How to get a car for just 3 months?

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May 13, 2009
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honda civic, buy it. drive it. sell it. won't lose a penny if you buy right...
This pretty much. I had a Honda fit I bought brand new and drove it for a year and traded it in at break even. I got lucky as I got it super cheap though.
 

DrPizza

Administrator Elite Member Goat Whisperer
Mar 5, 2001
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www.slatebrookfarm.com
I would buy one and sell for sure. I bought a non running beater for $100 put $50 in it drove it for 2 years. The motor would always randomly tick. I'd just red line it in 1st gear for a mintue and it'd go away for awhile. Sold it to my buddy for $500 he drove it for a year sold it to his brother for $500 whos been driving it for a year. Neither put any money in it. My buddy says his brothers out of his mind though. The shock busted thru the tower in the back. He still drives it 80mph down the highway.

So I'd just buy a $500 beater. Have the title notorized ready for sale. So if it breaks down you could just leave it with the title and keys with a for free sign. Some hillybilly will come thru with a pick-up truck and take care of it for you. You could go thru 2 of em and its still cheaper than a rental. If it stays running(most likely will) just sell it, scrap it or keep it.
Let me know where you can find non-running beaters for $100. I'm going to go there with a dolly and make some quick easy money. I figure that the transaction, plus driving to the junk yard would take about 2 hours, so I'd be making about $100 per hour. Not a bad way to spend a short vacation. (Scrap metal value of most vehicles is about $300, give or take. Cut out the cat, pull the alternator and starter, pull the radiator, and take off the head (if it's cast aluminum) and you can net even more for just a few minutes of work. Ditto rims if they're not steel, plus any other parts higher in copper (window motors, if you want to take the time). (You don't have to carefully take it apart, thus it doesn't take much time.)
 
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Carson Dyle

Diamond Member
Jul 2, 2012
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Buy a car, sell it when you leave. I've known Europeans who come to the US for road trip vacations who do exactly the same thing.

Price shouldn't be a big consideration, although the higher the price, the more you risk losing on a quick sale. I wouldn't be terribly concerned about spending $10-15k on a used car.
 

skull

Platinum Member
Jun 5, 2000
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Let me know where you can find non-running beaters for $100. I'm going to go there with a dolly and make some quick easy money. I figure that the transaction, plus driving to the junk yard would take about 2 hours, so I'd be making about $100 per hour. Not a bad way to spend a short vacation. (Scrap metal value of most vehicles is about $300, give or take. Cut out the cat, pull the alternator and starter, pull the radiator, and take off the head (if it's cast aluminum) and you can net even more for just a few minutes of work. Ditto rims if they're not steel, plus any other parts higher in copper (window motors, if you want to take the time). (You don't have to carefully take it apart, thus it doesn't take much time.)

I got one right now ladyies been bugging me to give her $50 for a couple weeks. The crankshaft pully key way is broke off at the crank shaft. If I needed a car I'd weld that sucker back and be good to go. She lost the title so I'm too lazy to yank the motor and trans to be able to scrap it for $250-$300

Both of these were from apartments. Where I do maintenace work. They buy beaters and don't know how to fix em when they break. Resident crackhead mechanic of that complex got a some rope shoved between the pully and crankshaft. Ha lady said it held the pully for a few weeks.
 

alkemyst

No Lifer
Feb 13, 2001
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I got one right now ladyies been bugging me to give her $50 for a couple weeks. The crankshaft pully key way is broke off at the crank shaft. If I needed a car I'd weld that sucker back and be good to go. She lost the title so I'm too lazy to yank the motor and trans to be able to scrap it for $250-$300

Both of these were from apartments. Where I do maintenace work. They buy beaters and don't know how to fix em when they break. Resident crackhead mechanic of that complex got a some rope shoved between the pully and crankshaft. Ha lady said it held the pully for a few weeks.

I somehow think these two examples for $50 will be the last ones for a long time.

As outlined if you had a huge supply of even non-running cars at $50, you could be making 5-6x your money all day long. Tow a car a day and that's about $78k a year...you could more than likely write off the entire $50 purchase cost for wear and tear and mileage.
 

skull

Platinum Member
Jun 5, 2000
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I somehow think these two examples for $50 will be the last ones for a long time.

As outlined if you had a huge supply of even non-running cars at $50, you could be making 5-6x your money all day long. Tow a car a day and that's about $78k a year...you could more than likely write off the entire $50 purchase cost for wear and tear and mileage.

No shit sherlock. You'd write off the whole purchase and mileage. In that example though she doesn't have a title which means you need to pull the motor and trans so the scrap yard will take it on a bill of sale. Thats too much work for $200. Even though I could still do it in a day.

You can get running $500 cars regurlary around here in the midwest though.
 

alkemyst

No Lifer
Feb 13, 2001
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No shit sherlock. You'd write off the whole purchase and mileage. In that example though she doesn't have a title which means you need to pull the motor and trans so the scrap yard will take it on a bill of sale. Thats too much work for $200. Even though I could still do it in a day.

You can get running $500 cars regurlary around here in the midwest though.

Dude, you were talking like $50 beaters that are easy to get running is common.

If she has legal claim to the car she should be able to get a replacement title.

If not, you are helping to commit a crime.
 

skull

Platinum Member
Jun 5, 2000
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No I just used the rare $100 one thats been running for years as an example. Re-read my message I said $500.

Shes a 300 pound whale thats too lazy to do much of anything.

Landlord says its been there for months that she used to drive it. Its a beat up 95 geo prism with 200k if it was stolen from somebody I don't think they care. My junk yard won't take em like that but my scrap yard will with a bill of sale if the motor and trans is yanked.