Parting out cars for fun and maybe profit: 2003 MR2 Spyder edition

Another $100 in parts gone. I need to get to listing more stuff, my eBay listings are really tapering down at this point. These sales were off eBay, so no more fees.

New totals:
Car purchase: $1500
+Towing: $125.78
+Title fees: $58.50
+eBay Fees: $243.50
-Part sales $3252
=Total $1324.22 profit

In related news, I need to start a build thread on the other MR2. It's almost to the point I can start it and test drive it. I need to change the oil and get new fluid in the transmission. Also waiting on a new catalytic converter; the one with the wrecked car had torn flex pipes and the one with the un-wrecked car had broken up bits of the upstream catalyst in it.

I still need to come get that engine one of these days when I have a free weekend. Mine is practically a diesel lol

Yeah! I forgot to email you about that. I can cut you a deal since you're picking it up. It's ready when you are. It'll need a full rebuild though since it looks like it sucked bits of catalytic converter into it. I'd be glad to throw in the Corolla engine I have if you want parts.

Sounds good. I’ll take both. 

Big sales! Spoolpigeon bought my old (bad) motor along with the Corolla motor I had sitting around, and I had a brush with buying another 2003 MR2 Spyder from Knoxville, TN with some body damage. However, I couldn't get the seller down to where I was comfortable with price-wise, so I ended up selling my parts to him instead. Convertible top and quarter panel are on their way now. All told another $550 in sales, which is great.

I guess technically the engines didn't come from this car, but I'm going to count them because they wouldn't be for sale without my having bought this car, since the engine from this car replaced my need for them.

New totals:
Car purchase: $1500
+Towing: $125.78
+Title fees: $58.50
+eBay Fees: $243.50
-Part sales $3802
=Total $1874.22 profit

dang.  I'm inspired.  Need to figure out which cars to do this with.  

Wow. Well, I have been going through a cleanup process trying to recover my "clean-ish" shop space after the double whammy of parting out one car and repairing another, and posted some more parts on eBay. The transmission went for a very surprising amount and I also sold the 2001 tail lights since I used the 2003 tail lights on my car. This has turned out very well for me, financially, and I've really been enjoying driving the 2001 in the nice weather we've been having.

New totals:
Car purchase: $1500
+Towing: $125.78
+Title fees: $58.50
+eBay Fees: $343.50
-Part sales $4802
=Total $2774.22 profit

I still have parts to list; the big ones are both doors, one quarter panel, and the engine lid. I'm going to try to push and get that done this week. I've got other car projects to do, but really am getting excited to do another part-out. I've been keeping an eye on the Copart auctions and might try to do one there. I'm thinking about a newer, premium car to try a higher buy-in with (hopefully) higher profit. I should wait, though, as I do have a fair amount of stuff to work on and sell still.

Dude this thread has been awesome. Good record keeping so far. 

Hmmmm I have extra garage space and money to blow. Thanks friend. Time to go part out a car

In reply to dculberson :

Did you keep a list of the parts sold and dollar values? 

No surprise here, I never "worked" for 6 years of college, sold vinyl decals out of my house and parted out DSMs and jetskis.

Good for you!

java230 said:

In reply to dculberson :

Did you keep a list of the parts sold and dollar values? 

Yep, have a google sheet of every part sold listed and prices for each. You're even on there for the plastic trim. ;-)

Thanks for the feedback guys! I was shocked by the transmission sale. $850 and that's without the reverse sensor or shift mechanism as I had to move those over to my transmission. I saw Monkeywrench Racing sold one for $895 missing the same parts and figured mine had more miles, was dirtier, didn't have the good MWR name associated it, and I could afford to let it sit for a while so I took a chance and listed it for $850 + shipping. Well, 2 days later and it sold for full asking.

