Written by 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?
- I could get a product already being sold by another vendor and pump up the price tag for 5-10€ whilst incorporating the “coupon” for the “Honda Prelude raffle” in it. This is more legit and would go well with some sort of insurance, brand related or used car related product. (Your ideas on this are welcome in the comment box bellow.)
- I could make a single-page sales page, which is actually a squeeze page on which you can enter the Honda Prelude raffle, but all you need to do is leave your information and accept the terms, that we can send the information to a local Honda dealership for commercial purposes in the future. I especially see potential in this one, if the local Honda dealers are aware of how much a list of lets say 10 000 people interested in owning a Honda is worth. Would it be worth 1500€ remains to be seen. Testing and negotiations is key.
- I could get a company (either directly or via a media dealership) to invest in a 1-2-3 year contract of having the Honda Prelude totally wrapped in their branding, with the obligation of the raffle recipient that he/she cannot remove the stickers/wrap for that period of time. This could go well together with the 3. Step. (The car in the picture is not a Honda Prelude)
This is what my brain cells have come up so far. NOW ITS YOUR TURN!
Any feedback, any ideas, any crazy plans, anything and everything is welcome!
I am looking forward to your comments and ideas.
To your online success, Igor Buyseech
P.s.: This entire process can be done for any car or any other item of similar value or caliber. Give it a try and let me know how it came out.
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?
Yes I have thought of sth similar like “Give us your best Honda Prelude sales quote”.. as in “Honda Prelude – The power of dreams etc tec” and then I would pick the top 10 and put it to a vote from the people visiting. So there is nothing bias about it.
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.
Just wanted to give you a shout from the valley of the sun, great information. Much appreciated.
Even if I could just drive it for a couple of hours that would be fine with me
I have been facing a similar dilemma with my 18-year old Renault 19, that you probably know
The car is not as attractive as your Honda, but I’m not ready to sell it for what it’s worth in the market. Estimate: 200-300 EUR. It’s almost worth more just by being parked in the garage. The best idea I had so far, is to try to sell it on a foreign market (Balkan countries), where used cars are much more appreciated than here, simply for the fact that less people can afford to buy new cars. So high demand for used cars increases the price —> you know the drill 
I even heard of a 2nd generation Golf being sold for 2500 EUR! The problem here is that both your car and mine do not meet local regulations in those countries, being too old, and cannot me imported and registered legally. But! You don’t necessarily need to pay the customs at the border-crossing. You could drive your car into the country as being your own and find a customer there, who is willing to buy that car and drive it unregistered or use it for some other purpose (spare parts etc.) Who cares, as long as you get rid of it 
If you haven’t sold yours yet, we can arrange a brainstorming session some time! 
Keep in touch!
Hi there Igor Be . I have sold mine already via a very contraversial free add on the local market. It went viral cause people thought i was joking but in 4 days i got a buyer so all is well. We will brainstorm in the R19 no problem