As we approach the 25th anniversary of September 11, 2001, I’ve been thinking about the thousands of families who woke up that morning expecting an ordinary Tuesday and, before the day was over, found their lives changed forever. Along with unimaginable grief came all the practical things nobody was prepared to deal with: homes, bank accounts, insurance, personal belongings, bills and, in many cases, a vehicle sitting in the driveway that its owner would never drive again.
A car is certainly insignificant compared with losing someone you love, but eventually somebody has to decide what happens to it. I hear versions of this situation on my radio show more often than you might imagine. A husband dies and leaves behind a pickup his wife doesn’t need. A wife passes away and her husband isn’t sure whether to keep her car or sell it. An adult child inherits Mom or Dad’s vehicle and has no idea how to transfer the title. Sometimes the vehicle is paid for; sometimes there is still a substantial loan balance.
My first piece of advice is probably the most important: don’t rush. Unless there is an immediate financial reason to act, you don’t have to decide what to do with the vehicle while you’re still trying to comprehend everything else that has happened. Grief isn’t a particularly good environment for making financial decisions. Secure the vehicle, locate the keys and paperwork, make sure the insurance situation is properly handled and give yourself enough time to understand exactly what you have and what needs to happen next.
First, determine who actually owns the car. Having the keys doesn’t necessarily mean you have the legal authority to sell the vehicle. The title is what matters, and what happens next depends heavily on how that title is held and the laws of the state where the vehicle is titled. Was the vehicle titled solely in the deceased person’s name? Was there a co-owner? Does the title include survivorship rights? Is there a will? Is an estate being probated? Is there a lienholder?
There isn’t one national procedure for transferring a deceased person’s vehicle. Requirements vary by state and by the circumstances of the estate. Depending on the situation, you may need the original title, a certified death certificate, letters testamentary or other probate documents, an affidavit or other state-specific paperwork. Don’t guess, and don’t sign the deceased person’s name. Contact your state motor-vehicle agency and find out exactly what is required for your particular situation. If the vehicle is part of an estate being handled by an executor, administrator or attorney, coordinate with that person before doing anything with it.
What if money is still owed? This is another area where I don’t want people making assumptions. Death does not automatically make an auto loan disappear. Generally, debts belonging to someone who dies are handled through that person’s estate, although responsibility can be different when there is a co-signer, joint borrower or other special circumstance. If there is a loan on the vehicle, find the lender or servicer and contact it before attempting to sell or transfer the car. Determine the exact payoff and ask what documentation the lender requires following the borrower’s death. Also look through the original finance paperwork. Some borrowers purchase credit-life insurance or another debt-cancellation product designed to pay some or all of a covered loan balance upon death. Those products are not on every loan, but they are worth checking before anybody starts writing checks. Some lenders will just take the vehicle back, and some leases have credit life insurance as part of the lease.
Once you understand the ownership and financial situation, you can make the decision that is right for your family: keep it, give it to someone else or sell it. There is nothing wrong with keeping the vehicle. Maybe it was your husband’s beloved truck and driving it makes you feel closer to him. Perhaps your mother’s car would be perfect for one of her grandchildren. Not every financial decision has to be based solely on squeezing the last dollar out of an asset.
However, be realistic about the cost of keeping a vehicle solely because you’re emotionally attached to it. Insurance, registration, maintenance and depreciation continue, and vehicles don’t particularly enjoy sitting unused. Batteries discharge, tires age, fluids deteriorate and mechanical problems can develop. If nobody in the family is going to use the vehicle, eventually keeping it can become more of a burden than a comfort.
I would also caution families against fighting over the car. I’ve seen estates where an automobile became a source of tremendous family friction, sometimes over a vehicle that wasn’t worth enough money to justify the argument. Determine its realistic market value, follow the will and applicable law, and try to remember that preserving family relationships is considerably more important than who gets Dad’s F-150.
If the family decides to sell, the right method depends largely on whether your priority is convenience, speed or getting every possible dollar. A direct sale to a reputable dealer or buying service is generally the easiest. You get an offer, complete the necessary paperwork and you’re finished. You might be able to get more money selling the vehicle yourself, but that means advertising it, answering calls and messages, meeting prospective buyers, arranging test drives, verifying payment and handling the title transaction yourself.
Consignment can be a very good middle ground. You allow professionals to market and sell the vehicle while potentially getting closer to a retail price than you would from an immediate wholesale-type offer. It takes longer, but for someone who isn’t in a hurry, it can make sense.