I continue to learn lessons though. eBay finds interesting ways to screw you on shipping. In addition to collecting 10% of the shipping fee despite calculating and thus knowing exactly what you're going to pay for shipping, they charged the buyer a non-existent shipping rate. The packed transmission is 90 pounds, and eBay knew that, and charged the buyer $52 for FedEx Home Delivery. Well, FedEx Home Delivery has a strict 70-lb cutoff. So there was literally no way for me to ship the trans with that method. The cheapest available method through eBay's shipping tool was $135, Fedex Air Economy. UPS ground would be $100. USPS doesn't handle packages that heavy. Well, I still have a direct FedEx account so I just shipped it ground as though it was a commercial address and FedEx should (hopefully!) just charge me the $3.50 residential surcharge. We'll see how that pans out. The total for shipping will be $66 if that works, so I'm not upset at the cost in the end, but they totally screwed the pooch on that one. If this had been a cheaper item or tighter margins for me I could have been really boned.

Just put that piece on finally too! MR2 is getting cleaned up after sitting all winter.

Add to the collection

2001 Toyota MR2 Spyder Conv. - $575 (Owings Mills)

In reply to johndej :

dang if that was close to me i'd buy it today. I have a hankering for one of these.

In reply to johndej :

Dude! That's a great deal. More damage than the car I parted out, but should still make a ton of money. I don't have any contacts in Baltimore any more but I'll think about whether I want to deal with that. If it was local-ish, I'd jump on it.

I got my FedEx bill for shipping the transmission, and it's not bad. $65. That's more than the $52 (-10% fees, ugh) that eBay charged the buyer but way better than the $135 I was afraid I was going to have to pay.

I sold the muffler. I've listed some more stuff for sale, hopefully the sales keep trickling in. I need to get the body parts out of here but am hesitant to post doors and the bumper cover on eBay without a clear way to ship them. Has anyone shipped bumpers before? How? The size kills it, FedEx wants hundreds of dollars to ship them.

New totals - but I realize stuff like the shipping cost difference won't be included in this. So there's probably a gap between this reported "profit" and the actual profit:

Purchase price:    $1,500.00
 +Towing:    $125.78
 +eBay fees:    $356.00
 +Title fees:    $58.50
 -Parts sales:    $4,927.00
 =Total profit:    $2,886.72

Broke $5k in parts sales! Sold the axles for $100. Unfortunately I sold them with free shipping and the shipping ate up $40 of it!! I swear every time I sell something with free shipping the buyer is in California and when I charge for shipping the guy is two streets over in the same neighborhood. That might be confirmation bias or something.

In reply to dculberson :

I think that’s why I always quote shipping based on a zip code of 90210 when I’m selling on eBay.  

In reply to eastsideTim :

I use the same zip code! Haha! But really, I assumed the axles had basically zero value since they had ~100k miles on them. So I'm happy with the $54 or so net I'll end up with. It's just always a shocker when shipping eats up so much of a sale. I wouldn't have listed them with free shipping if I minded the hit.

Man this is impressive! I really should dig out some parts I guess.... I sold my Steering wheel lol.

eastsideTim said:

In reply to dculberson :

I think that’s why I always quote shipping based on a zip code of 90210 when I’m selling on eBay.  

Me too. Great minds must think alike...

Sold the catalytic converters as scrap for $175!

New totals:
Purchase price:    $1,500.00
 +Towing:    $125.78
 +eBay fees:    $373.50
 +Title fees:    $58.50
 -Parts sales:    $5,162.00
 =Total profit:    $3,104.22

In reply to dculberson :

Where did you sell them?  I have two cats that have been in my garage fro a while that I need to clear out.

In reply to Aaron_King :

I  cut them off their piping and listed them on eBay as scrap with pics of the outside inside and numbers on them. I’m pretty sure I got more money for them that way. I did it as a fixed price listing with a best offer option - started it as a wildly optimistic $300 and accepted someone’s $175 offer. 

In reply to dculberson :

Thanks.  I will give it a try.