Should I Sell My Paid-Off Car If I Barely Drive It?

Finally! No more car payment. The loan is gone, the title is yours, and every month you get to enjoy the beautiful sight of $0 due.

So why on earth would you sell it? Because paid off doesn't mean free, especially if the car spends most of its life sitting in the driveway.

Plenty of people keep vehicles simply because they're paid for. Maybe you started working from home, retired, moved closer to everything, combined households or simply discovered that the second car isn't nearly as necessary as it used to be. Whatever the reason, if you're barely driving it, there's another question worth asking: How much is that unused car actually costing you, and how much money is tied up in it?

Your Paid-Off Car Still Has Bills

Getting rid of the monthly loan payment is fantastic, but unfortunately, nobody told the insurance company, DMV, tires, battery or depreciation department that your car is now supposed to be free. Even a vehicle driven only occasionally can continue generating expenses. Insurance premiums don't disappear because you drove 200 miles last month. Registration still comes due. Batteries can die from sitting, tires age whether you're commuting every day or not, fluids deteriorate and mechanical components don't become immortal just because the odometer isn't moving very quickly.

Then there's depreciation. A vehicle can continue losing value as it gets older even when you're not piling on the miles.

Your Paid-Off Car Still Has a Cost

That last line deserves some attention because it's easy to overlook.

How Much Money Is Sitting in Your Driveway?

Suppose your paid-off vehicle could be sold for $20,000. You may not think of yourself as “spending” $20,000 by keeping it because you already own it. But financially, you're choosing to keep $20,000 worth of value tied up in a vehicle you rarely use.

Here's an interesting way to look at it: If you didn't already own the car, would you go out today and spend $20,000 to buy a vehicle you knew you were barely going to drive?

If the answer is absolutely not, keeping the one you already have deserves a second look.

Selling could potentially turn an underused asset into money for savings, debt reduction, home improvements, travel, another investment or simply a bigger financial cushion. What makes sense depends entirely on your situation, but first you need to know what the vehicle is actually worth.

When Does Keeping the Car Make Sense?

Selling isn't automatically the right decision. If you expect your driving needs to increase again soon, need a backup vehicle, have another household driver who may need it or would face a significant expense replacing it later, keeping a paid-off vehicle can make perfect sense. The important thing is to make that decision intentionally rather than keeping it indefinitely simply because “it's paid for.”

A paid-off car that you use and need can be extremely valuable transportation. A paid-off car you barely touch may be an entirely different financial proposition.

Find Out What CarBuyerUSA Will Pay

Before deciding, find out what your vehicle could turn into in actual dollars.

CarBuyerUSA purchases cars, trucks and SUVs directly from owners throughout the continental United States. Getting a price gives you something concrete to compare against the cost and usefulness of continuing to own the vehicle.

Maybe you see the number and decide the car is worth keeping. Fine. But you may also discover that the vehicle collecting dust in your driveway represents a surprisingly large amount of money.

Your car may be paid off. But if you barely drive it, don't assume keeping it costs you nothing. Find out what CarBuyerUSA.com will pay for it—and then decide whether you'd rather have the car sitting in your driveway or the value that's sitting inside it.

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