Ok here's the scoop on my situation: Driving home Monday night in my 100,000+ mileage Isuzu Hombre. It's a VERY hot, humid day. To save the engine, there is no A/C running, just rolled down windows. Cruising at about 30-40 in freeway traffic, suddenly my check engine light comes on, the temp gauge starts moving from overheat to under 100, then back to overheat. The engine starts clanking and clunking. I just get pulled onto an off-ramp when the engine dies. This all happens within the span of about 1 minute... from the time the check engine light comes on to the motor actually stopping.
Tow it to a dealer repair shop. The water pump decided to fail, dumping all the coolant out, which of course, overheated the motor very quickly on such a hot day. Also, the spark plugs appear to have gone bad. Now, the vehicle won't start, and it's going to cost at least $780 just to start the thing. THEN...once it gets started up, there is no promise that the engine block and internals don't have serious damage. The mechanic says there is a 50/50 chance this engine is now worthless. With that possibility, I am looking at $1400+ for a rebuilt engine, plus the existing repair bill.
So, with that level of risk, I've decided not to sink a dime more into this vehicle and get a new/used car, as it's very possible that the damage repairs will be more than the value of the vehicle. But, my situation is now this: I've got a useless pickup, sitting at a dealer repair shop, that I've got to figure out what to do with.
So my question is...what do I do with my old pickup? I know I can donate it to charity. What kind of a tax writeoff would I be looking at with that? Can I just have a salvage yard come tow it away for me? Is it worth anything as a trade-in?
Help!!
