimated repair cost $2,000 from the market value $3,000. So the question is how much cash is someone willing to give you out of this profit for the price of the junk car.