At CarPro.com, under SELL A CAR, we offer both approaches. If you simply want the vehicle sold and want the matter behind you, you can get a bid and sell it immediately. If you have more time and want to try to maximize what you receive, consignment is another option.
Whatever method you choose, don’t let grief make you an easy target. Know approximately what the vehicle is worth before agreeing to anything, and be especially cautious if you’re selling privately. Don’t hand the keys to a stranger for an unaccompanied test drive, don’t accept questionable payment arrangements and don’t let someone rush you into a transaction you don’t understand.
Before somebody details the car, empties the console and prepares it for sale, do something else first: look for the memories. Go through the vehicle carefully. Look under the seats, inside the glove compartment, in the console, trunk and every storage compartment. There may be an old photograph in the visor. Dad’s sunglasses might still be in the console. Mom may have kept a favorite CD in the door pocket. There could be a ball cap behind the seat, a handwritten note in the glovebox, an old keychain, a parking receipt from a family vacation or something else that has absolutely no monetary value but means everything to somebody who loved that person.
Once the car is sold, those things may be gone forever. You can always sell the car tomorrow. You can’t necessarily get those memories back.
Then remove their digital life from the vehicle. Modern vehicles contain considerably more personal information than most people realize, and this is particularly important when you’re disposing of a deceased loved one’s car. Depending on the vehicle, stored information can include phone contacts, addresses, navigation history, favorite destinations, mobile-app information and even garage-door codes. The vehicle may also remain connected to manufacturer apps, satellite-radio accounts, Wi-Fi service and other subscriptions.
Think about that for a moment. The car may contain the family’s home address in the navigation system and the electronic code needed to open the garage door when it gets there. That is information I don’t want leaving with the next owner.
Delete paired phones and contacts, navigation destinations and stored addresses. Erase garage-door programming. Remove toll tags and personal documents. Check USB drives, SD cards and built-in storage. Disconnect manufacturer apps and connected services when appropriate, and use the manufacturer’s recommended procedure to reset the infotainment system. Remember, too, that a factory reset may not disconnect every outside subscription or connected service, so check the owner’s manual, manufacturer’s website or dealership if you’re unsure.
There are a few other things that are easy to overlook when you’re dealing with a death. Locate both sets of keys if possible. Find the owner’s manual and maintenance records. Check the glovebox for registration and insurance documents. Remove toll-road transponders, parking passes and garage remotes. Determine whether there are accessories that belong with the vehicle, such as a cargo cover, charging cable, removable roof panels or a second set of wheels.
If you’re keeping the vehicle, don’t assume the existing insurance automatically continues indefinitely just because the premium was paid. Contact the insurance company, explain the circumstances and make sure the vehicle and its new owner or operator are properly covered before it is driven.
And if the vehicle is going to sit for an extended period while an estate is being settled, don’t simply forget about it. Depending on how long it will sit, the battery may need attention, tire pressures should be checked and the vehicle should be stored securely. Ask a trusted dealer or technician for advice if it’s going to remain unused for months.
I think that’s the part of this subject that gets overlooked. A vehicle is an asset, but sometimes it’s also deeply personal. Cars become intertwined with our memories. We remember Dad’s truck because that’s what he drove us to Little League practice in. We remember Mom’s SUV because we can still picture her pulling into the driveway. Maybe your spouse’s seat position is still programmed into the memory button and their favorite radio station still comes on when you start the car.
There’s nothing irrational about having an emotional reaction to selling that vehicle. I’ve talked with people who simply weren’t ready, and I’ve told them essentially the same thing I’m telling you: then don’t do it yet. If there’s no financial necessity and the estate allows it, give yourself some time. Eventually, the day may come when you realize you’re ready to let the vehicle go.
And when that day arrives, selling the car doesn’t mean you’re selling the memories that came with it.
As we remember September 11 this week, I can’t help thinking about how quickly an ordinary morning became something none of us could have imagined. Thousands of families expected their loved ones to walk back through the door that evening. Instead, they suddenly faced decisions no family ever expects to make.
Twenty-five years later, families still experience that kind of sudden change every day, whether from an accident, illness or simply the end of a long life. Eventually, amid everything that truly matters, someone may look out the window and realize there is still a car sitting in the driveway and ask, “What am I supposed to do with that?”
My advice is simple: don’t rush. Understand who legally owns it and whether anything is owed on it. Preserve anything inside that matters to the family. Decide whether keeping it, passing it to someone you love or selling it makes the most sense. If you sell it, choose the method that fits your circumstances, remove the personal and digital information, and make sure the paperwork is done correctly.
A car can be replaced. Money can be divided. Paperwork eventually gets completed.
The memories are the things worth holding onto.