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How to profit from giving away a used car for FREE? My personal experiment :)

by Buyseech
19 replies
This is my new experiment and hopefully I will get some feedback and comments with any ideas. Brainstorm heaven

Profit and the word free do not go well together. Or do they?

I have pondered on a new experimental endeavor in which I intend to give away my 17 year old Honda Prelude, cause there is not much chance anybody would want to buy one for the amount of money it is actually worth (mainly due to high gas price/consumption and registration fees).

But how can you say NO to a free car? That's exactly my point:"You can't!"

You can drive it, because after all it is a Honda and it will work for 127 years to come. It's a coupe so it looks better than 99% of the cars on the road today.
You can sell it and make a profit for yourself. (It is one of the most tedious tasks in the world for me, therefore I am challenging myself to find a better and more "exciting" way to "get rid" of my car.
You can put a cubic meter of soil into it and plant a big ass palm tree in it, whilst placing it in the middle of your garden. I am not saying you should do it, but you could.
All in all I have no preoccupations with the cars future.

Profits???

Yes, profits! I have compiled a short list of possibilities of getting rid of the car, whilst making a profit. Hopefully the list will increase with your input (suggestions in the comment area are very welcome).
(For the experiment sake, lets presume I would like no less than 1500€ for my car)
I could:
  • Issue 5€ coupons in a mass format for a chance to win a 1995 Honda Prelude and hopefully reach the 300 number and raffle someone out. Everything over 300 coupons sold would be my profit and everything under 300 would be a "loss". The issue with this is the fact that it would be illegal, cause its considered to be "gambling" therefore I would need the concensus from the government (good luck with that).I could raise the ante to 100€ and just focus on 15+ bidders and get it over with as soon as possible, but I wouldn't be insane to write about it on my blog. Or would I be?




The entire post is placed on my blog (its about marketing and internet marketing in general). There are no affiliate/squeeze/adsense tricks here.




How to profit from giving away a used car for FREE?



Looking forward to your comments here and on the blog.
#car #free #giving #profit
  • Profile picture of the author JamesGw
    Just donate it and get the tax write off.
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    • Profile picture of the author Buyseech
      Being a citizen of the most tax packed country on the globe I doubt this will be an option.

      And this is not a "i need money badly" experiment. Its more of a "fun project" Testing something new in a packed market, like the used car market is at the moment.

      Thanx for the tip
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  • Profile picture of the author astrutz
    heh, sounds interesting. You could probably do this with many other things too, like an old computer or something. Obviously you wouldn't make as much money but still. I never really thought about doing raffles for pricey items i own that i don't use anymore. Sounds like an easy money maker really! I'm going to have to look into what i got to sell that people would want in my town!
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    • Profile picture of the author Buyseech
      Try it and let us know

      I believe the best strategy so far is to get an email list of potential "honda wanters" and try to sell it to a local Honda dealership etc.

      Keep em coming

      Thank you
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  • Profile picture of the author Big Gee
    hmm, I had thought of the same idea, using a raffle to sell a car. I thought I was gonna be the next ebay haahaha I wish. My problem was the same as yours, unless you are a non profit you cannot run raffles or any other kind of similar system. NOW having said that, I was just over at BHW and they brought up Bit Coins. I still have no idea of how to utilize them or make them....seems kinda fishy. I tell you what though, if in the mean while I could use it for quick cash while it lasted, I would do it.
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  • Profile picture of the author colinph970
    Here's an idea:

    Run a skill competition which asks a question about the Honda Prelude - like how many tennis balls can you get in one. You, of course, have already determined the answer but the person who gets nearest wins the car. Entry to the competition is 5€
    300 entries gets you your money......and its not a raffle so perfectly legal.....at least in the UK?
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    • Profile picture of the author Buyseech
      Big Gee : Thanx for the update, will look into them.

      colinph970 : Yes I have thought of sth similar like "Give us your best Honda Prelude sales quote/logo quote (i dont know exactly how to say it)".. as in "Honda Prelude - The power of dreams balbalba" and then I pick the top 10 and put it to a vote from the people visiting. So there is nothing bias.

      The problem with collecting 5$ would be, that I would have to pay tax on those 5$ and have a company etc.

      Thanks for your ideas.
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  • Profile picture of the author colinph970
    tax only on profit.......so if you bought the car for more than you sold it for then no tax? Why do you need a business? Sorry.....I am in UK and so can only offer UK specific advice.
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    • Profile picture of the author IMWinner
      This is very interesting. One of the profits is the release. You no longer hold to it so it does not hinder or stop another one from coming. Principle of giving. The other one, is it will benefit somebody. You want to loose it, somebody may benefit from it. Win win situation.
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    • Profile picture of the author Buyseech
      In order to sell anything (in this case a raffle "ticket") you have to give out a receipt with 20% tax. And you cannot give out receipts if you do not have a company.

      We will figure something out

      Other ideas still very much welcome
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  • Profile picture of the author Big Al
    Get some media coverage for some hair brained idea where you want to give your car to the 999th subscriber to your websites www. myfreehonda .si

    You'll have to target your market with a story... maybe you want to help out youngsters who just passed their test and you remember what it was like with no money to pay for a car and insurance.

    Then send emails with CPA offers on car insurance.

    Or something like that....

    You're crazy man!
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    • Profile picture of the author bobsstuff
      The idea may work in your country, but here in the United States, this is illegal in most places. Individuals cannot run a lottery.
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  • Profile picture of the author Buyseech
    Ok the raffle aka loterry is out of the question. Illegal and many sorts of money-laundring possibilities.

    Looking forward to new ideas

    Thanks to everyone who posted already.

    Sincerely, Buyseech
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  • Profile picture of the author Stuart S
    Here are two ideas.

    I'm not sure if this is a raffle because you are not directly collecting money but you could ask people to sign up to a CPA offer before they are eligible to win the car. CHeck with your AM and lottery laws of course.

    Secondly, you could go to a place like Fiverr and sell advertising spots on your car. Not sure if this would work but could use fiverr in some way to get lots of people spending $5
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  • Profile picture of the author Karan Goel
    You can make more money if you would
    raffle individual parts. What say?

    Karan
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  • Profile picture of the author Buyseech
    Jackson: Very interesting. The only problem would be regulating the new owners intentions to remove the ads (stickers). You did have that in mind yes?

    Karan: it wouldnt add up to the amount I wish. And I also dont want a backyard full of leftover parts. Lets not forget that I am not a mechanic and havent got a clue on how to dissasemble my car
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  • Profile picture of the author theemperor
    How about finding someone to SWAP it with?

    Swap the car for something you want that they would give away for free..

    Then you can try the challenge where you keep swapping getting something slightly more valuable until you have a house or something!
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    • Profile picture of the author packerfan
      Originally Posted by theemperor View Post

      How about finding someone to SWAP it with?

      Swap the car for something you want that they would give away for free..

      Then you can try the challenge where you keep swapping getting something slightly more valuable until you have a house or something!

      I remember a story about a guy who did this starting with a paperclip and ended up with a house. If you start with a car who knows, you might end up with a million bucks.
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  • Profile picture of the author KohenD
    Make one Huge ass Pinata of this.

    Fill it with candy etc and charge people a small amount to vandalize it

    Could be fun
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